A flashback can be a powerfully evocative tool for drawing a reader closer to the story. Often, flashbacks convey vital, plot-driving information to the reader, or they expand the reader’s understanding of a key character. There is, of course, a downside to incorporating a flashback: what’s being shared in the flashback has already happened. That’s why it’s important to write a flashback carefully.
Flashbacks should follow strongly written, significant scenes. Opening with a flashback, therefore, is generally not a good idea; you’ll throw the reader off even before you’ve properly oriented them in the story. Additionally, starting off with a flashback before the reader has had time to get to know the setting and characters in a story can deaden its impact, and since flashbacks should be reserved for communicating important information, the reader might miss the significance of any information contained in an opening flashback.
Decide whether the information conveyed in a flashback is crucial enough for it to be framed as a flashback. For example, if you need to tell the reader that the protagonist’s dog died outside of the timeframe of the narrative, consider whether that information can be more succinctly conveyed in dialogue. Unless the protagonist’s dog died for a reason that is crucial to the plot or in an out-of-the-ordinary manner, it might be best to simply have the protagonist mention the dog’s passing and get on with the story.
Give the reader sufficient warning that a flashback is going to happen. Transitional copy is essential here; you don’t want to just dump your reader into the past without a heads-up. Make it clear just how far back the reader is going via context clues. One easy way to do this is to have a character ruminate on the events of the flashback. If the protagonist’s dog was hit by a car, let an event within the timeframe of the story guide them toward thinking about the accident, and use their thoughts as a lead-in for your flashback. For example, your protagonist might witness another dog narrowly escape getting hit by a car and wish that their own dog had been so fortunate.
A calculated change in tenses can serve well to guide your reader into a flashback. If your narrative is written in past tense, write at least the beginning of your flashback in past-perfect tense. This task of switching tenses is even easier if you’re writing the majority of the narrative in present tense, because you can write your flashbacks in past tense.
Make sure to guide your reader back out again. To continue with the example provided above, if your narrator has relived the dog’s death in their memory, and that memory has been framed as a flashback, have the reader do something in “present time” to bring them back into the timeframe of the story. Perhaps another character might call out to them, which will cause them to snap out of their musings, or they might, on their own, become conscious that their mind is wandering away from the task at hand and that they need to focus.
Writing flashbacks is no easy feat, and there really are no hard and fast rules. The number-one suggestions, however, is that you firmly anchor your reader in the past and then back in the present again so there’s no disorientation or confusion on the reader’s part.
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