Flashbacks are a mainstay of commercial fiction, especially in the suspense and romance genres. Now, when they're done poorly and placed improperly, yeah, they're painful to read. But here's the secret. When you learn to write a flashback well, they become a fluid part of the narrative. You don't even notice them, and really that's the goal. Welcome to the Write It Scared podcast. I'm your host, Stacy Fraser, a formerly repressed creative soul, turned fiction writer, story editor, and author accelerator certified fiction book coach. At Write It Scared, we tell the truth about why writing a novel is so hard by acknowledging that most writers grapple with two stories. The one they want to put on the page to the best of their ability, and the often subconscious internal story that prevents them from doing it. This show is designed to help you identify and rewrite the internal narrative holding you back while you discover and write the story you want to tell and learn all the tools to help you do that successfully. Join me each week for a new episode where we'll talk about writing to deepen our understanding of the craft and of ourselves as writers. Writing a novel is an inside job that we do not do alone. Welcome to Red It Scared. I'm glad you're here. Let's dive in. Well, hello, writer. Welcome back to another episode of the Right It's Scared Podcast. I'm your host, Stacy, and this is episode number 23. And today we're going to continue on with our craft segment and wrap up the discussion we've been having about the micro element of backstory. We're going to talk about how to write a seamless flashback in your fiction novel. Before, in episode 21, we covered how to convey backstory using memory and context. And then in episode 19, we talked about what you need to think about to develop a backstory and keep track of it. I'll pop those links in the show notes if you want to go back and listen. So I'm going to preface this episode by saying it's fairly long and it's pretty in-depth. So you might want to wait for a time where you can stop, push pause, take notes, come back to it. And I highly recommend getting a hold of a copy of The Hunger Games and reading chapter two because we're going to do some practical analysis with that. So, you know, flashbacks kind of get a bad rap. There's advice out there to stay away from them, avoid them. They're kind of like prologues, you know, they tend to attract dis looks of disdain from editors. And maybe you've come across the blanket writing advice that says you should avoid using them altogether. And I'm going to tell you this is not so. Not so at all. So today we're going to talk about the pros and cons of flashbacks, and we'll discuss when to use them and how to write them seamlessly so they don't stick out like a sore thumb or slow the pace of your story down to a glacial crawl. And to do this, we're going to use my favorite tool, which is, you should know by now, analysis. Yep, we're going to look at a specific flashback example and see how it checks off all the boxes to create a smooth reading experience that delivers an impactful moment and drives the story forward with character agency. So, definitions. What exactly is a flashback? Flashback is a narrative device where a character recalls a meaningful event from the past. It can be an event from the backstory, as in before the story starts. We call that an external analepsis, or it can be from a previous moment in the story's present timeline. Now, this is considered an internal analepsis. Either way, the purpose of a flashback is to deepen the reader's understanding of the character's desires and motives and illuminate something about the situation from the character's perspective that causes them to either have a realization, reaction, or make a decision that moves the story forward. But that's not all. There is so much more a flashback can do. So, unlike other methods of conveying backstory, like we've talked about in episode 19, such as context and memory, which rely on flashes and fragments and association, and perhaps short stints of narrative summary, flashbacks are delivered in full or partial scenes, effectively pulling the reader into the dramatized action of a past event. This means the main event of the flashback will be shown in real time with action we can visualize as if we're watching a play, so it's not going to be in summary. And so let's talk about the pros and cons of flashbacks. Here are the benefits of using a flashback. Well-placed flashback will offer insights into character motivations and psychological states that are difficult to understand otherwise. A well-placed flashback is going to deepen the reader's understanding of past and current events, which can answer questions the reader is already dying to know. In fact, that is my favorite way to use a flashback as a payoff to a story question that has been nagging me as a reader. A good flashback will also create anticipation for what the character will do next and often provide the character with some sort of resolve determining how they will move forward in the present. Flashbacks can also be used to create empathy for other characters, say a villain. In a multiple POV narrative, a flashback can be a great tool to create dramatic irony, where the reader