Writing Flashbacks

Writing Flashbacks

Credit: https://www.nownovel.com/blog/incorporate-flashbacks-into-a-story/

In many books, the events of the story take place chronologically. However, in stories involving characters’ memories or large leaps in time, flashbacks are useful for showing formative or crucial moments that drive characters’ present-time psychologies and decisions.  Flashbacks typically recall a scene of emotional power. They show the memories that linger in a character’s mind long after they have happened. They are, essentially, scenes inserted into the present narrative time-frame from a time period that precedes the primary story arc.

1. Decide whether a flashback is necessary

As an alternative to writing flashbacks, you can substitute exposition. Your main character can simply recall the day an impactful event happened. However, describing the scene as though your character is living and experiencing it for the first time can be much more emotionally affecting for the reader. To decide whether an earlier event in your character’s backstory (e.g. witnessing a crime) needs a flashback scene, ask yourself:

What are the benefits of showing the reader the earlier scene through my character’s eyes?

Is the scene important enough to my central story arc to break from narrative continuity?

How will I convey to the reader that this is a flashback and not an event happening in the present time of the story?

2. Look at flashback examples in fiction to gain insight

Writing flashbacks is storytelling time travel. Getting it right can be hard. So research novels that use this narrative device and see how other authors approach flashbacks.

Flashbacks can be long or short, or repeated. For example, in The Gilded Wolves, we catch glimpses of main character  Séverin Montagnet-Alarie’s childhood, which gies us insight into why he acts the way he does and why he makes the decisions he does in the current narrative. The flashbacks also tie into his character arc throughout the Gilded Wolves trilogy.

3. Choose your flashback’s time-frame

When you write a flashback, it’s important to choose a reasonable time-frame for the scene. Typically, a flashback will consist of a single conversation or event that occurs over a single day. Keeping the time frame of your flashback brief helps not to distract the reader from the present arc of your story. If you want to convey how an entire year in your character’s life was formative, for example, it’s better to summarize that year in a few lines of expository narrative.

4. List any details that will be different during your character’s flashback

Times change. Because time isn’t static, remember to show how your characters and their circumstances are different during your flashback scene. For example, if a character living in 1990 recalls the 1960s, think about how slang, music and other cultural details differ.

A few small details (such as a song playing on the radio or a description of a period hairstyle) can signal that we’ve traveled back in narrative time. List the most significant differences between your character’s present life and their life during the time period of their flashback. Even if not all details make it into the story, it will help you strike an authentic note.

5. Learn how to write a flashback that has consistent tense

These are many options for verb tenses in a flashback; you could write your flashback in the same tense as your present-time narrative, differentiating time periods with explicit reference to the year. You could also write your flashback in a different tense to your main, present-time narrative. Whatever approach you choose, be consistent throughout your flashback scene. Pick a tense and stick with it!

6. Decide how you will transition to flashback scenes

Part of writing a successful flashback scene is knowing how and when to cut to the scene that lies outside of your story’s main chronology. Like all story scenes, your flashback scene should have good structure.

Here are some suggestions:

Instead of writing a short intro paragraph to a flashback, launch straight into your flashback at the start of a scene or chapter. This way the transition is less obvious.

Try to insert flashback scenes after strong scenes in the present time of your story. This makes it easier for the reader to recall where the present-time narration left off once the flashback ends.

Signify a flashback by writing it in italics.

Physically separate the flashback from the main narrative (e.g. with a space and a few asterisks).

7. Check that your flashback focuses on a single experience or event that supports your story arc

Once you’ve written your flashback scene, double-check that it’s completely relevant to the later story. In a crime novel, a flashback scene might provide an essential clue regarding the identity of the culprit. In a character-driven family saga, it could show a formative familial relationship, conversation or confrontation that shapes your character’s outlook.

Make sure that your flashback scene draws your reader’s attention towards the key element that will deepen your reader’s understanding of key later scenes. This way, your story will feel cohesive even if the narrative does not follow a linear chronological path!