Flashbacks: How to Use This Clever Technique

What is a 'flashback'? Think of a flash of light illuminating a scene from the past and you've got it.

Say you are writing a story and want to start, quite rightly, at the turning point in your hero's life, or the point where the action really takes off.

Your problem is that some events have happened leading up to this point, but you don't want to lay them before the reader to begin with as he/she might begin to think 'What's all this about then?' or 'When is the story really going to start?' This background stuff, which should, of course, be vital to the present, can be neatly injected into the story line to quickly fill in what went on before.

Suppose our heroine, Becky, is starting her new job which her fiancee Matthew, who also works for the firm, had helped her get. She arrives on her first day and after settling in looks out of the window and sees Graham. Oh no! This was the man she loved so very much before they split up and Matthew came along.

"Suddenly Becky's mind was overwhelmed with half forgotten memories. The walks in the park when the warm breeze had sent the Autumn leaves scurrying around their shoulders; the lazy boat trips on the river, the sunlight sparkling and dancing on the quiet ripples. This was the man she had held in her arms and whispered 'I'll always love you'. The trouble was, she still did."

So in just a few lines we've filled in the background and set the scene for trouble ahead.

Some authors can make a flashback last a whole chapter and pull it off. Unless you're really confident and know what you're doing it's probably best not to go this far until you are. It has to be done with skill and care.

With flashbacks the reader needs to be taken into it so that they know it is an event in the past and when it's over taken out of it again and back into the present.

This is most easily done by the character remembering some event as we saw with Becky above. Perhaps we could say:

"Becky was thrilled that she had landed this job. It was just what she wanted. Now she could begin to fulfil the potential she knew she had in her. Still in a state of happy euphoria she gazed out of the window just as a movement caught her eye.

As her eyes focussed she sat bolt upright with shock. The man getting into his car - it couldn't be could it? But yes, it was. It was Graham. Her Graham."

Similarly after the flashback, bring the action back to the present.

"'A penny for your thoughts, Becky' Becky jumped guiltily and looked up at Mr Martin startled. "Oh, sorry, I, I was just - miles away.'

"Not to worry. I've got something I want you to start on, so when you're ready come to my office will you?"'

After using a flashback it's good to introduce the next bit of action. In the example I've given the action might be Becky getting her assignment. Maybe it wasn't the kind of assignment she was expecting and she reacts to that.

Maybe the action is more on the lines of the steps she takes to try to resolve the conflict of emotions she has now been landed with.

Whatever it is it must be germain to the story and move things along.

The flashback can be a very useful technique as I hope I have explained, but do be careful not to make them too long, and remember to use them sparingly.

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