knows what's coming, but the character doesn't. This increases the tension and the suspense of the story. For example, say the villain has a flashback to when he killed his first victim, and then we see how he envisions doing it differently the next time. So when the protagonist walks into his trap, we know it's coming, and we're all on the edge of our seats shouting, No, don't go up the stairs. Why do they always run up the stairs? The downsides or the cons of using a flashback. They can be tricky to write, and they can feel gimmicky and clunky, especially if the writer overuses the past perfect verb tense. And so we'll cover how to fix that today. Flashbacks can also stall your story's momentum if they don't illuminate something about the present moment that the reader needs to know right now and lend to character agency. Remember, that is a key to revealing backstory. The reader needs to know it right now. And if that flashback is holding a secret that the protagonist or the point of view character, you know, doesn't want us to know, it's better to place that farther down the line and prolong the reveal and the outcome and keep the reader in suspense. So the point: deliver the information at the moment where it will make the most impact on your reader in the story. Overusing flashbacks can pull focus from the present timeline and cause reader confusion. And flashbacks can be a crutch. We often feel like we need to incorporate a flashback to provide a deep and detailed understanding of what happened to create the present situation or the present mood the character's in. But there are usually better ways to convey this information, ways that allow the reader to participate in the narrative and reveal rather than explain what has transpired in the past? When is a good time to use a flashback? So if you're thinking about using a flashback, consider the reader's experience and ask yourself two questions. Number one, does the reader really need to know this information right now to make sense of what is going on with the character? And the second question is: does understanding this information move the story forward? Or are you just conveying information for the sake of conveying information? If the answer to those questions is no, the reader doesn't really need to know this information right now, and it's not moving the story forward, then I advise against using a flashback. Look for another way to convey the information, such as with memory or context, or question whether or not that information really needs to be there in the first place. So here's some general guidelines to follow when writing a flashback. Do use them sparingly to prevent slowing the pace of your book too much. If you find you want to use a lot of flashbacks to convey your story, then you might actually have two stories at play and would be well served to consider using a dual timeline. Do use clear transitions in and out of a flashback and appropriate tense changes to signal to the reader that we're going back in time, but don't make it clunky, and I'll talk more on that in a minute. Avoid the trap of flashing the equivalent of a neon sign at your reader that says, attention, we're now entering a flashback. So these are things like the memory rose on Biden. The memory flashed in her mind. She recalled the memory like it was yesterday. That's not seamless. That's pointing your finger at it saying this is a flashback. We want it to be seamless, remember? Don't use italics for flashbacks. This is another neon sign to the reader and to editors and agents. It's a sign of a less experienced writer. Ask me how I know. There are far better and less obtrusive ways to move the reader back in time without hurting their eyes. Do use a smart trigger, something significant to your character to initiate the flashback and smoothly draw your character down memory lane, making it feel like it's all part of the narrative. Subconsciously, the reader will understand that they are no longer in the story present, but they are also too enraptured by how the flashback is unfolding and contributing to the story present to really notice. The flashback must have a takeaway for the protagonist. There must be a reason why they took a walk into the past, and that reason must contribute to the story's present and narrative drive. It must move the story forward by causing a realization, reaction, or action associated with the protagonist's current situation or circumstance. And like I said, I love it when authors use flashbacks as a payoff to a previously posed story question. Here are the specific components that you need for a well-written, well-placed flashback. Your viewpoint character is going to be in a problematic situation, and the reader's going to understand why it's a problem because previous context has been given. There will be a trigger in the present moment. The character will transition into thinking about the past and anchor into a past experience with a tense change, which they won't notice, but you will remember to do as the author. The memory of the event will be presented in a full or partial scene form. And then we will have a transition back into the story present moment. And that transition will include a tense change, and then there will be a takeaway for