¶ Mastering Flashbacks in Writing
Hi friends , I'm Beth McMullen .
And I'm Lisa Schmidt .
And we're the co-hosts of Riders with Wrinkles . This is season three , episode nine , a deep dive craft episode , and today we're talking about how to write flashbacks that don't suck . It's tricky , and that's why we're here to help you navigate the complexities of incorporating flashbacks into your work with greater skill and confidence .
Personally , flashbacks give me anxiety . Yeah , what are your initial thoughts when somebody says flashback ? What do you feel ? Like I , other than like who is this weirdo yelling flashback at me ?
I have that weirdo in my head screaming at me . So okay , you're taking it up a level . I know it depends on if you're asking , like when I approach it , when I'm writing it or when I'm reading it in a book .
But , like when I do it , I like to keep it short and sweet because I don't want to like meander , so I just I like to pepper them throughout each story , Like they're always there , but it's almost just like a little , like just a glimpse .
I think there's a fine line with flashbacks where it can be data dumping , backstory dumping , and when you , when you see that , when I see that in a story , it takes me out of the story .
So I think that's the big thing I would always say is like , don't do too much , just give enough so that you have an idea of who the character is and you know where they come from . Don't overdo it . That's what I always like worry about when I'm doing flashbacks .
I think it's very interesting , like you just said , to think of it from those two perspectives as a reader and as a writer . Because as a reader , you know when it's done well , because you barely notice it's there . And as a writer , I think you want to aspire to be doing your flashbacks so that it is unnoticeable , it's just in the flow .
So think about those books that you've read where their flashbacks are an integral part of the story but they don't disrupt the reading .
That's when it's done really well , and then when it's too long of a flashback , then it just really does take you out . So I think there's an art to keeping it short and sweet we put together five tips that you really need to if you're writing flashbacks .
Take a piece of paper , write these tips in big blocky letters on the piece of paper and stick it on your laptop or on your screen so you see it all the time . Because if you use these tips to guide you , you're going to come up with a flashback that hits all the right notes and works for the reader , so you don't chase them away from your story .
You know what Think about this flashback . It should be a flash , like it should be Right , like quick .
So my very , very first novel that I ever got published not the first novel that I wrote because I had written other ones that never saw the light of day , but the first one that I ever published , called Original Sin .
It's a story about Spy who is , quote unquote , retired at living her life and gets pulled back into the world of espionage for various reasons . But it was critical to the story for the reader to know what she had done in her past . That novel , because I wrote it as a really fresh writer . I had no idea what I was doing .
I just like merrily went along throwing in flashbacks all over the place , here , there , everywhere , didn't think about it , wasn't worried about it , just was part of the story . Off I go . I think if I tried to write that now I'd freak out because I'd be overthinking it , stressing about the flashbacks . And they work . They work fine , they're integrated in .
But it was funny because I didn't dwell on it at all , just went and did it . Sometimes ignorance is bliss when you're writing that's another thing you can write in big block letters and stick on your screen . Seriously , because I swear to you , if people knew about , if I knew about writing what I know now , then I would never have done it .
No , oh , my God , totally . I am Just like a little side note about that book . I love that book and that was your first book that I read . That I , you know was had just met you and your kids . Books hadn't come out yet , so I'm like , ooh , beth McMullin , I'm gonna buy her book .
It's so funny and I to this day I'm sure I've mentioned it a million times on here , but you did it so well the flashbacks to the espionage days that I like in my head was like she was a spy . Beth was a spy at some point in her life .
And as I keep telling you , I can't , I can never tell you what way or another .
You did it . It's done so well . I love that book . It was so funny .
There is a scene where I can't you were outside , like the character was outside a coffee shop and had to pull out like a little portable toilet and like you were kind of flashing back to when you were in espionage and like kind of what you were doing now , and I just remember laughing throughout this whole book . So , listeners , go out and get this book .
It is so , so funny and so good . I just I crocked up and I gave it to . I had Molly Burnham staying with me one time . She writes middle grade .
I love her . She's so funny . She's fabulous .
She's really fabulous and she's like oh , I don't have a book for the plane ride back East and I was like here , I gave her my copy of your book and I was like buy .
Sally's in , I'll give you another . I have like six .
Oh , my God , you need to give me another one , because I would totally reread it . I loved it so much .
All right , so let's get on to our tips , so we can make everybody smart about flashbacks .
¶ Mastering the Art of Flashbacks
Number one anchor your flashback . This is really important . Establish a strong anchor in your current narrative before transitioning into a flashback . This could be a physical object , a specific setting or an emotional state that naturally leads into the memory . For example , a character might find an old photograph that triggers a vivid memory .
