Can the reader see what’s happening in your flashback? Can you give it the immediacy of a scene that takes place before the eye? If your flashback is not a scene, can you make it into an active scene as if it were in the present? Take a close look at the opening of your flashback. Is it immediately interesting or compelling? Is the reader’s experience of your story enhanced by the flashback or—however well written—does it still intrude? Has the flashback helped characterize in depth, has it helped the reader feel what the character feels?
