The Key to Writing Meaningful Flashbacks
💥Flashbacks💥
They’re a little bit controversial amongst the writing community.
Some love them.
Some hate them.
But, sometimes the narrative calls for them. To ensure that your flashbacks make the most impact, follow the following four tips!
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1️⃣ Flashbacks need to be Relevant
Flashbacks need to be relevant and necessary to the story, the scene they’re in, and the characters experiencing them.
Does the flashback give context to your character’s current situation?
Does it evoke a painful memory that is relevant to the scene or action your character is taking?
When editing, I often see flashbacks used as a way to give readers the traumatizing backstory of the character within the first chapter or first few chapters. It’s another way to infodump.
Do your best not to infodump backstory in flashbacks and at the very beginning of your story—drip feed backstory (and world-building) to your readers.
2️⃣ Keep flashbacks short
Keep flashbacks short, both for the sake of the reader’s attention span and for the sake of the front story.
Front Story [fruhnt stohr-ee]
noun
- the narrative that’s happening in the present (even when written in past tense) and pressing forward.
- the story happening on the page.
Synonyms: backstory
If you find yourself going into the backstory often, then you need to ask yourself a very serious question: Why am I telling the front story?
This isn’t a bad thing to wonder about. It might be that the story you’re being called to tell is the backstory that you’ve worked so hard on.
3️⃣ Use Flashbacks Sparingly
Again, the front story is one being told for a reason.
If you’re frequently pulling readers into flashbacks to learn the backstory, you have to ask yourself whether or not the backstory is the narrative you might actually want to write.
And that’s not to say that the backstory isn’t important. Of course, it is. It’s important to you as you’re figuring out and writing your story.
You have to decide what parts of the backstory are important for readers to learn as they take the journey with your character through the front story.
4️⃣ Keep Flashback Transitions Smooth & Organic
The smoother the better for a lot of things, especially when it comes to flashbacks. This will help readers feel that the flashback is necessary. It will also keep them invested in the story.
Note: there are always exceptions and outliers. If you have a character struggling with PTSD anything may trigger a flashback.
Happy writing,
Kourtney