How to properly place a flashback in your novel.
how it can hurt the flow of your story. how to tell the story correctly.
We’re told a million times over as writers never have flashbacks in your novel, but we have to ask why? What is it about flashbacks that hurt the novel to a point where writing teachers will tell you not to have them?
In this blog, we’ll be looking at How to properly place a flashback in your novel.…
HOW TO PROPERLY PLACE A FLASHBACK IN YOUR NOVEL
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The biggest problem with flashbacks is it pulls you out of the flow of your novel. A successful story is like a car moving forward. The story starts off slow but starts getting faster as it moves along until the end. The reader can sense the story moving forward. Wanting to know how it’s resolved. But when you suddenly throw a flashback into the story it does the one thing no one wants to see, the story comes to a stop.
When you start reading a novel you have the least amount of emotional connection. It’s too early to start carrying for anything. You don’t know anyone. You don’t know their struggle, the journey. The character arc has not started. It takes few pages and chapters for you to start caring. But once you’re hooked you start caring for the protagonist’s journey, wanting to see it resolved. But when you suddenly switch to a flashback it’s like starting all over again. You have to get used to the new characters, the new setting. It’s like starting a new story. It would be like watching a TV show and halfway through you start a new episode. The actors are the same but it’s a different story. It means nothing. You have broken the emotional connection.
YOUR BREAKING THE READERS CONCENTRATION
Reading a book is like being hypnotized. You are staring at the book lost in its world. Reading the words seeing the world in your mind. Caring about the outcome. But a flashback is like something breaking your concentration from being hypnotized. It brings you back into the real world.
All stories are a journey. Your protagonist has set out on a journey to complete a task. Like an arrow firing forward, the reader can sense movement. Making them want to turn the page. But if the flashback has nothing to do with the journey the reader will sense the forward motion stopping. Especially if what the protagonist is going through in the flashback does not flow with the atmosphere of the main storyline. The reader can sense the journey has come to a halt. The tension the main story was creating has now stopped.
WILL THE CHARACTERS BE SAFE IN THE END?
The one thing everyone asks when reading any novel is “will the characters be safe when it ends?” “Will they succeed in their journey?” There’s no way of knowing unless you finish the story. However, in a flashback no matter what happens we know the characters will survive and end up safe because if they did die the current story your reading would not happen. So it’s clear right away nothing bad happens to the protagonist in the flashback, taking away any tension.
Unless you want to introduce new characters in the flashback whose life might be in danger trying to create tension, but that means introducing someone new and basically starting over again. Instead of “slowing down your car” you’re basically having the reader get out of the car and getting into a new one.
ARE ALL FLASHBACKS DOOMED TO FAIL?
But now comes the big question, “Can you have a flashback in a novel that works?” “Are all flashbacks doomed to fail or can you make them just as compelling as the story you started off telling?”
Most movies do not have flashbacks, because the director knows it will slow the pace down, losing the audience. However the Oscar winning movie “The Godfather 2” has one. You’d think of all movies that would avoid flashbacks it would be the sequel to what some call the greatest movie ever made.
BUT THIS FLASHBACK WORKS, WHY?
But to everyone’s surprise, the flashback works. And it is not a small flashback, it takes up about one-third of the movie. And it was just as good as the present-day storyline. Now we have to ask why? Because both main storyline and flashback shared the same theme, “family.” “What would you do to protect your family?”
The flashback had meaning to the current storyline; it wasn’t a storyline that came out of nowhere. It was connected to the main one, which most flashbacks do not do. Most flashbacks feel out of place.
YOUR PROTAGONIST HAS TO BE ACTIVE
The flashback in “The Godfather 2” was about Don Corleone’s childhood, how he became the man he is. He had an inner conflict he had to go through. He wasn’t just watching things happen around him, he was the focal point of the flashback storyline. Making things happen. Just like how a writing teacher will say “your protagonist has to be active not passive.”