So I have a good example of this In my very first chapter of Heart and Souls . Sticks is an anxious character . It's his first day of middle school and he sees a kid who reminds him of his old bully from elementary school , and so that triggers that flashback .
And then I did like a little paragraph on what that bully did and what has created this anxiety , this long term anxiety for sticks . So that was how I used a flashback in my very first chapter .
That's a great example of how to weave it in so that it's relevant and the trigger so it's linked . It's not just , you know , out of the blue Right , tip number two , have purpose .
So each flashback should serve a very clear purpose in your story , whether it's to reveal character back story character motivation , to uncover secrets , provide context for current events . It should answer questions or fill in gaps that enhance the story . So here's a little bit of advice on how potentially to do that . Before writing it , outline its goal .
So ask yourself what new information it brings to the story , and this is super important . Why is this information necessary at that point in the narrative ? So if it doesn't rise to the occasion , don't use it , get rid of it . It's not necessary . It really needs to be indispensable for you to put it in there .
It's a high , high bar and each flashback has to meet that bar or just jettison it , get rid of it .
Absolutely , and you do . You'll see flashbacks every once in a while in a book that are unnecessary and I always look at like what was the author thinking , Like , why did he include this ? And sometimes it doesn't make sense . So be careful with those .
Yeah , it should be obvious . It should be obvious why it's there and what purpose it is filling .
Okay , number three keep it brief . Flashbacks should be concise and focused . Long drawn-out flashbacks can disrupt the flow of the narrative , pulling readers too far from the main storyline and diluting the urgency of the present moment . We've kind of been touching on this , so limit the scope of the flashback to the essential details needed to achieve its purpose .
Think of it as a short story within your larger narrative . Every word counts , obviously , and every sentence should serve the flashback's intended function .
I had an editor once at Simon Schuster . This was for an adult book that I wrote under a pseudonym and she would take a red marker and on the page she would cross out stuff . I've probably talked about this . I was so traumatized by it . But it's actually brilliant . And she would say does not move the plot forward .
So any writing that I had in there that did not serve my larger purpose , she was like nope , get rid of it . And that is something that really applies to flashbacks . Every word and every sentence should be pushing the plot forward in some way . That is absolutely necessary . So keep that in mind . Think about the mental red marker .
That's what I like to think of it as , even though it was terrifying and I was scared .
Well , and even just as you're writing your story , I get stuck from writing a chapter or whatever , and sometimes I'll be like I've just added something and people are going to wonder why did she add that ? They're going to be looking for the purpose of that .
I was just writing something and I was going to put a beehive in there and I'm like you know what , and a couple chapters later on in the book people are going to be like what was up with the beehive ?
Yeah , do you know what I mean ? Why is it there Right ? What purpose ?
does it serve ? I'm like I better take that out because it's going to be like stuck in the back of some reader's mind going what's up with the beehive ? Why is it still Right ?
because it's unique enough that it's a detail you remember , and if it doesn't have a purpose , it shouldn't be there .
Yeah , and I was doing it for settings , but I felt like it was too big of a detail that people would always be looking for its purpose . So keep down in mind when you're doing flashbacks as well .
So number four make it clear If you have a flashback , you need to delineate the point between present and flashback to avoid confusing your readers . So people sometimes use tenses to distinguish between the main narrative and the flashback . You can use visual markers , chapters , textual markers , structure whatever it is that you think works .
One thing that this is a pet peeve of mine when a author is using chapter chapter , chapter like present chapter , flashback chapter , present chapter , that sequence A lot of times they use the chapter heading to tell me that I'm now in the past . Now there are certain things in reading that my brain doesn't ever look at . I never look at chapter headings .
If you've said in the chapter heading , july 27th 1987 , I'm not getting that . Now you've done the job , you've used the marker . But I think you need to keep in mind , if you have weirdos like me , there should be something in the actual text that reminds us that we're in the past and that we're not in the present part of the story .
Whatever it is that you choose to do be consistent , super important . Once you choose a method for signaling flashbacks , stick with it through the entire novel . And While you're giving clues to go into the flashback , you also need to give clues that you're coming out of the flashback so people and readers understand that they're back in the primary timeline .
Absolutely Integrate , don't isolate . This is a great tip . Flashbacks should feel like an integral part of the story , not isolated incidents or info dumps . I think we touched on that .
The info dump like makes me crazy . Yeah , Honestly , as a reader , I'm like no , no , no , I'm skipping all these pages and then I don't get the information that I need for the story to work .
Yeah , I feel the same way about well , I don't want to go off on that . I digress , I was going to go off on prologues , but I don't .
