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Hellooo everybody! Quick announcement! As you guys know, we're in the thick
of November, which means a very important American holiday is right around the corner. That's right!
I'm talking about Black Friday! Wait, is there another holiday? Did I forget? Starting November
29th, the Friday after Thanksgiving, the prices in my merch store are getting slashed! Everything
will be discounted from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, which means you have a whole week to get
in on the action! Even better, there are brand new designs in my store! What kind of designs?
Awesome ones, obviously! If you want to pick up some TSC goodies, if you want to pick up some
awesome writerly merch, definitely check out my merch store! Everything is going to be on sale for
a week, starting on Black Friday, so get on it! We could be twins! Moving on, today I'm talking
about one of the trickiest storytelling devices, and that's flashbacks. A flashback is when the
plot of a novel is temporarily halted in order to interject some kind of scene or experience
that happened in the past. For example, a character runs into his ex-boyfriend and in turn,
remembers their traumatic breakup. Flashbacks are very popular storytelling devices. They're
also very controversial, because oftentimes they suck. If you want to make sure your flashbacks
DON’T suck, I'm here to help! This video is dedicated to one of my patrons over on Patreon,
Annie Katz. Like so many others, Annie wants to make sure her flashbacks flow naturally with
the story. She wants them to make sense and grab the reader's attention, so that's what
I'm talking about today! I'm breaking down my 10 tips for writing flashbacks in three, two, one,
go! Number One (1): Don't. I hate to be a downer, but 90% of the flashbacks I've read during my
critiquing days served absolutely no point toward the overall plot. When planning a manuscript,
writers tend to figure out complex backstories. We know where the characters have come from and what
they've been through and we want to interject that into the story itself. It's just most of the time,
the backstory means jack shit. It doesn't make any difference toward the plot, and if it does,
it's usually simple enough to explain in a sentence or two. So before you indulge yourself,
ask yourself–and be honest! “Does this flashback matter?” If the answer is anything but “Yes,
the story cannot be told without it,” then delete it. Number Two (2): Remember prologues. Sometimes
writers include a flashback early on in the book, oftentimes in the middle of the first chapter,
and it puzzles me. You know prologues exist, right? A prologue is a glimpse into the past
before the story even begins and it's supposed to serve a role toward the overall plot. Thus,
if this is the only flashback you got, why not just make it a prologue? You'll be delivering
need-to-know information without jarring readers out of the natural flow of the story. Number
Three (3): Be consistent. It's really awkward when a story only features one flashback completely
out of the blue. So if you're going to do the flashback thing, it needs to be a THING. You have
to commit to it. There needs to be a relevant, plot related reason or character related reason
that flashbacks are utilized in this plot. And if something is relevant to the plot,
it's probably gonna come up more than once. Imagine your flashback is a dragon, and in the
middle of the book–whatever genre it is–a dragon randomly floats by. If that dragon shows up one
time and for no reason at all, that's gonna be weird as fuck! Commit to the dragons, or move on.
Number Four (4): Be sparse. “But Jenna, you just said to make flashbacks a THING.” That doesn't mean
they have to monopolize the story! If your book is packed with flashbacks, that's going to seem less
like a creative choice and more like a crutch. You're stuffing the story with as many flashbacks
as possible because you're not sure how else to show this need-to-know information, which is a
sign of bad writing. Readers are gonna wonder, “Why didn't you just start the plot sooner? Why
didn't you enlist multiple timelines or points of view?” There's a very fine line between
consistency and beating a dead horse, so if you plan to implement flashbacks into your story,
you're gonna have to make sure you don't cross that line. Sorry ‘bout it! Number Five (5): Look
for an impetus. Outside of mental illness, flashbacks usually don't happen for no reason. A memory is
triggered, and that's what brings the flashback to the surface. The impetus can be as simple as the
smell of perfume, or as huge as witnessing a car crash. But you as the author need to create the
stimulus or else the flashback is going to feel shoehorned in. Even if the flashbacks are related
to a mental illness, it's still possible to write some kind of impetus into your story. For example,
my clinical anxiety makes me relive embarrassing or frustrating moments in my life. And while it
may seem like it's happening at random, there is a trigger: my anxiety. Thus, if we were writing
a story about my life, you could show this by describing the fidgeting of their hands,
the tightness in their chest, the racing of their thoughts. The reader then knows that
they're feeling anxious, which precipitates their flashbacks. Number Six (6): Make it quick. No one
likes long flashbacks. That's it. A paragraph or two, maybe a couple pages, but once you pass that
threshold you are really pushing it. Number Seven (7): Make it powerful. As we already covered,
flashbacks are jarring. You are pulling readers out of the natural timeline of the story. So if
you're gonna do this, it needs to pay off. That flashback better pack a punch! This doesn't
mean it needs to be a memory of a gunfight or an explosion. Oftentimes, the power in a flashback is
in the emotion. The scene is evocative. It's sad, or angry, or hopeful. Maybe the scene
provides clarity, or brings the reader closer to the character. Now they know why the MC is
terrified of water. She almost drowned. Make the flashback meaningful, so it feels valuable to the
story at hand. Number Eight (8): Avoid platitudes. “I remember it like it was yesterday.” “My mind
flashed back in time to when I was a mere boy.” If your flashback begins with a line like this,
ya done fucked up. These lines are cliche. They've been done to death,
and the reader is just gonna feel embarrassed for you. Number Nine (9): Clarity is your friend. Just
‘cause we're avoiding cliches doesn't mean we gotta be vague. Have you ever read a book where the
flashbacks were unclear? You spend so much time trying to differentiate between the past and the
present that the book stops being fun and just starts being a chore. You can make the flashback
clear without stating, “He flashed back to another time.” Sometimes writers use scene breaks. Other
times, they write their flashbacks in italics. And of course, there needs to be some kind of
transition that prepares the writer for the shift in the timeline. This will make your flashback
easier to follow, which will translate into a more enjoyable reading experience. And Number Ten (10):
Explore your options. Did I mention that nine times out of ten, you don't need a flashback?
I think I did. Just because you're delivering information about the past does NOT mean you
need a flashback. There are other ways to deliver the same information that may be a better fit for
your book. I already mentioned prologues, but there's also dialogue. People talk about their
past when it's relevant. If you're writing sci-fi or fantasy, sometimes magic or time travel can be
utilized to convey information from another timeline. While exposition should be used in
small quantities, it is still an option–in SMALL quantities. Letters, journals, photo albums. The
options are endless, so make sure you're utilizing the right one for your story. So that's all I got
for you today! A HUGE thank you to Annie for requesting this topic! If you'd like the chance
to have a video dedicated to you, or if you want access to TONS of other awards, check me out on
Patreon! We have an exclusive writing group, we've got early access to videos, we've got livestreams,
we've got signed merch! The information is linked below, check it out! Don't forget to subscribe to
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Bye! (Male Voice) Hey! This is Nick. The voice of Tobias and the narrator for The Savior’s Champion,
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