Flashbacks
Novels always benefit from more effective bridges into flashbacks to avoid times when the reader doesn’t realise they have gone back in time—or are now back in the present—and it jars them out of the narrative. A change in tense always works to achieve this, along with a memory or a thought. Generally speaking, we want to make it easy for the reader to ‘get it’ and keep them immersed in the story at all times.
I often think as a flashback as a bit like a gear change when driving a manual car, or how a TV anchor links to a news story in a news article or entertainment show. It should be a smooth transition, taking the reader gently into the past and back to the now without them feeling as if they are being manipulated back and forth.
4 Tips to Use Flashbacks in Your Writing
Flashbacks can either be quick dips into the past or a larger narrative thread within a story. Taking readers out of the present time to learn about an earlier event can help a writer tell a story in a non-linear style. Approaching short story or novel writing in this way can make the narrative more interesting.
Flashbacks have several other important functions in literature:
Flashbacks aid character development. Diving into a character’s past, even momentarily, is a way for writers to convey background information that supports the main storyline. Writing flashbacks can provide insight into the main character’s motivations for the decisions they make and actions they take. For example, if a character's backstory includes something critical that happened in high school that can explain an event in the present, a writer can create a scenario that triggers a character to recall and reflect upon the memory.
Flashbacks incorporate different time periods. Everyone has layers of moments in their lives that influence who they are in the present. Following the chronological sequence of a storyline can leave a plot feeling flat. Flashbacks break up the chronological flow of a story, making it more interesting and realistic.
Flashbacks make readers more connected to the characters. Effective flashbacks provide a deeper insight into who a person is. Maybe a villain thinks back to the parents who abandoned him—a past event that has directly impacted his bad behaviour. Though readers might not excuse the character’s actions based on his past experiences, the flashback helps them feel empathy and make sense of the antagonist’s behaviour.
Flashbacks can explain the current conflict.
Flashing back can help a reader better understand why and how the protagonist got into the situation that’s driving the plot and the reasons behind the main conflict. If there’s a long history of bad blood between the protagonist and antagonist, a writer can use flashbacks to show readers this history
Bridge Into Flashback
When reading a story, readers find themselves doing a double-take and re-reading a page or two. This usually occurs because readers are no longer able to make sense of the narration. They’ve lost their way and are backtracking. As an author, your job is to lead readers through the story. If readers get lost, they may become confused over what the story is about, hence reducing your tale’s effectiveness. When readers are lost, the fictional dream is broken. Usually, readers get lost when the writer switches scenes but don’t adequately signal this is occurring. The problem usually with a switch of scene is easy enough to resolve – simply put a blank line of text between the two scenes or start a new chapter. Going in and out of flashbacks, however, doesn’t allow the writer to utilize either strategy. Instead, the writer has to utilize a bridge, which is a phrase or sentence that links two different scenes. This also is known as a segue or a transition. Consider this passage, which ends in a flashback:
Lyle gasped at the sight of his stricken father. As a child, he heard a faint crying in the quiet. Creeping down the stairs, he peeked about the living room entry into the kitchen, spied him flat across the tile, lowing like a calf upon a distant field. He did not know what to do, was too small to save him. With a long, drawn sigh, the young boy stepped back and ever so softly returned to his room.
Lyle kneeled at his father’s side. “What do you want me to do, Dad?” There was a long pause, filled with no sound but Carl Steinar’s occasional sobs. Then Lyle continued. “Well, Dad? Do you want me to let you kill yourself?” The old man did not respond, remained distant as an uneasy dog. Outside, wind randomly struck at the chimes hanging upon the porch. You probably found the passage confusing. Even though you were told that it would include a flashback, knowing exactly when it came back to the time frame that the story is being narrated in was unclear, at least initially. But now consider the same passage with a couple of bridges: Lyle gasped at the sight of his stricken father. It reminded him of many years ago when as a child he heard a faint crying in the quiet. Creeping down the stairs, he peeked about the living room entry into the kitchen, spied him flat across the tile, lowing like a calf upon a distant field. He did not know what to do, was too small to save him. With a long, drawn sigh, the young boy stepped back and ever so softly returned to his room.
Fourteen years later, Lyle kneeled at his father’s side. “What do you want me to do, Dad?” There was a long pause, filled with no sound but Carl Steinar’s occasional sobs. Then Lyle continued. “Well, Dad? Do you want me to let you kill yourself?” The old man did not respond, remained distant as an uneasy dog. Outside, wind randomly struck at the chimes hanging upon the porch.
The bridges here, It reminded him of many years ago when as a child, and, Fourteen years later, helped you as a reader to understand that the story’s time and location was shifting. When writing, ensure that the bridge is smooth and unobtrusive. You don’t want to draw attention to the transition itself but instead, make it part of the story’s natural flow.
Think about how you remember things and then weave these into your narrative.
Good luck!
Thanks to Jericho Writers, Curtis brown and Masterclass for their articles which we have combined and shared.