Register | Log in | FAQ | Search | Memberlist | Usergroups
Profile | Log in to check your private messages | Blogs |

ARWZ Forum Index
    > Writers' Zone


 
Post new topicReply to topic
View previous topic :: View next topic
Author Message
Violanthe
Webmaster


Joined: 24 Jul 2003
Posts: 5903

PostFlash.... ahead?

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 12:42 pm
Reply with quote

The flashback as a writing device is much debated... but what about the flash forward? Has anyone used or read this device? Pros? Cons? How did it work out?
_________________
Violet "Violanthe" Kane
[email protected]
ARWZ.com: A Magazine of Alternative Reality Fiction
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Blog
Nik
Senior Member


Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 805
Location: UK

PostAntici....pation ??

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 9:24 pm
Reply with quote

Um, surely it depends on what tense you're telling tale ??

If it is past tense, related, then you are free to skip about...

"If I'd known then that the bridge was single-track..."
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Ian
The King of the Swing


Joined: 30 Mar 2006
Posts: 231
Location: Kent, England, U.K.

Post

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 10:52 am
Reply with quote

I have not heard of flash forwards? Has it got anything to do with flash floods? (Joke!)

As for flashbacks, they are not good or bad. They are just a storytelling tool and are fine when used correctly; organically.

I suspect the same is true of "flash forwards" though I have never given them much thought.

The important thing is neither are universally bad when used correctly and effectively.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail AIM Address
Richard H. Fay
Senior Member


Joined: 07 Sep 2007
Posts: 523
Location: Upstate New York

Post

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 1:18 pm
Reply with quote

Foreshadowing is the hint of things to come. It might not quite be a "flash forward", but it is a look ahead at future events. It's also a standard literary technique that's been around for quite a while. Shakespeare (among others) used it.

Then there are premonitions. You could have a story about a psychic who has visions of future events. These episodes could definitely be scenes that "flash forward".

Then you have time travel. When time travel is thrown into the mix, past, present, and future are almost meaningless. With time travel you can show events in the future or in the past anywhere in the narrative.

Personally, I would be careful jumping around chronologically in a narrative, unless there is some plot device that allows such time manipulation. You don't want it to get so convoluted that the reader can't follow the events. I'm not saying it can't be done (never say never), but I am saying that it should make sense to the reader.
_________________
"I'm going to do what the warriors of old did. I'm going to recite poetry!"

Richard H. Fay - Azure Lion Productions
https://azurelionproductions.com
See cool stuff featuring my art at the Abandoned Towers Zazzle Store:
https://www.zazzle.com/abandonedtowers
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Blog
DougGogerty
Moderator


Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 418
Location: Minnesota

Post

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 2:27 pm
Reply with quote

I think that people see the future as a shifting sand. Something that is not written in stone. Each decision that is made alters the future. Thus, a flash forward would appear to be problematic to most people's conception of time.

In the "Restaurant at the End of the Universe" Douglas Adams humorously (sorry humourously) looks at what a flash forward would be like. This book also explores all of the problems of considering time in this manner. What tense of verb would you use?
_________________
Douglas E. Gogerty
-----
Around the Campfire
"No, I'm from Iowa. I just work in outer space."
-James T. Kirk
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Blog
Richard H. Fay
Senior Member


Joined: 07 Sep 2007
Posts: 523
Location: Upstate New York

Post

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 7:29 pm
Reply with quote

Yes, the future may be mutable and shifting. However, you can have a glimpse of what things may be like if the timeline stays on a certain course.. This has been done on Doctor Who.

I remember, in "The Pyramids of Mars", the fourth Doctor showed Sarah Jane what 1980 would be like if Sutekh was freed.
_________________
"I'm going to do what the warriors of old did. I'm going to recite poetry!"

Richard H. Fay - Azure Lion Productions
https://azurelionproductions.com
See cool stuff featuring my art at the Abandoned Towers Zazzle Store:
https://www.zazzle.com/abandonedtowers
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Blog
Violanthe
Webmaster


Joined: 24 Jul 2003
Posts: 5903

Post

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:30 am
Reply with quote

Apart from visions of a ghastly future a la Dickens, has anyone read any fiction where a flash forward is employed?
_________________
Violet "Violanthe" Kane
[email protected]
ARWZ.com: A Magazine of Alternative Reality Fiction
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Blog
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic All times are GMT - 4 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum





Alternative Reality Web Zine: ISSN# 1559-3037


All materials on these pages (including fiction, poetry, essays, articles, interviews and opinion pieces) are copyrighted to the original authors and may not be reproduced without permission.




View Page Stats
ARWZ topic RSS feed 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group