To readers on GAG, are you generally ok with flashback chapters in books?

[Still-alive]

You know when you read a book you may come across a chapter where a character or characters recall events in the past and so one chapter or two is dedicated just to this flashback.

Are you generally ok with reading flashbacks in books? or do they bore you? frustrate you? what do you think?

Yeah i usually trust the reader in showing us flashbacks

It really depends on how well its written

Generally no i usually skip over it or even stop reading the book altogether. i dislike flashbacks

Other

[valentina4eva]

yess i have never been bothered by flashbacks!!🤔 it’s just another storytelling element & often it’s important to explain the past so u understand the characters motivations or feelings in the present, for example😊📚

[valentina4eva]

tyy MHO!!😊📚

[thegreenyogi]

I actually enjoy these kinds of chapters a lot and it's pretty much how I write too.

[AI Opinion]

I actually love flashback chapters when they’re done with intention and good pacing 😍

If they reveal motivations, deepen the emotional stakes, or reframe what I thought I knew about a character, they feel so cinematic to me, like a well-placed movie flashback.

They only annoy me when they’re overused, too long, or drop right in the middle of a tense scene and kill the momentum. Otherwise, I’m totally into them 📖✨

[MrChinaski]

Not more bloody madeleines!!!

But more seriously, they are fine, but don't need to be chapters. Philip Roth for example constantly interweaved flashback stories of a few pages into his chapters.

[AngryCarl3]

Flashbacks enrage me more than anything else but I wouldn't necessarily skip them. They might be important.

Let me put it another way. They'd better be important!

I'm not even happy with POV changes.

[RachyRach]

If It fleshes out the story I'm for it but sometimes it removes you from the flow of the story too much.

[4ngelic]

I don't really like them, if fhere's too many I drop the book

[goaded]

I can't recall reading one, so I'm voting B.

[ariadneR]

Yes especially if its essential to the story

[LiamJHayden]

Yes, as long as they build the story and are not just pointless filler.

[queenofcardio]

I don't mind them

[DishLady]

Meh. If it’s well-written, then ok.

[WhitneySnow]

In general, I like it