the main character that creates a new or deepened desire, effectively moving the story forward and ideally increasing the stakes. Okay, now let's practice with analyzing a scene and picking it apart. And yes, I'm gonna read to you again, so I'm really sorry. Okay, let's look at a relatively straightforward example of a well-known and well-done flashback from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. So the flashback that I'm gonna present to you is in chapter two. Here's the setup. So Katniss has volunteered to take her little sister's place as tribute for the Hunger Games, and she comes out of her shell shock as they announce the name of the second tribute, Pita Mallark. Katniss instantly reacts with interiority. Here's what Katniss thinks. Oh no, I think, not him. Because I recognize this name, although I have never spoken directly to its owner, Pita Mallark. No, the odds are not in my favor today. I watch him as he makes his way toward the stage. Alright, we'll stop there. So the announcement of Pita Mallark's name is the trigger. Collins goes on to use several paragraphs to describe Pita the surroundings the mayor, who begins to read the Treaty of Treason. And so we'll continue reading here. The mayor begins to read the long, dull Treaty of Treason as he does every year at this point. It's required, but I'm not listening to a word. Why him, I think? Then I try to convince myself it doesn't matter. Pita Malark and I are not friends, not even neighbors. We don't speak. Our only real interaction happened years ago. He's probably forgotten all about it. But I haven't, and I know I never will. Do you feel that the character is transitioning into thinking about the past here? I'm gonna read a little bit more. And right here is our transition with a tense change that is taking us back into what actually happened in the past. It was during the worst time. It's the was right there that is the key, the indicator that we've transitioned into the past. And Collins starts out with a bit of summary here. My father had been killed in the mine accident three months earlier in the bitterest January anyone could remember. The numbness of his lost had passed and the pain would hit me out of nowhere, doubling me over, racking my body with sobs. Where are you? I would cry out in my mind, where have you gone? Of course, there was never an answer. The district have given us a small amount of money as compensation for his death, enough to cover one month of grieving, which at the time my mother would be expected to get a job, only she didn't. She didn't do anything but sit, propped up in a chair, or more often, huddle under blankets on her bed, eyes fixed on some point in the distance. Okay, I'm gonna stop there. So what have we got so far? We have our protagonist who is in a situation that is problematic, and we understand why. The problem? Well, she's the tribute for District 12 for the Hunger Games. She's just volunteered to take her sister's place. And they name Peter Malark as the other tribute. His name, his being the tribute, is a trigger. And because of this, the character starts transitioning into thinking about the past. And that's that's where we are right now. We're anchoring into the past experience with that tense change. Then we get a little bit more of a setup of of what Katniss is about to reveal to us. So there's several more paragraphs that are delivered in narrative summary that lead us to the interaction with Pita that occurred years before, the one Katniss has never forgotten. And the gist is that because of her father's death and her mother's depression, you know, and it's a terribly cold season, Katniss's family was on the brink of starvation. Here is the flashback, the actual scene of the past. On the afternoon of my encounter with Pita Mallark, the rain was falling in relentless icy sheets. I'd been in town trying to trade some threadbare old baby clothes of Prims in the public market, but there were no takers. Although I had been to the hob on several occasions with my father, I was too frightened to venture into that rough, gritty place alone. The rain had soaked through my father's hunting jacket, leaving me chilled to the bone. For three days we'd had nothing but boiled water with some old dried mint leaves I'd found in the back of the cupboard. By the time the market closed, I was shaking so hard I dropped my bundle of baby clothes in a mud puddle. I didn't pick it up for fear I would keel over and be unable to regain my feet. Besides, no one wanted those clothes. I couldn't go home, because at home was my mother with her dead eyes and my little sister with her hollow cheeks and cracked lips. I couldn't walk into that room with the smoky fire from the damp branches I had scavenged at the edge of the woods after the coal had run out, my hands empty of any hope. I found myself stumbling along the muddy lane behind the shops that served the wealthiest people of town. When I passed the baker's, the smell of fresh bread was so overwhelming I felt dizzy. The ovens were in the back and the golden glow spilled out of the open kitchen door. I stood mesmerized by the heat and the luscious scent until the rain interfered, running its icy fingers down my back, forcing me back to life. I lifted the lid to the