100 Things You Should Know About Writing (Part 2)

45) How to Use Flashbacks

MarissatheMarvelous asked me about using flashbacks, and I thought I'd write about them today—partially because Marissa is an awesome reader and partially because I've been picking up that many people have a tendency to use flashbacks without much thought. This is a problem. 

The truth is that thoughtless use of flashbacks hurts stories. 

Why? 

Remember what I told you about pacing and how it relates to tension? (Part 1 Section 25, if you'd like a refresher.) Basically, the pace at which you move the story forward can either make or break your story's tension. It works in two ways. 

Fast-paced books have events unfolding so fast that the reader doesn't get a chance to think things over and pull away from the story. 

Slow-paced books have events unfolding at a rate calculated to not bore the reader. Boredom means the reader stops paying attention, which ruins the effect you're going for.

Flashbacks, when used wrong, throws pacing out completely. 

For example, take a look at this worst case scenario. You're reading a very fast-paced story and important things are happening all the time in the "present". Then, out of nowhere, a flashback yanks you out of the excitement and places you smack bang in a different time and place that has zero meaning to you. And worse, the freaking scene just. Won't. End. All you want is to get back to finding out what happens next in the present. So what do you do? You skim. You skim a lot until you get to the present again. And guess what? As you keep reading, nothing that happens later makes sense because you skimmed right over the important information included in the flashback. So what now? Do you read a story that no longer makes sense? Or do you go back an reread the stuff that didn't grip you the first time? 

If you're a person who puts down books, this is where you do it. 

If not, you're going to decide which one to do, but you're going to be one unhappy reader either way. 

So... If you as the reader would act this way, why would you expect your readers to act differently when you do the exact same thing? 

Or how about another situation? You're reading a story that's unfolding slowly, but that's okay, because everything's being revealed at just the right pace. And then, out of nowhere, there's a flashback, possibly to dump a whole lot of information to which you have no clue as to the relevance, and pacing screeches to a complete halt. Before, things happened slowly. Now... nothing's happening for pages upon pages. 

Another incredibly annoying thing to put up with as a reader, but it seems all too many writers are willing to put their readers through this. 

So how does one use flashbacks in a way that doesn't annoy readers? 

1) Don't. 

You read that right. Unless your flashbacks are crucial to the flow of your story, don't use them. Rather reveal tiny bits of information as and when it becomes relevant, so that the reader doesn't have to put up with huge blocks of text not immediately relevant to current happenings in the story. 

Because, yes, flashbacks can and often do take the form of a huge infodump. And everyone hates those. 

Think about it this way. Readers perceive things as happening at the pace of their reading. So when you are in a scene and there's a sudden flashback, what you're doing in the reader's mind is hitting pause on that scene to show them something else. So for as long as the flashback is happening, your actual story is frozen. 

Of course, there are times when this is okay. For example, my book Endless depends heavily on flashbacks in order to tell the story as a whole. But still, it's a good idea to really think about whether a flashback is the best way in which to get your information across. Don't use them if there's another way. Which brings me to the next point. 

2) Use as a last resort. 

Like prologues, I believe that there is a place and time to use flashbacks. That place and time is where and when you can't reveal the information in any other way. 

Which is to say, is there a huge amount of information immediately important where revealing it in exposition will hurt the flow more than help it? Then by all means, use a flashback. 

Is there a question that has been asked, to which the answer would otherwise have to take the form of exposition through dialogue (which people hate more than infodumps)? Then you use a flashback. 

Don't use flashbacks to "create interest and excitement". Unless by "excitement" you mean angering your audience. 

3) Use sparingly. 

If you must use flashbacks, don't let them take up more than say a third of your book. I'm picking this proportion a little arbitrarily, but in my mind, if flashbacks take up more story space than that, you probably should have told the story chronologically. 

4) Don't try to reveal all your information through flashbacks. 

I've seen quite a few books where the writer uses a flashback after the first paragraph in an attempt to reveal something about the character or whatever. 

Here's the harsh truth: The reader won't care. 

So just hint at the info, or provide the absolute minimum in exposition for the reader to get along, and then refer to points 1, 2 and 3 for guidance on whether you should use a flashback at any point in your story. 

5) Aim for shorter, more evocative scenes. 

By this I mean: Try not to include any boring bits. Stop before the scene becomes boring. 

6) Context. 

Make sure the reader either knows what's going on and why the flashback is relevant, or make sure the reader understands that the character doesn't get it either. (Which is rare.) 

7) The one exception. 

I hope you realize by now that I don't believe my own rules aren't meant to be broken. The truth is, I break my own rules all the time. As I mentioned before, Endless is basically structured around flashbacks and I wanted to tell the story that way from the start.

So here's the final exception to these "rules" of mine:  

However, this is the exception: 

If you want to use flashbacks, do it. 

BUT DO IT WELL. 

And DO IT CONSISTENTLY. 

If you fail at this, all the other points I raised become relevant once more, and your pacing will be messed up. 

Thanks for reading everyone! Your support has been awesome. Please leave a vote if you found this section helpful! 

If you have any comments or questions about this section or writing in general, please leave me a message in the comments. I do my best to answer, and if your comment inspires a new section, I'll dedicate it to you. 

Coming up in 100 Things: 

Foreshadowing (MissAuthorGrazelle) 

Why Stretching Is Important