Flashbacks - writing tip

Flashbacks tend to distance the reader from the action. Therefore, I believe it's good policy not to put anything in flashback, unless you have information that can't be told any other way, or action that can't be shown sequentially. Instead, use mini-flashbacks to relate action that happens before the beginning of the story, and is too previous to be moved to a later time frame. Just in case I need to explain, the difference between a real flashback, which is a whole scene shown out of time sequence, and a mini-flashback, which is having a character remember something that happened before for a line or two, then going on with the present scene, has to do with the importance of the information conveyed.