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How to write a flashback that goes with the flow of story?

fantastic

Minstrel
I am writing a story with more than one protagonist.

There is one character with past that reader needs to know about. I am not sure how to show that past. There are a few a ways but I don't think they are good.

One way would be to begin the story with that but I don't want to mislead the character into thinking that the mentioned character is the 'main' protagonist.

The other way would be that when the story switches to that protagonist, it starts with a flashback. But I think this would confuse a reader.

I also thought about having protagonist reminisce or have a dream of what happened in the past but I don't think it is a good idea.

I am almost certain that it would need to be a flashback but I am not sure how to put it into a story.

Do you have any ideas? Your opinion is welcome.
 

Saigonnus

Auror
A flashback in my humble opinion, should be caused by a trigger. Something in the present that takes them back. A smell, they see something, a song takes them back. Whatever it is it should have impact on the character.
 

Malik

Auror
Again, this is a problem that can be solved by reading more. Nearly every fiction book ever written has a flashback sequence. Find one you like and adapt it.

You can't write effectively if you don't read. You should read more than you write. The more you read, the stronger your writing gets.
 

Penpilot

Staff
Article Team
Here are some tips I've picked up along the way. The segue into the flashback is where things can really trip you up. If you have smooth and natural segue, the flashback won't stand out from the rest of the text. If it's rough, the reader will be pushed out of the story for a moment.

One segue into a flashback I tend to be careful using is this. "I remember twenty years ago..." Now, this is not to say don't use it, but for myself, generally there's a better way to transition in, but sometimes there isn't.

As mentioned above, flashbacks don't just happen, they are triggered by something in the present. It's like a tangent in a conversation. Two people may be talking about books and when one of them mentions Huck Finn, it may trigger a childhood memory/flashback.

One trick I've picked up that might help you along is the use of the past perfect tense using "had" if you're writing in past tense. As you're heading into you're flashback, have three consecutive sentences using "had". This makes it very clear to the reader we're going into a flashback. After that you can use normal past tense. But when you're coming out of the flashback have the last three sentences of the flashback use "had" too. This will single to the reader subtly that you're heading out of the flashback. This helps frame the flashback. You can vary how many "had" sentence you have as you like or need. It doesn't make sense to have three to start and end a flashback if it only has six sentences.

Here's a link that probably explains it better than I can. http://www.be-a-better-writer.com/flashback.html
 
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kayd_mon

Sage
I have to agree with Malik here. Can you remember reading some flashbacks that have really worked for you? How about some that felt awkward? Take notes on those!

I also like what Saigonnus said. Having a trigger is very helpful in keeping the flashback relevant.
 

Malik

Auror
You don't even have to read fantasy. Hell, I rarely do. I think most fantasy writing is terrible. And a lot of self-published fantasy writing is beyond terrible, into the realm of unreadable. Personally, I read a lot of thriller, suspense, non-fiction, and history, with the occasional delve into pop literature if I get a really good recommendation from someone who knows my tastes. (I also have a weird soft spot for instruction manuals for old and arcane pieces of equipment, like early 20th-century shop tools. I have half a bookshelf of the stuff. I don't know why.)

Point being, you have to read. You really do. Not blogs, not Facebook posts. Books. Well-written, professionally-produced literature where everything is spelled right and the words are chosen and the story is not only crafted, but supported by solid writing; phrases that carry the story like a bird extending its wing.

Love the words and the story will follow.
 
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fantastic

Minstrel
You don't even have to read fantasy. Hell, I rarely do. I think most fantasy writing is terrible. And a lot of self-published fantasy writing is beyond terrible, into the realm of unreadable. Personally, I read a lot of thriller, suspense, non-fiction, and history, with the occasional delve into pop literature if I get a really good recommendation from someone who knows my tastes. (I also have a weird soft spot for instruction manuals for old and arcane pieces of equipment, like early 20th-century shop tools. I have half a bookshelf of the stuff. I don't know why.)

Point being, you have to read. You really do. Not blogs, not Facebook posts. Books. Well-written, professionally-produced literature where everything is spelled right and the words are chosen and the story is not only crafted, but supported by phrases that carry the story like a bird extending its wing.

You have to love the words, bro.

I love reading. I don't think I would want to write, if I didn't. That said, I don't consider myself as particularly well-read individual. But I do love to read.

But I don't think I read that many books with flashbacks. Most books I read start at the beginning and only when character notices something, he remembers something from his past. But what he remembers is just a few sentences, not an entire chapter. There are a few exceptions but not nearly enough to say that I am very knowledgeable about flashbacks.

One idea that I have about writing this flashback would be writing the flashback and having the character wake up as the flashback ends. I am not too fond of this idea, however.
 

Malik

Auror
No worries. That wasn't specifically directed at you; it was directed at readers of this forum in general.

I have been trying to get a bead on the self-published fantasy market for the past few months and it is eye-stabbingly clear that a lot of beginning fantasy authors don't read very much. If at all.

Having a character wake up as a flashback ends is not unlike writing a dream; unless the audience already knows the character,and you've developed the world enough that the reader knows that it's a dream / flashback, the audience can feel robbed.

I have a long flashback sequence toward the end of my first book where we finally see the MC's major formative experience, in which he kills another fencer in a duel outside a bar in Paris. Earlier on, other characters hint at it and one of them remembers it from his perspective -- seeing the MC on the news, and then in TV tabloids and in memes -- and various points along the story reference the incident and we know that the MC has lost everything as a result. Yet, we don't really see the whole thing in its entirety until after one of the big, climactic battles, and then it's presented as a separate, short (2-page) chapter that serves to show that he's finally facing his past in one big whonk instead of little parsed chunks. Because if you've ever really screwed up your life -- like, wiped the slate -- it's not the sort of thing that you tackle in its entirety until you've got some distance from it or you've done something awesome or ideally both. Until then, you cut big mistakes into manageable pieces and forgive yourself for those. At least, I do. Your mileage may vary.

Time To Hunt by Stephen Hunter has an entire middle section that is, for my money, one of the greatest action sequences in modern writing. It is told entirely as a drunken flashback and it's probably a hundred pages long.

Hunter goes through two entire books of people referencing the incident -- the protagonist's defining moment -- before he shows the thing happening. It is fantastic and the writing is incredible. He gets there because the MC is a recovering alcoholic and the only way he can recover PTSD-buried memories is to drink himself blind again. Huge build-up to the flashback, fighting with the urge to drink, maybe a whole page of him just staring at the bottle, then opening it and smelling the whiskey, and then the second part of the book begins and you know that it's a flashback because it's suddenly twenty years ago.

It's masterful and not for the beginner, but it's really something to see him tell the reader: "This is going to be a flashback. Ready? Flashing back . . . right . . . NOW."
 

Devora

Sage
I think a pretty cool way off writing a style of flash back is if a character sees something and it immediately sends his mind back to a particular point that the thing reminds him of.
Example:
He looked at the ragged teddy bear with a strange familiarity, not knowing why this was so.

'Mommy, can you tell me a story?'
'I've already told you one.'
'But I want another.'
'Oh, alright. I suppose one more couldn't hurt.'


He put the teddy bear back down on the dusty chest of drawers.

[End of Example]
 
Read "Way of Kings" by Brandon Sanderson and the Warded Man trilogy by Peter V. Brett. Both make heavy use of moving from the present to the past and back, but not really in flashbacks. Instead, they simply tell the events as they occurred at different times.
 
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