A decent chunk of my WIP is told through flashbacks, so I wanted to share some tips I have picked up.
What Is a Flashback?
Flashbacks are events that occur before the events of the novel take place.
Flashbacks can be short—a sentence or two—or standalone scenes.
This is a short flashback:
Looking at the sunrise, Leigh remembered the first sunrise she saw with Greg. He had slung his arm around her shoulder, holding her close with an unspoken promise that he would always be around.
This is not a flashback:
Looking at the sunrise, Leigh remembered the first sunrise she had seen with Greg, back when it felt like he would always be around.
In both scenes, Leigh remembers her first sunrise with Greg, but only one of the scenes is detailed.
Why Use Flashbacks? (And When Not To)
Only introduce a flashback if it does one of two things:
Moves the story forward (often by introducing new information)
Deepens character development (by explaining why the protagonist acts like they do, or by showing how the protagonist used to act)
Do not use flashbacks to introduce irrelevant information. A flashback must have a purpose behind it.
Do not write overly long flashbacks that go on for several pages. (Note: One of my favorite books, Prince Capsian by C.S. Lewis, totally does this. Rules can always be broken.)
Do not overly rely on flashbacks. I love Stranger Things, but oh my god, do they love their flashbacks. They start flashing back to things that happened in the same season. One day they'll have an episode that flashes back to the same episode.
How To Write Flashbacks
You can write your flashbacks as you write the present story, introducing them when your writer's intuition tells you.
Or you can write the main timeline separately from the flashbacks, then integrate the two later.
Either way, you'll want to follow some basic guidelines:
Import meaning
Don't just drop flashbacks in wherever. Create a link to the flashback by introducing a trigger—a word, object, smell, thought, whatever—connecting the flashback to the present moment.
For instance, my WIP's protagonist is having a terrible time at a party and then thinks about how he'd rather be chilling with his brother. That sets up a flashback showing how my protagonist has always idolized his older brother.
Have crystal clear transitions.
Write longer flashbacks as separate scenes, using line breaks. (See the above pic.)
Shorter flashbacks can be integrated into the text but should still be marked with a transition, such as a verb tense change. Let's look at the flashback from the beginning again:
Looking at the sunrise, Leigh remembered the first sunrise she saw with Greg. He had slung his arm around her shoulder, holding her close with an unspoken promise that he would always be around.
The flashback is introduced via verb tense change.
That's the ins & outs of flashbacks!
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