Flashbacks are popular. They’re also misused all the time because people think they can be dropped in whenever they want. It’s like having a smooth ride and then throwing a cardboard box in the way. Sure, you might run it over, drag it for a while, and get back on track. You could also get it stuck in the undercarriage and never recover because damage has been done. Fine, I stretched for that analogy. Let’s get to the tips.
Use flashbacks sparingly! If every third scene is a flashback then you have to rethink the overall story. This means that you’re spending nearly as much time in the past as you are in the present. Flashbacks are supposed to be informative and to help reveal things without info dumping. They shouldn’t be repeatedly sucking the air out of the main story. Think of using only one flashback unless you build jumping back and forth into the narrative.
Flashbacks that happen after the action has started need a trigger. You have to justify stepping away from the main story and stepping into the past. Without leading into the flashback, you create an abrupt transition that can jerk the reader out of the experience. They’ll be confused on what is going on and might put the book away for a while. I’ve read a few stories that did this and wondered if I had bought a copy that was missing pages or the publisher accidentally put pieces of another volume of the series in the book by accident. So, have a trigger such as a question or statement. You can even have a scene end on a cliffhanger that will lead into the flashback.
Depending on how far back you’re going, the characters in the flashback need to look different than their modern day versions. If it’s only a few months, you won’t have to worry much. Years means they will certainly be younger unless they’re some kind of immortal. This isn’t just for physical description. Mental and emotional growth may need to be pushed back to have them act more their age.
There has to be a reason for this to happen. A flashback needs to reveal, foreshadow, or explain an event connected to the main plot. Doing it simply to show a cool scene that has no real purpose won’t get you very far. Once the readers come back to the main plot, there is a high chance that they’ll notice you threw some pointless filler at their face. Have the focal point be informative because that’s the key reason to have a flashback.
Never do a flashback in the middle of a scene with no warning. This sounds like an obvious tip, but it’s apparently done at times.
Be careful introducing new characters in flashbacks, especially if they haven’t appeared in the present. They can be supporting characters with no impact, but they can’t be heavy hitters without an explanation as to their absence. If they aren’t supposed to be around in the present then you need to explain why. It doesn’t even have to be killing them off. They could have left between the flashback and present, which can be shown in a single sentence. It also helps to have these past influencers mentioned prior to the flashback. Otherwise, you have readers wondering why this important person is missing.
If a flashback is so good that you want it to be more then try to fight the urge to extend. Instead, put information on the side and consider writing a short story or novella about that time period. Many side stories have been written because the author and/or readers found a view of the past intriguing.
I really liked this exchange between Darwin and one of his friends. It was kind of sweet since they were just getting to understand each other. You get a good sense of how Darwin thinks too.
Businessman laying down in a suit isolated on white background
August is affectionately known as the “dead month” in the publishing industry. During August all work comes to a virtual halt as editors, agents, proofreaders, typesetters, CEOs, dog walkers and everyone else on the planet takes a much-needed vacation.
So, all you aspiring authors, don’t submit your manuscript to publishers, and don’t send your queries to agents in the month of August. (To be fair, the two weeks up to and after the Frankfurt Book Fair in October are not so great either, and mid-November to mid-January is also a bad time, but for different reasons.)
If your manuscript is ready to go, you have several choices of what to do during the dead month. You can head to the beach, you can write your next novel …
I don’t use flashbacks because they never really worked for Third-Person Present tense writing. At least in my mind. If I’m showing what’s going on now then jumping into the past can make things confusing. Of course, I have an aversion to writing flashbacks in general. Let me explain:
Long ago, I was in college and was making friends during my freshman semester. I didn’t hide the fact that I was a Writing Arts Major and enjoying writing books. This led to a new friend suggesting we write a story together. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but quickly went south. We had characters, but the only description I was given were the actors who were expected to play them in a movie. I tried my best though. The writing began with me being told what I should be describing. Made good time in getting to the end of the first page and then . . . Flashback . . . Wait . . . Put a flashback . . . What?
Yeah, I was told to put a flashback in at the start of the second page even though we were at the start of chapter 1. There was no transition or explanation as to why this had to be done now. We stopped writing for the day, but I couldn’t go back to that project and refused to try again. The paper notes met their end with a can of Dr Pepper and the Word file was lost to a ‘computer crash’. I was only 18, so this one hit me pretty hard and made me think about the whole thing. My mind focused on flashbacks and how they’re viewed by others.
People do seem to take them for granted. They’re a great way to show the past and give background information without an info dump. Yet, I don’t think people realize how they need to be triggered and can wreck the pacing, especially in a book. You see them regularly done in certain mediums to the point where you can make a drinking game out of them. Best example is ‘Family Guy’ when a character talks about a past event in the middle of a conversation, the scene is show, and then they’re back or things have moved on. The flashback is used as a scene ender at times here, but that’s because it kills all momentum for the present-day story. So, you can’t go dropping it every time you feel like explaining something.
I always thought the point of a flashback is to inform instead of entertain more than the main story. I’ve watched some shows where they’ll have a flashback episode or story arc, which is supposed to explain points. While it does that, it also makes me want to learn more about the past than what I started with. If you hook a reader so much into the flashback that they get annoyed with it ending then you made a mistake. Even if you release a short story or book to continue the flashback, you’ve done harm to the current book. A reader won’t know you’re going further later on, so they’ll be shunted out of the flow and may never get back into it.
