I've heard a lot of complaints about flashbacks ruining the pacing of a story. Personally, if done right, I think that flashbacks can be very useful. What other opinions are out there?

For sequencing, do you start at point A and go to point Z? Or do you have some particular sequencing you use? Does it vary by story?

In my works, I usually give a flash of the ending, not enough to spoil the story, just a teaser. After that, I go mostly straight through, with only a very occasional flashback. Any flashbacks are kept small and flowing with the story.

I don't think it's considered a flashback if the event hasn't yet happened to the character. That would be foreshadowing. Or maybe I've misunderstood your post.

Personally, I don't like flashbacks. I'd much rather read the information in narrative form than read a flashback. I don't even like flashbacks in movies or television shows. However, sometimes it does work so it is all up to the author and how he/she uses it.

It is just another tool for us to keep in our arsenal.

I don't really know if I have a flashback or not. I have a long section of text which recounts past events, but it's being directly related from one character to another - Character A telling character B about A's origins - and is written in the style of someone's speech rather than narrative prose.

When I think flashback, I think a scene written with all the same pieces a normal scene would have, dialogue, narrative, description etc, but with the obvious realization that it is a memory.

I think Mokele what you are describing isn't really a flashback.

I think flashbacks are alright, as long as they are clearly defined as such, and there is no confusion on the readers part. Actually, I heard of entire books that are one flashback after another. Really, I think it does work, as long as it is written well.

A flashback is just another part of writing that adds to your style as long as they are understandable its fine

Um, again, like the others, I think that flashbacks can be good tools if used correctly. I mean, sometimes you need filler for when you can't skip a certain scene, but have nothing really to write about, or it just seems to fit. For example, although it's probably not a good example, is in my story, these three guys suddenly find themselves in a totally different area/world then they are used to, and start traveling through a forest. The first night, I figured, I had to show a little on how the characters are feeling, so they drift off to get firewood and one walks around, feeling bad for blowing up at one of his comrades he's traveling with, which he did earlier. It then goes to a flashback that explains why he feels bad for screaming at him, and why he feels ashamed of his rage. I dunno, it seemed to work, so... yeah.

A semi-ameteur's advice: make sure it's clear that the flashback isn't taking place in the here-now of the story. Like, double-enter to seperate the text from the 'original' body of single-entered paragraphs, or put it in italics. I usually have my character space out and have another character snap them out of the flashback, or have them sleeping when they are flashbacking.