Time tunnel vision.

Looks like I took my own "Don't try so hard" advice a little too seriously and decided not to try at all. But here I am, back again.

Today, I have some thoughts about flashbacks. No, not that kind. The kind used as literary devices. Although, one could draw an interesting parallel between the overuse of flashbacks and the overuse of...just about anything, actually.

It becomes too much. I'm not opposed to the occasional flashback sequence in a book or even a film. We all have little memories that crop up in our lives now and then. They are perfectly reasonable. In fact, I'm not even opposed to the flashback being the entire arc, if it's done thoughtfully and we get something out of it at the end.

But this constant back-and-forth between past and present that seems to be so popular in modern fiction is absolutely maddening to me.

Stop trying to be so damned clever and just tell your story, already! That's what I would say if anybody asked me. Strange...they never do.