baker's trash bin and found it spotlessly, heartlessly bare. Suddenly a voice was screaming at me and I looked up to see the baker's wife, telling me to move on and did I want her to call the peacekeepers and how sick she was of having those brats from the scene pawing through her trash. The words were ugly and I had no defense. As I carefully replaced the lid and backed away, I noticed him, a boy with blonde hair peering out from behind his mother's back. I'd seen him at school. So I'll stop there and summarize. But the scene experience continues with Katniss retreating to a tree near the baker's pig pen. She can hear the baker's wife screaming at the boy for burning bread and telling him to go feed it to the pigs. And when Katniss sees him, he's got a big old red welt on his cheek from being struck by presume from by presumably burning the bread. When he feels like his mom isn't watching, he tosses the bread at Katniss instead of the pigs, and he saves her. So the transition out of the flashback is gradual, going back into a brief narrative summary about how Katniss returns home, shares the bread with her family, sees Pita again at school, but doesn't see she doesn't speak to him, she doesn't thank him. And at the same time, she sees the first dandelion of spring, and she knows that her family has survived the winter. The reader is transitioned again, this time into the story present with a paragraph that begins in the present tense. Remember, we had started in the present tense, we were transitioned into the past tense by what that keyword was, and then we were in summary, you know, in the past tense, and then we went into a descriptive piece of a scene in the past tense, and then we're transitioned back into the story present with present tense. And here's the line. To this day, I can never shake the connection between this boy, Peter Malark, and the bread that gave me hope and the dandelion that reminded me I was not doomed. And it goes on to show how Katniss regrets never thanking Peter for what he did. And from that, she realizes that she's going to be thrown into the pit and forced to fight to the death, and she may have to kill the boy who once saved her. And so, given the circumstances, how is she supposed to thank him now? So the reader is then nudged out of Katniss's interiority with this sentence, which continues to show us the stark realization that Katniss has had by recalling the events shown in the flashback. Remember, there has to be a takeaway. There has to be a reason for the character to have gone into that flashback. We need the story to move forward in some way. And so here it is. The mayor finishes the dreary treaty of treason and motions for Pita and me to shake hands. His are solid and warm as those loaves of bread. Pita looks me right in the eye and gives my hand what I think is meant to be a reassuring squeeze. Maybe it's just a nervous spasm. We turn back and face the crowd as the anthem of Pan M plays. Oh well, I think. There will be 24 of us. Odds are someone else will kill him before I do. Of course, the odds have not been very dependable as of late. So even though it's not explicitly stated, Katniss is facing the reality of what she must do in the Hunger Games to survive, possibly killed the boy who saved her and her family from starvation. So how heavy is that? Pretty heavy. And from this, a series of compelling story questions emerge, like, will she do it? Will she kill PETA if push comes to shove? That's what the reader is now asking. So these questions create powerful narrative drive, compelling us to read on with a deeper understanding of the sacrifices Katniss may have to make to survive. The emotional stakes have risen along with the physical stakes, and that's just damn good fiction. So, analyzing the flashback. We kind of did this as we went along, but we'll go through it one more time. Let's see if this flashback ticked off all the components that we listed before. Do we have a protagonist in a problematic situation that the reader understands? Yes, we do. Katniss is volunteered to take her sister's place a tribute at the Hunger Games, and Peter Mallark has been announced as the other tribute. Is there a trigger in the present moment? Yes, Peter Mallark is named a second tribute. This causes an instant reaction in Katniss. Is the character transitioning about the to thinking about the past? Yes. And and we kind of see this. The mayor starting to read that boring long treaty of treason, and she's not paying attention. She's thinking, she's reflecting on why him. And trying to convince herself it doesn't matter. And it reveals that they've had an interaction in the past that she's never gonna forget. So it matters. It matters a lot. Was there an anchoring into the past experience with a tense change? Yes, we saw that. We saw it with the line, it was during the worst time. The was was the indicator there. And it continues on in that past perfect verb tense or plu perfect, which further grounds the reader in the understanding the character is recalling something that has occurred in the past. Another one is the memory of the main juiciest piece of the event presented in a scene form. Yes, we see Katniss outside the bakery and PETA throwing the burn bread. Do we have a transition back