the vampire diaries fanfic writing tips

✧ how to write flashbacks

i see flashbacks in fanfics a lot.

and i understand why, the show used them a lot too and they're good for giving more information/background on a certain character or situation.

however.

there are a few things you may want to consider.

the first one is if you're going to be having a lot of flashbacks, maybe consider whether or not you just need to start the fic in the past.

or at least a whole chapter that gives a lot of flashbacks.

you most likely want your story to flow nicely and a lot of flashbacks can mess with the flow and leave readers confused.

your reader doesn't have to have the full story right away and sometimes you're waiting for the right moment to reveal something.

but you don't want to leave your reader completely confused.

so here are some tips:

1. make it clear you're in a flashback

do something to remind readers you're in a flashback. it happens quite a bit where i'm reading a fanfic and can't tell whether or not it's in the present or past.

you could state clearly when the flashback starts and ends or use italics (which is what i use).

2. consider whether or not your story should start in the past

i see this a lot with the originals fanfics where the oc knows the mikaelson from the past. and the story will be set in the present but have so many flashbacks.

i'd consider whether or not it would be more helpful just to start the story in the past.

i know there are shows and movies that do them simultaneously but in my opinion this doesn't work as well in books because the transition is somewhat awkward and the difference isn't all that clear. for example in some shows or movies there will be a different filter, different characters, the style, hair etc is all different so it's more clear. with fics it feels a little more choppy to me. this is just my opinion.

i feel like this only works if:

1. flashbacks in your story are not frequent at all and only happen occasionally.

or

2. your chapters are divided equally among flashbacks and the present and it happens every chapter with the cuts between the scenes being carefully thought out and the placement of them makes sense.

but if you're using a lot of flashbacks and not placing them where it makes the most sense you risk confusing your reader.

3. make sure your reader has all the information they need.

it's happened to me a few times where i've read fics and just got really confused because i felt like i was reading a sequel to a fic i didn't read because almost everything i needed to know was in the flashbacks that weren't fully revealed yet.

you don't need your reader to know every single thing if you're going for some sort of twist. but they should still be able to at least understand the story.

how i see it is this:

flashbacks should be used to explain why a character or a relationship is the way they are. it shouldn't be used to tell you who a character or ship is. in my opinion that should be in the present part of the story and a character should already know that.

flashbacks in my opinion should be used to expand and provide more depth, not introduce.

4. remember what changes when you're in the past.

i talked about in my previous post how people often forget that klaus wasn't a hybrid before season 2.

you want to make sure you remember that things in the flashbacks are different from in the present. certain things didn't happen yet. i tend to see people forget the little things like klaus not being a hybrid.

5. make sure you watch the originals before writing flashbacks of the mikaelsons

or at the very least look up the timeline and check where they are.

i often see the mikaelsons in flashbacks at times where they were somewhere else, at times where they were daggered etc and shouldn't be there. if you have this make sure you justify why they're now there.

hope this helps.