How to Write a Seamless Flashback In Your Fiction Novel
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Are flashbacks really as bad as they're made out to be? Is the advice to avoid them always valid?
Like prologues, flashbacks tend to attract looks of disdain from editors, and maybe you’ve come across the blanket writing advice that says you should avoid using them altogether.
Not so my friend.
Flashbacks are a mainstay of commercial fiction, especially in the suspense and romance genres. When done poorly and placed improperly, yes, they are painful to read. But here’s the secret…when you learn to write a flashback well they become a fluid part of the narrative. You don’t even notice them—and really, that’s the goal.
In this article, we’ll address the pros and cons of flashbacks, discuss when to use them, and how to write them seamlessly so they don’t stick out like a sore thumb or slow the pace of your story to a glacial crawl!
To do this, we’ll be using my favorite tool: analysis.
Yep, we will look at a specific flashback example and see how it checks all the boxes to create a smooth reading experience that delivers an impactful moment and drives the story forward with character agency!
What Exactly is a Flashback?
A flashback is a narrative device where a character recalls a meaningful event from the past. It can be an event from the backstory, as in before the story starts (external analepsis) or from a previous moment in the story’s present timeline (internal analepsis). Either way, the purpose of a flashback is to deepen the reader's understanding of the character’s desires and motives and illuminate something about the present situation from the character’s perspective that causes them to either have a realization, a reaction, or make a decision that moves the story forward.
But that’s not all – there’s so much more a flashback can do!
What Makes a Flashback Different from Memory and Context?
Unlike other methods of conveying backstory, such as context and memory, which rely on fragments, flashes, association, and perhaps short stints of narrative summary, flashbacks are delivered in full or partial scenes, effectively pulling the reader into the dramatized action of a past event. This means the main event of the flashback will be shown in real-time with action we can visualize as if watching a play. It’s not going to be a summary.
The Benefits of Using a Flashback
A well-placed flashback will offer insights into character motivations and psychological states that are difficult to understand otherwise.
It should deepen the reader's understanding of past and current events, which can answer questions the reader is already dying to know the answer to. In fact, that is my favorite way to use a flashback: as a payoff to a story question that has been nagging the reader.
A good flashback will also create anticipation for what the character will do next, often providing the character with some sort of resolve, determining how they move forward in the present.
Flashbacks can also be used to create empathy for another character, say a villain.
In a multi-POV narrative, a flashback can be a great tool to create dramatic irony. The reader knows what's coming, but the characters don’t, increasing the tension and suspense of the story. For example, say the villain has a flashback to when he killed his first victim, then we see how he envisions doing it differently next time. When the protagonist walks into his trap, we know it’s coming, and we’re all on the edge of our seats, shouting, “NO JANE, DON’T GO UP THE STAIRS!”
The Downside of Using Flashbacks
Flashbacks can be tricky to write and feel gimmicky and clunky, especially if a writer overuses the past perfect verb tense, so we’ll cover how to fix that today!
Flashbacks can stall your story’s momentum if they don’t illuminate something about the present moment and lend to character agency.
Overuse can pull focus from the present timeline and cause reader confusion.
Flashbacks can be a crutch. Writers often feel the need to incorporate a flashback to provide a deep and detailed understanding of what happened to create the present situation. However, there are often better ways to convey this information. These ways allow the reader to participate in the narrative, and they reveal, rather than explain, what has transpired in the past.
When to Use a Flashback
If you are thinking about using a flashback, consider the reader's experience and ask yourself two questions:
Does the reader really need to know this information right now to make sense of what the character is going through?
Does understanding this information move the story forward?
If the answer to these questions is no, then I advise against using a flashback.
Look for another way to convey the information, such as with memory or context. Or perhaps question whether the information really needs to be there in the first place.
General Guidelines for Writing Flashbacks
Use them sparingly to prevent slowing the pace of your book too much. If you find you want to use a lot of flashbacks to convey your story, then you might actually have two stories at play and would be well served to consider using a dual timeline.
Use clear transitions in and out of the flashback and appropriate tense changes to signal to the reader that we’re going back in time, but don’t make it clunky. More on that in a minute.
Avoid the trap of flashing the equivalent of a neon sign at your reader that says, “ATTENTION, NOW ENTERING A FLASHBACK.” Examples: “The memory rose unbidden,” “The memory flashed in her mind,” or “She recalled the memory like it was yesterday.” We want it to be seamless, remember.
Don’t use italics for the flashback. It’s another neon sign to the reader, and to editors and agents, a sign of a less experienced writer (ask me how I know.) There are better and far less obtrusive ways to move the reader back in time without hurting their eyes!
Use a smart trigger (something significant to your character) to initiate the flashback and smoothly draw your character down memory lane, making it feel like it’s all part of the narrative. Subconsciously, the reader will understand they are no longer in the story present, and they are too enraptured by how the flashback is unfolding and contributing to the story present to notice.
The flashback must have a takeaway for the protagonist. There must be a reason why they took a walk into the past, and that reason must contribute to the story's present and narrative drive. It must move the story forward by causing a realization, reaction, or action associated with the protagonist's current situation or circumstance.
Specific Components of a Well-written, Well-placed Flashback
The protagonist's current situation is problematic in some way that the reader understands because previous context has been given.
A trigger in the present moment.
The character transitions to thinking about the past.
An anchoring into the past experience with a tense change.
The memory of the event is presented in full or partial scene form.
A transition back to the present story moment.
A takeaway for the main character that creates a new or deepened desire, effectively moving the story forward and ideally increasing the stakes.