into the present moment? Absolutely. The author transitions us back into the present by using a tense change to present with this sentence. To this day, I can never shake the connection between the boy Peter Mallark and the bread that gave me hope. Is there a takeaway for the main character that creates a new or deepened desire, effectively moving the story forward and ideally increasing the stakes? You bet there is. Katniss is reflecting on what this means for her to enter the Hunger Games with Peter Mallark as the other tribute from her district. She might have to kill him. She hopes it doesn't come to that. And yet the reader's wondering, will she do it? And from that, we have story questions that drive the narrative forward. So, yes, this flashback scene has all the components we need to make it feel seamless and deepen our understanding of our characters' motivation and allow us to anticipate their future actions. And did you notice how you got to participate in it? It's really hard to do that when you're listening to me tell it, but go read chapter two of The Hunger Games. Evaluate this flashback, and you will notice you're not being spoon-fed anything. You are being allowed to participate as a reader. Nothing's being explained to you. It's being delivered to you in a way which you can watch it unfold and anticipate how it's going to unfold, which is just cool. So there's also a bonus here. And the bonus was that this flashback scene was a payoff to a story question that had been posed earlier in the book. It answered why Katniss is so angry with her mother and what exactly happened to create the family dynamic of Katniss being the primary provider. This was also hinted at back in chapter one, too, but this gives it a little more dynamic context. Okay, before we wrap up, I want to share a very quick craft tip for handling tense changes and flashbacks. So if you are writing in the past tense and you need to take a reader into a flashback, start your flashback off in the past perfect tense by using a few hads. Example, he had been, she had done, we had liked. Then drop the word had into a cur contraction with a solid D for a hot second or two. So for example, he'd been, she'd done, we'd liked. Then drop the past perfect completely and roll with simple past tense. So the reader will read on without noticing. So here's an example if we put all that together. The day Lou died, Jennifer had been observing him with interest, curious as she'd never noticed him before. But that September day, for whatever reason, Jennifer watched Lou stroll across the boardwalk all the way to the end of the pier and step off like it was nothing. Now, I take absolutely no credit for this technique. I learned this from a book called Dyer's English by Benjamin Dyer, D-Y-E-R-E, which in general, this book is a very funny grammar guide, like snort laugh funny. So keep it in your pocket and refer back to that if you're writing in the past tense and you need to take a reader back into a flashback. Okay, quick warning about using the perfect past tense, though. If you overuse it, the prose is gonna feel clunky, especially when you read it out loud, which I always recommend you do. In fact, this is my one critique of this flashback of the Hunger Games that we just analyzed. The past perfect tense, to me, it's overused, but that's my taste. So while flashbacks often get a bad rap, they are far from unwarranted. And I hope this episode helps you see that when you execute them skillfully, and you can only do that with practice. This narrative device is a powerful tool and it will enrich your storytelling. So you can learn to seamlessly integrate past events into the present narrative, which lets you deepen your character development, heighten your tension, and engage your readers on a much deeper level. So don't avoid using them. Instead, learn how and when to employ them effectively. They've got to serve a purpose beyond just exposition, whether that's illuminating your character's motivations, heightening stakes, or resolving story questions, and make sure that your reader needs to know the information they contain right now, and that it contributes to the story's forward momentum. So study other authors' techniques and see if you can pick out the components we discussed: a character with a problem, a trigger, a transition to the past with a reason to anchor into a specific moment. The event of the triggered memory, presented in scene form, a transition back into the present, and a takeaway for the character because they had the flashback. All right, writer, that was a lot. And thank you for hanging in there with me. And I hope that this episode helps you learn how to pick flashbacks apart in other authors' writing, see when they're done well, and help you write them more seamlessly into your own fiction. I will see you next week. Thanks for tuning in. Thank you for listening to the Write It Scared podcast. If you enjoyed today's show, please make sure to hit the follow button so you never miss an episode. And please leave a review. Reviews help other writers like you find the voices and messages they need to hear to continue to write their stories. Let's lift each other up. Remember, you can be scared and still be unstoppable. I'll see you next week.