Why Shouldn't Writers Use Their Time Machines?

Eleanor Arnason is right and I'm wrong. I can feel it in the back of my head, burbling away in that pot that I left sitting on the back burner. But I don't know why I'm wrong, or how to be right, so it's not the most helpful feeling.

At Wyrdsmiths last Thursday night, I suggested moving the start of a novel up a couple of scenes, to where the intrigue really kicks in: a character knocks at a doorway of a run-down, vacant looking storefront where they've been directed to find a strange organization. They end up waiting at the door, letting suspense build. I suggested starting there, then popping back to establish what happened to bring them to that point while the character is waiting, then re-establish the here and now moment when the door opens and they are drawn inside.

Eleanor stopped me and said she hates the use of the flashback, and that backstory should just be layered in as the story goes forward. My gut says that she is right, that relying on the flashback can be a cheap way out of a complicated situation, and the weaker option in creating a well-structured story. BUT...

...I don't know how else to do it, aside from straight up character recollection/exposition. I know that the audience will need certain information to understand what's going on, and to be introduced to certain characters, and to develop sympathy with the main character(s). Backstory is a well-established literary device. But sometimes that information isn't available outside the context of its own scene.

In a time-travel story, backstory can be established in the main flow, as the characters experience the jump in the time flow with the reader and are thus moving forward even as they replay the past. It's not so easy outside of that specific device, though, and I'd like to hear what our denizens have found effective in layering in backstory, either in your own work or in stories you've read. What works well, and what doesn't? And, if you'll share, why?

Eleanor's Ring of Swords at Tor.com

There's a lot of love for our very own Eleanor Arnason and her novel Ring of Swords over at tor.com today.

(Quick, someone go tell them she can be found over at our place!)

By the way, in her review, Jo Walton wonders about the sequel, so now might be a good time to say what you can, Eleanor . . .