I may struggle to explain my thoughts, as they're a bit jumbled, so I apologize if this comes across as confusing or incoherent. Redeemed villain characters. They're a bit of a pain in the side, yet, at the same time, a source of light and joy for me. The hero falls into evil, only to find his way back to the light, and to have to live with the consequences of his actions. It's intriguing and one of my favorite character arcs ever, in book or TV form. Now, I have a very basic premise as of now, an idea for a story that occurred to me less than five minutes ago, with one of the main characters (there might be two) passing through a "redeemed villain" arc. However, I wanted the story to start out after those events, and I would like to hear others' thoughts on flashbacks in regards to this? A good portion of the character's previous misdeeds would be revealed and understood by readers through dialogue and description taking place in the present day, between said two main characters. Would it seem ridiculous or irritating to readers if I told some of this backstory through flashbacks, if they're not overused and planted at important points in the story? It occurred to me, of course, to simply write the entire arc, from start to finish. That's not particularly appealing to me as of right now, and I would prefer this idea to take place after the fact. Would readers be engaged in the character enough if they didn't follow the entire transformation from "hero" to "fallen" to "I'm trying to be good, okay?" How could I provide a better connection between character and reader, and would flashback tellings be enough?
You can certainly do it. I think the trick is you have to create some sort of plot element that reaches backward. The character has no agency to move it forward, because everything is literally playing in reverse, but there needs to be some mystery that makes the reader want to keep reaching back. You have to keep asking some question whose answer is in back in time. The obvious movie to look at for this is Memento. It does it in very aggressive fashion. I'm not sure which book is read in reverse. Maybe look up "reverse chronology plots" because I know others have explored this.
Sounds fine to me. Particularly when these moments inspire an action in the story's present that shows how the character has learned from his past misdeeds and has grown since them.
A recent discussion on another forum left me with the impression that many people would actually prefer flashbacks. Personally, I think both are okay.
Many, many readers also hate flashbacks with a passion, which is why when you said I think you are on the right track. You're thinking it yourself. Repeated flashbacks can severely snarl up the pacing of your story, so they aren't best used liberally. If they don't contain something severely relevant to know about the current plot or character at that point (say revealing something about the character's history or their personality), you will find some readers start skipping, and that's the danger area - you never want a reader skipping your material because it can become habit-forming, and then they might skip something important. I remember reading Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, which I thought was a really good book, but after a few too many flashbacks that didn't contain anything important to the current story going on, I found myself not missing them when I skipped them. And because I felt that, it made me more wary of the second book. Readers don't want their time wasted. So as long as you ask yourself that all important question "Does this flashback chapter contain something that is *need to know* for the reader at this point?" You should be good. That's why @Seven Crowns mention of Memento is a good one. That over-uses flashbacks, but because each one is insanely relevant to piece together the story that movie can get away with it.
This, and on this point, be cautious of the line between 'my reader needs to know this' and 'I want my reader to know this'. In the present-day narrative, there is room for a little bit of interesting and relevant but not strictly necessary information. When you're including flashbacks, which can be jarring and hurt pacing, you want to stay on the 'absolutely necessary' side of the line in most cases.
I stepped into the back story after the first few paragraphs. Here is a clip. . Amid fishing nets and bundles of sugar cane, the crew unloaded its cargo while I waited for my ride. I stood there on the busy dock and took a deep breath of sea air and reflected on how I had gotten to Haiti and how much my life had changed since I left the farm in Brittany. *** My mother, a beautiful woman, named me Elizabeth, but everyone called me Beth. My dark skin and black hair were an inheritance from her Roman background. My father was an able-bodied seaman who had to settle down when he inherited his parents’ farm, which was west of Hennebont, Brittany.
Sorry to intrude, didn't know where to ask this, but where do I promote my new book here? I just self published on Amazon and wanted to share the link here.
Xena was just such a "redeemed villain". As I recall the series, the principal means of reflecting this was to have past villainous situations or associates intrude upon the present. Flashbacks were limited and used to explain the association between the past and the present.
