Flashbacks

[Former Member]

What is or are the rules for writing a flashback. I'm at a point in Austin Growing Up where Austin is giving a detailed account of everything that he and his friends had done to Trevor. Also, Trevor will do the same along with Austin's friends. I'm just not entirely sure how to do this with punctuation and changing POVs, etc....

 

Any advise would be appreciated.

[Fishwings]

Flashbacks are extremely difficult to pull off seamlessly, and even more difficult to pull off effectively.

 

When you write a flashback, you always run the risk of disorienting/irritating the reader, so you need to be SURE that there is a point to your flashback. That means, each flashback should be a complete beat, long enough to get the reader into the scene and to establish your goal, but not too long that you are shadowing your overall story. Because it is a backstory, you need to make an extra effort to make it engaging and you have to establish exactly who the characters in your flashback are, and ask yourself why the reader should care.

 

To write the flashback itself, you need to establish a trigger. Memories arise because they're triggered by something in particular, maybe a particular person, or a situation they ended up in. It would not be a good idea to have your main character sitting on the couch, eating tortilla chips, and then have a flashback. In the same way, you need to find some way to propel your character back into the present.

 

For shorter scenes, many authors choose to use to use italics to separate story time from flashback time. You can also use asterisks * * * to separate time frames as well. You can even start it off in the beginning of a new chapter entirely.

[The Pecman]

What is or are the rules for writing a flashback. I'm at a point in Austin Growing Up where Austin is giving a detailed account of everything that he and his friends had done to Trevor. Also, Trevor will do the same along with Austin's friends. I'm just not entirely sure how to do this with punctuation and changing POVs, etc....

 

I've always been of the opinion that changing POVs is very dangerous, and often fails because (to me) it reveals too much technique to the reader. Flashbacks can work in small doses, but I think even that has to be done from one point of view -- or possibly 3rd person omniscient, which can get inside the head of any character -- to avoid becoming confusing. 

 

There's also the choice of simply telling the story in chronological order, so that the flashback becomes its own self-contained chapter that precedes what follows. I think once you get beyond a few pages, there's a danger of confusing the reader and just becoming too contrived. 

 

There are always exceptions, and there have been some fantastic movies and novels written that were filled with multiple flashbacks; Citizen Kane is one of my favorites, one that even sometimes shows the same scene later on from a different point of view, revealing things of which the original narrator wasn't aware. But I think it takes considerable skill to pull this stuff off. 

[Former Member]

I've always been of the opinion that changing POVs is very dangerous, and often fails because (to me) it reveals too much technique to the reader.

 

There's also the choice of simply telling the story in chronological order, so that the flashback becomes its own self-contained chapter that precedes what follows. I think once you get beyond a few pages, there's a danger of confusing the reader and just becoming too contrived. 

 

But I think it takes considerable skill to pull this stuff off. 

this is why I'm stuck. I keep writing and re-writing this chapter but cannot seem to make it work. This now has me completely frustrated. I need help.

[Sara Alva]

I once beta'ed a novel that had a mid-book flashback. It explained character motiviation, and essentially everything else that was going on (there was a mystery/crime aspect in the novel). Although it was well-written and contained information that made me go "ohhh, so that's why X did Y!"...I ended up telling him to cut it all.

 

For me, it just killed the flow. It explained everything too neatly. I wanted the uncertainty back...the ability to continue to figure things out as little snippets and clues were presented. He ended up following my advice, and as it turned out, readers didn't seem to "miss" all the info that the flashback had presented (of course, they never knew it existed).

 

Your situation might be different, though. Who are the characters giving their accounts to? (Or to whom are the characters giving their accounts...but that sounds stuffy )

[Former Member]

Your situation might be different, though. Who are the characters giving their accounts to? (Or to whom are the characters giving their accounts...but that sounds stuffy )

It's the character, Austin, first revealing to his girlfriend that he might me gay, then later testifying in a courtroom as to the facts of what he and his friends did.

 

Any insight as to how to structure this?

[Sara Alva]

If Austin is testifying in a courtroom, why does it have to be a flashback? Couldn't he just give his testimony, and reflect on moments from the past as he's doing so?

[Former Member]

If Austin is testifying in a courtroom, why does it have to be a flashback? Couldn't he just give his testimony, and reflect on moments from the past as he's doing so?

I hadn't considered that.

[The Pecman]

Maybe roll out the flashback in pieces. Something happens, and it forces him to remember just a moment, like a page or two. Do that a few times, and it might cover the whole situation, spread out over several chapters. 

 

But I agree, flashbacks are dangerous, because to me they're a little too "showy." The moment you go too far, to me, it reveals too much of the technique, which should be invisible to the reader.