Writing Flashbacks
In the same way that writers always taught “show don’t tell,” even though there is a time and place for telling, writers are also cautioned away from flashbacks. Writing flashbacks are fun and can be a great way to create a sense of history within your narrative. I personally enjoy playing with time and connecting the dots between the past and its effect on who my characters are in the present moment of their story. In this post, instead of cautioning you away from flashbacks, I’m going to give a few tips on how to write good functioning ones.
Writing flashbacks may just be the dose of relevance your story needs.
Ready to take your writing to the next level? Get access to a whole library of resources from the experts, including videos, workshops, handouts, tips, and exclusive content for writers like you.
Is Writing Flashbacks Necessary?
One of the reasons flashbacks get a bad reputation is because they aren’t always used properly. If you’re going to add a flashback scene to your story, make sure you ask yourself if this isn’t a scene that can be shown in real time. Can this moment from the past be rewritten into the present? Is it absolutely necessary to help readers understand the present, or does it function more like an interruption?
The main downfall of flashbacks is that you’re writing information that isn’t fresh. The moment already happened. The characters have already reacted to it. Therefore, you lose the immediacy. But, what you lose in immediacy you should regain in relevance.
A good example comes from a project that I worked on a while ago. In the second half of the story, the characters were gathered at a convention and within each chapter we ended up hearing about events that happened in scenes that would’ve occurred between the previous scene and the current. These were recent flashbacks. Since the writer deemed these moments important enough to mention, to help readers understand the characters’ current – and sometimes changed – emotions, I’d argue that the flashbacks were not necessary. The moments occurred in the chronology of the plot and should’ve been shown in real time to take advantage of that immediacy.
On the flip side, there were also flashbacks that exposed readers to a relationship that occurred before the story began, and that relationship impacted the interactions between two of the main characters in the narrative. It happened long enough ago, and outside the focus of the story, that showing certain elements of the relationship through flashback was both warranted and necessary.
Always Orient Your Readers
Transitioning into flashbacks can be tricky sometimes. You want the transition to be seamless instead of shocking to the reader, but you don’t want it to be so seamless that it takes a paragraph for the reader to realize they’re in a different time. Within the first couple sentences of your flashback, readers should know when and where they are relative to the present setting of the narrative. Sometimes, the transition is as easy as shifting from present to past tense. Other times, you need to do a little more work.
You can start the flashback by telling readers that it’s a memory:
“I remember the summer Jenna got braces. We started eating soft serve since she couldn’t have popcorn anymore…”
“I remember being so furious. I stomped out of the kitchen and ran up to my room. I nearly busted my lip tripping on the third step because dad still hadn’t fixed it.”
Another option is to juxtapose the past to the present. You can show how a person or place has changed:
“Before Sara moved in and changed everything, our house was yellow like buttercup flowers.”
“Leighton had long hair in middle school. Everyone thought he was weird because he looked like he was trying to hide his face. At Jessica Harrison’s birthday party, all the girls got up in the middle of spin the bottle when Leighton sat down to play. I felt bad…but it’s not like I stood up for him, it’s not like I sat down to keep the game going. Maybe I should’ve.”
That being said, sometimes it works to say three years ago or last June to orient the readers. The key is assessing where in the narrative you’re working the flashback in and how to make it the least disruptive.
Maintain Active Voice
When you’re writing flashbacks, remember that you’re writing a scene. I’ve found that writers sometimes slip into telling readers about something that happened in the past instead of showing the past events. Flashback moments are important to understanding the present, and even though the moment already happened you still want to create immediacy and immerse your readers in that scene as if they are there. One way to think about it is that even though your characters already experienced and reacted to this moment, your readers have not. Give them the events and emotions to react to, don’t just talk about them.
Ultimately, I think flashbacks are a great way to play with time in a story. The way my brain works, I am constantly drawing on my past to understand who I am in the present. Flashbacks create a sense of history that make the narrative feel more real, that make the characters feel rounded and relatable. Don’t be afraid to use flashbacks, just make sure you’re using them in the right place at the right time, and that your readers can time travel with you!
Stay on top of the trends in writing, submitting, marketing, and more in our membership community, Good Story Learning. We add new content every month!