Therefore the audience had just as much of an emotional investment with the Don’s back-story as they did with Michael’s present day. Both Michael and Don have choices. Both believe they are making the best choices for their family. But are they? Is Michael thinking of his family when deciding things or is it about power? As he points out to Kay when she’s arguing with him about who he has become. Even though the Don is breaking the law is he doing so for the protecting of his family? Giving the lead character inner struggles is something most flashback do not have. Preventing the reader from developing an emotional investment.
THE PROTAGONIST HAS TO TAKE CHARGE
Most flashbacks have the lead character standing around not doing anything. In order for a story to have power the protagonist has to be the center of the action. They need to take charge, leaving the reader to care and invest. Your average reader finds most flashbacks to be boring because everyone else is doing something but the protagonist is an observer. The reader wants to get back to the main storyline where the protagonist is back doing something.
In “The Godfather 2” flashback we saw the younger Don dealing with his own inner struggles with trying to raise a family. We developed an emotional connection with him. We cared about how he had to overcome the inner battles to raise his kids in a poor neighborhood with little money. Things we could relate to like money, medicine, bills, we felt as though we were with him through his struggles.
LIKE THEY SAY “SHOW, DON’T TELL”
Other movie flashbacks have a voiceover telling you everything. It’s difficult to care when you’re being told a story. But in “The Godfather 2” we saw the Don taking action, solving problems. Having to overcome his struggles. The old saying of “show, don’t tell” was applied to the flashback. If the flashbacks were nothing more than a narration telling us the Don had to struggle the movie would’ve been boring. Making us question our emotional investment in the entire movie. But there’s tension both in the flashback and modern-day story, hooking us in from start to finish.
When writing your own story you have to look into the idea of adding a flashback if it will hurt or help your story. You need to ask will it “stop” the flow of the story? Is it needed? Most flashbacks are about exposition, the telling of information. But stories are meant to be experienced, not told. This creates a double impact in a bad way for a flashback, not only are you pulling the reader out of the main storyline but your “telling” information. It’s no wonder most readers stop reading when a flashback occurs. Or they’ll flip through the pages looking for the flashback to end, so they can get back to the main storyline.
IT’S NOT BAD IF IT’S DONE RIGHT
Is exposition “bad”? Not all that bad if it’s done right. If you break up the information throughout the novel it helps, but when it’s a ton of information all given at once in a “tell, not show” manner, it can hurt the novel’s pacing.
But if you do add a flashback it has to follow the same rules as the modern storyline. It has to have “beginning, middle, and end.” Have characters we can relate to and understand their inner struggle. Understand what they’re after. They have to be active and not standing around. The information on the flashback has to be relevant to the main storyline. If the flashback has no bearing on the main storyline the reader will be wondering why it’s there to start with. But if the information comes in handy later it will make sense. If the flashback is not linked to the plot, but it’s character revealing we need to see how it affects the main character in the main storyline.
EVERYTHING LEADING TO A JUSTIFIABLE ENDING
In “The Godfather 2” the flashback storyline and modern one both have an introduction with rising tension, stakes, protagonists dealing with an internal struggle, character arcs, ending with a conclusion. It’s as if you’re watching two movies in one. However, you’re not being “told” information, but living and feeling both.
In your novel, even if the flashback is short have powerful emotional scenes. Make the reader care about the flashback being important, and not just there for information “telling.” The reader needs to care about the flashback storyline just as much as the main one. With compelling characters, goal-driven, active not passive protagonist, rise in tension. Leading to a justifiable ending. Then you can move back into the main storyline where the information acquired from the flashback helps solve the problem in the main storyline. You don’t want a flashback that has no bearing on the main storyline. If one is added it has to mean something.
THE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE TWO
In “The Godfather 2” storyline the Don had to deal with conflict but always put his family first. Everything he did was for his family, having his storyline ending with a smile holding his kids. But in the main storyline Michael puts power first and family last. Causing his family to fall apart.
Michael did not learn the lessons the Don did leading his storyline to end sadly. The viewer can see the correlation between the two. The message each one has and how they tie into each other.
you might be interested in these blogs…
HOW TO CONTROL YOUR NOVEL’S PACE
THE PROBLEM WITH FLASHBACKS IN YOUR NOVEL
HOW TO GET SOMEONE TO READ YOUR NOVEL AGAIN