This is another reason I’m nervous about using one. I can simply do the background scenes with a prologue and then write the main story without having to time travel. The risk feels too high for what I’m writing. If I need to explain anything, I can have a character figure it out and summarize. Do people need to see a detailed scene of a dragon being slain and the sword being imbued with its power and hatred? Not really if it can simply be shown by a character grabbing the weapon, being consumed by the dragon spirit, and declaring that vengeance will be his. The finer points can be found out in other ways, but might not be necessary.
Again, this is all about style and preference. Flashbacks simply don’t work out for me at this point. Maybe I’ll use one later, but I can’t think of any story that needs one. I do use actual visions of the past that the characters view as specters or can actually interact with, but those aren’t flashbacks. Those are neat ways to reveal events without having to actually go into the past. Works with magic and certain technology, so it’s limited to a few genres. Thankfully, I don’t like straying from those, which is another reason why I don’t really have to worry about this literary tool that much.
So, what do you think of flashbacks? Ever use them?
As mentioned yesterday, my son turned 13 this past week. I was so busy preparing for his party and trying not to collapse from long Covid that I decided to use today to do an easy ‘meme’ collection post. Of course, I didn’t realize how memes about teenagers would go:
Most I found were about teenage daughters and involved giving attitudes.
Many were about adults loving teenagers, which is disturbing.
Most that I found about sons dealt with masturbation.
So, this is the best I could do on Google. I really don’t understand why so many of them sucked. You’d think teenagers would be a common topic for memes. Oh well.
I’m not even going to look at what my goals were. Doubt I made any of them because this week had an unexpected hurdle. It’s one that may carry through the entire summer from the look of things.
For those who don’t remember or know, I caught Covid at the end of June. It was a very mild case with fatigue as the biggest symptom. Since then, I’ve had days where I’m not that focused (brain fog) and feel sleepy halfway through the day. I was still able to work through those periods to finish Darwin & the Halfling Hunt. I was ready to handle those again, but things changed last Sunday morning. Not for the better and things kind of went downhill from there.
So, I woke up feeling off, but testing negative. Had very little appetite and felt drained of energy. Still went to a friend’s place to watch ‘Resident Evil’ on Netflix and I was fine by the time I got there. Kind of tired when I got home, so I didn’t think anything of it. Then, I woke up feeling like the undead on Monday. Same on Tuesday and Wednesday was even worse with me wondering if I was dying. I couldn’t focus on anything, so the little I did write took me 3x the amount it normally would. The slightest errand would leave me drained and I had a lot to do. What did this mean?
Well, it looks like I have Long Covid. This is when the symptoms continue after the infection is over. A mild case can still lead to a nasty Long Covid period, which I seem to be stuck in. This was probably amplified by the heat and stress over a few things that are coming up. Doesn’t help that I’ve run into some people who think I’m faking it. They won’t tell me what I would gain from it since I’m still doing everything I have to do aside from writing. The fatigue also triggers my anxiety, so I spend most of the day spiraling into being a mess. For some reason, it all ends around 9 PM when I feel somewhat normal, but it’s too late to do anything. I think I’m up for another booster, so I might get one next weekend and see if it helps alleviate some of this.
With all of this in mind, I know I won’t finish Darwin & the Avenging Elf before the end of summer. I’ll try to get it done before the end of September, but I might have to switch to preparing November blog posts at times too. Have some shaky topics for that month since I’m trying to do all of this with brain fog. That’s when you can’t really focus and forget things easily. For example, I keep forgetting words right after I hear it or write the same sentence twice. Big reason that the writing is going slow. Maybe I’ll prep November stuff this coming week and get that done? Might be too much for my battered mind.
Moving away from covid and writing, my son turned 13 this past Thursday. He’s officially a teenager, but he’s had that attitude for a while. I want to say he grew up so fast, but it feels like I’ve been parenting him for decades. Doing a Mobile Arcade for him and a bunch of kids this morning. Then pizza and cake. Tomorrow will be ‘DC League of Super Pets’ and video games will be played on the home system. Last night, we got his godfather from the train station, which was a surprise appearance. So, ‘Super Smash Bros’ will get some attention. As long as my son doesn’t hold us hostage and make us watch hours of him playing ‘Pokemon Legends: Arceus’. We’ll see what happens.
Crud, I walked away and forgot about this. Where was I?
I’ve got nothing else going on. Just hoping to dive back into writing whenever I get the energy and mental clarity. Things may improve once the birthday party planning is done and I have fewer things on my mind. For now, I’ll keep going through my television show list since I lack the energy to do much else. I finished ‘Fate/Grand Order- Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia’, which was . . . something. This overall series was recommended to me, but I can’t get fully into it for some reason. I jumped to ‘Granblue Fantasy’ once I was done. This is a fun adventure story based on a video game, which I may have watched some of years ago. If it was ever on Netflix then I probably did and just forgot. Oh well, I’m enjoying it again. Not sure what I’ll go after next. Maybe I’ll rewatch one of the shows that just finished dubbing season 2. I would watch season 3 of ‘Harley Quinn’, but it won’t be entirely out until mid-September and I want to binge.
Now, goals of the week?
Son’s birthday party.
‘DC League of Super Pets’ tomorrow!
Write as much of Darwin & the Avenging Elf as possible.
Rest and try to get through the chronic fatigue.
Get a covid booster next weekend.
Puzzle time to keep mind active.
Biking if feel up to it.
Try to plan stuff for the non-camp week I have my son.
Businessman laying down in a suit isolated on white background 
August is affectionately known as the “dead month” in the publishing industry. During August all work comes to a virtual halt as editors, agents, proofreaders, typesetters, CEOs, dog walkers and everyone else on the planet takes a much-needed vacation.
Legends of Windemere 