My old writing teacher in Chicago told me to never use flashbacks, but I tried one anyway

Mrs. Ellis was super strict about it, saying they always mess up the story's flow. For a prompt about a lost key, I wrote a short piece last week that started with a character finding it, then flashed back to how they lost it during a storm. It actually worked way better than starting at the beginning. Has anyone else had a writing 'rule' they were told to follow that just didn't fit your story?

4 comments

4 Comments

fiona_west213mo ago

Why are writing rules so strict anyway?

kim.jake3mo ago

Oh man, that rule is the worst. My high school teacher said to NEVER use adverbs, like ever. It made my dialogue sound so robotic and weird. Sometimes a character just needs to whisper quietly or run quickly, you know? Those hard rules just make writing feel like a formula. Good on you for trying the flashback.

allen.kai3mo ago

Have you ever considered that maybe your teacher had a point? Adverbs are often a lazy shortcut. "Whispered quietly" is redundant because whispering is already quiet. "Ran quickly" just says the same thing twice. Those rules push you to find stronger verbs, which makes writing sharper. It feels like a formula at first because you're learning the basics. Once you know why the rule exists, you can break it on purpose, not by accident.

vera_lewis21mo ago

oh @allen.kai you're making too much sense for my angsty teenage self to handle lol. i literally wrote a 10 page story in 9th grade with zero adverbs just to prove my teacher wrong and it read like a robot having a seizure. took me way too long to realize the rule is more like a suggestion for when youre being lazy, not some sacred commandment carved into stone.