Flashbacks are scenes that take place prior to the narrative arc of a story. They can illuminate any number of story elements, from revealing the origins of an unusual habit to new information about a relationship. Flashbacks can give the reader a depth of context not available in the primary narrative.
Alternately, flashbacks can help the reader understand your reaction to an event in the primary timeline. For example, maybe you had a fight with your spouse, and the exchange reminded you of how you used to cower in your closet when your parents fought. While you can tell with that line, showing via a flashback can be more engaging for the reader.
The last time I visited my mother in a hospital, it was over 20 years ago. She was in a lockdown ward at Cleveland Psychiatric Institute (CPI) and had asked me to bring her a radio. She had always needed a radio and a certain level of darkness. In her youth, my mother had been a musical prodigy. When I was growing up, she listened to the classical station night and day. I always wondered if her need for a radio meant more than just a love of music. Did it help block out the voices in her head?
Sarah Chauncey is a veteran writer, freelance editor and writing coach, as well as the author of P.S. I Love You More Than Tuna. She helps her clients enhance their creative flow through a variety of practices. Subscribe to her newsletters: Resonant Storytelling (writing) and The Counterintuitive Guide to Life (inner peace).
Flashback is a keyword ability on instants and sorceries that allows the player to pay an alternative cost to cast the spell directly from their graveyard. The spell card is exiled when the spell leaves the stack. Flashback's equivalent for permanents is unearth.
The first tournament-legal cards with flashback were printed in Odyssey block, where a small headstone was marked next to the name, as an aid for remembering flashback spells in the graveyard. This was not repeated after that block. Non-mana flashback costs were printed in Torment, followed by off-color and unique other costs in Judgement. The mechanic returned in both the Time Spiral block and the Innistrad block.[2][3] In Dark Ascension there were a cycle of spells that had a greater effect when cast from the graveyard. It also appeared in Modern Horizons,[4] Commander 2019 and Modern Horizons 2.[5][6]
Remember, most fiction is a balance of action and exposition in writing. When you use flashback, you are taking us out of the present moment to introduce information. Pacing stops. Action stops. You have to keep that very much in mind and, first and foremost, keep flashbacks short. (Additional tips on writing backstory here.)
This is a great topic because flashbacks can be helpful but tedious to work with. I have had trouble with flashbacks before. For one of my writing projects, I wanted to start off with a small flashback for a prolouge however, with my original draft, it would not have worked because the first chapter was a flashback, as well. I did not want to start off my novel with two flashbacks because I thought it would be too confusing for the reader. So in the end, I decided to use just one flashback and rewrite a different first chapter. I do realize you have written that you should stay away from beginning a story with a flashback and you did bring up a good point about doing so. Maybe I will go back and see what I can do with my story. Thanks for the advice and ideas.
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