That is a whole different episode . Prologues and epilogues we're going to do that like sometimes soon . I never read prologues .
Ok , flashbacks Should weave into the narrative , naturally emerging from and contributing to the story's current events or emotional landscape . And that is so true . They can explain why your character is the person they've become in the story and what's their motivation , what they need to overcome all that kind of stuff .
Yeah , and it should relate to the present , absolutely . So you're showing , connect that flashback to a theme and arc , a plot progression , whatever , but it has to be critical to what is going on in the present .
So , for example , if you're flashing back to your character in a coffee shop and they're thinking about the coffee that they're ordering and it has absolutely nothing to do with the current narrative , the present day narrative , don't put it in . It's got no place .
You have to be really , really hard on yourself with these flashbacks , because they have such potential to go wrong that you really need to keep the bar very high for all of them . Be a little bit harsh with your own evaluation of whether they stay or they go .
Have we scared everybody . I know they are scared , you know what they are scared of , but once you get in the flow of things , you'll figure out where to put them in and where not to put them in and , after writing a flashback , read in the context of the surrounding chapters to ensure it flows smoothly and enhances the overall story .
That's super important too , and you can figure out a lot by reading a couple of chapters that are either bookending your flashbacks or chapters that have flashbacks integrated into them , because if you read it and it feels drawing , there's something wrong and you have to go back and fix it .
If I have flashbacks that I'm maybe a little bit worried about , like when I send it over to a beta reader , I'll just point it out and say how does this flow , or what do you think ? Sometimes , especially Catherine , my CP is brutal . So she's like you know what she is ? She's a giant red line marker .
She'll just be like yeah , she's the human red marker .
She cares . This is a good thing , though . You need that . You need that . It's important .
So I always have people look out for it . I know what my writing quirks are and , leslie , my agent sends something back and she's like you need to be careful with this .
And I'm like , oh look , there's my new writing quirk , just add it to the list of things that you're trying not to do .
It was a new one . I'm like , oh my god , it was like a zip that just popped up . It's just like that is all new to me . I didn't know , I did that .
I also think one of the things that I don't know that we touched on in this list of five that just occurred to me is that sometimes you can achieve the goal of the flashback within the current timeline . You don't need the flashback .
The information that you're trying to give and flashbacks are always about giving information you can integrate that into the present in some creative way , and it might be that you don't figure it out until later .
So you put in the flashback and then later you think , ok , I can actually weave this into the current timeline , get the information to people without having to do the flashback .
So I think that's sort of something you might address in our revision , where you have your arms around the whole story and you can see the places where maybe you don't need that flashback . So that was just something else I was thinking about .
How do you mean that ? What's an example of it ?
So , for example , let's say that your plot hinges on somebody's love of vanilla ice cream with chocolate sprinkles . So then you have a flashback . They're a kid and they're having their first vanilla ice cream and chocolate sprinkles and they love it . So that's your flashback . But now you're writing in the present .
You can have your main character is out with a friend and they're having their vanilla ice cream and chocolate sprinkles and they can say I love this . It reminds me of when I was a kid by favorite flavor . So now suddenly I mean that's a super basic example , but that's what I mean . You've addressed the info dump .
You need to know that she loves this ice cream . You don't need to know details of why . That's really irrelevant to this plot , you just need to know she likes it . So now you know , put it in the present timeline , so you're not having a disruption of a flashback in any of the .
You know potentially that danger zone , but you get rid of that flashback and now it's happening . Now that's your bonus tip . That's tip number 5.1 . That was good , thank you . So that is it for today's episode on flashbacks .
We hope that this gave you some clarity of purpose and will help you navigate these choppy shark infested flashback waters , because we know they're a little scary . So I have been taking the highlights of these deep dive episodes and putting them on our website blog .
So if you didn't get a chance to write stuff down or you're driving your car and writing stuff down would be dangerous , you can go check out the blog and that will give you kind of a nice little cheat sheet for what we talked about today . It's also in the podcast notes , but the notes are quite as in depth as the blog is because of space requirements .
So that is our rad new website writerswithricklesnet . Go there , see the blog , like our show , follow our show , subscribe all of those good things .
¶ Romance Editor Patience Bloom Interview
And next week , for episode 10 , we are talking to Patience Bloom , who is a decades-long veteran of romance editing and publishing . Romance is so , so hot right now , and I mean that in all the ways . If you've read any lately , you know what I'm talking about , and Patience just knows more than anyone in the world about this genre .
So if you are writing that , thinking about writing that , just curious . You don't want to miss that conversation . I think it's going to be really great and until then , lovely listeners , happy reading , writing and listening . Bye Lisa , bye guys .