Practical Example and Analysis of a Flashback
Let’s look at a relatively straightforward example of a well-known and well-done flashback from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
Chapter 2. Here’s the setup: Katniss has volunteered to take her little sister’s place as a tribute for The Hunger Games. She comes out of her shell shock as they announce the name of the second tribute: Peeta Mellark. Katniss instantly reacts with interiority:
Oh, no, I think. Not him. Because I recognize this name, although I have never spoken directly to its owner. Peeta Mellark.
No, the odds are not in my favor today.
I watch him as he makes his way toward the stage.
Several paragraphs describe Peeta, the surroundings, and the Mayor, who begins to read the Treaty of Treason.
The mayor begins to read the long, dull Treaty of Treason as he does every year at this point—it’s required—but I’m not listening to a word.
Why him? I think. Then I try to convince myself it doesn’t matter. Peeta Mellark and I are not friends. Not even neighbors. We don’t speak. Our only real interaction happened years ago. He’s probably forgotten all about it. But I haven’t and I know I never will.
It was during the worst time. My father had been killed in the mine accident three months earlier in the bitterest January anyone could remember. The numbness of his loss had passed, and the pain would hit me out of nowhere, doubling me over, racking my body with sobs. Where are you? I would cry out in my mind. Where have you gone? Of course, there was never an answer.
The district had given us a small amount of money as compensation for his death, enough to cover one month of grieving at which time my mother would be expected to get a job. Only she didn’t. She didn’t do anything but sit propped up in a chair, or more often, huddled under blankets on her bed, eyes fixed on some point in the distance.
We have several more paragraphs delivered in narrative summary, leading us to the interaction with Peeta that occurred years before, the one Katniss has never forgotten. The gist is that because of her father’s death and her mother’s depression amid a terribly cold season, Katniss’s family was on the brink of starvation.
The flashback (A SCENE of the past) opens here:
On the afternoon of my encounter with Peeta Mellark, the rain was falling in relentless icy sheets. I had been in town, trying to trade some threadbare old baby clothes of Prim’s in the public market, but there were no takers. Although I had been to The Hob on several occasions with my father, I was too frightened to venture into that rough, gritty place alone. The rain had soaked through my father’s hunting jacket, leaving me chilled to the bone. For three days, we’d had nothing but boiled water with some old dried mint leaves I’d found in the back of a cupboard. By the time the market closed, I was shaking so hard I dropped my bundle of baby clothes in a mud puddle. I didn’t pick it up for fear I would kneel over and be unable to regain my feet. Besides, no one wanted those clothes.
I couldn’t go home. Because at home was my mother with her dead eyes and my littler sister, with her hollow cheeks and cracked lips. I couldn’t walk into that room with the smoky fire from the damp branches I had scavenged at the edge of the woods after the coal had run out, my hands empty of any hope.
I found myself stumbling along the muddy lane behind the shops that serve the wealthiest people of town. …
When I passed the baker’s, the smell of fresh bread was so overwhelming I felt dizzy. The ovens were in the back, and a golden glow spilled out the open kitchen door. I stood mesmerized by the heat and the luscious scent until the rain interfered, running its icy fingers down my back, forcing me back to life. I lifted the lid to the baker’s trash bin and found it spotlessly, heartlessly bare.
Suddenly a voice was screaming at me and I looked up to see the baker’s wife, telling me to move on and did I want her to call the Peacekeepers and how sick she was of having those brats from the Seam pawing through her trash. The words were ugly and I had no defense. As I carefully replaced the lid and backed away, I noticed him, a boy with blond hair peering out from behind his mother’s back. I’d seen him at school. …
I’ll stop there and summarize, but the IN SCENE experience continues with Katniss retreating to a tree near the baker’s pig pen. She can hear the baker’s wife screaming at the boy for burning bread, telling him to feed it to the pigs. He’s got a red welt on his cheek from being stuck, presumably for his mistake. When he feels his mother isn’t watching, he tosses the bread at Katniss instead of the pigs. He saves her.
The transition out of the flashback is gradual. It goes back into a brief narrative summary of how Katniss returns home, shares the bread with her family, and sees Peeta again at school but doesn’t speak to him (or thank him). At the same time, she sees the first dandelion of spring and knows her family has survived the winter.
The reader is transitioned again, this time to the story present, with a paragraph that begins in the present tense:
To this day, I can never shake the connection between this boy, Peeta Mellark, and the bread that gave me hope, and the dandelion that reminded me that I was not doomed.
It goes on to show how Katniss regrets never thanking Peeta for what he did. From that, she realizes that she'll be thrown into the pit and forced to fight to the death. She may have to kill the boy who once saved her. Given the circumstances, how is she supposed to thank him now?
The reader is then nudged out of Katniss’s interiority with this sentence, which continues to show us the stark realization Katniss has had by recalling the event shown in the flashback.
The mayor finishes the dreary Treaty of Treason and motions for Peeta and me to shake hands. His are as solid and warm as those loaves of bread. Peeta looks me right in the eye and gives my hand what I think it meant to be a reassuring squeeze. Maybe it’s just a nervous spasm.
We turn back to face the crowd as the anthem of Panem plays.
Oh, well, I think. There will be twenty-four of us. Odds are someone else will kill him before I do.
Of course the odds have not been very dependable of late.
Though it’s not explicitly stated, Katniss faces the reality of what she must do in The Hunger Games to survive: possibly kill the boy who saved her and her family from starvation. How heavy is that?
From this, a series of compelling story questions emerge: Will she do it? Will she kill Peeta if push comes to shove?
These questions create a powerful narrative drive, compelling us to read on with a deeper understanding of the sacrifices Katniss may have to make to survive. The emotional stakes have risen along with the physical stakes. That's damn good fiction!
Analyzing the Flashback
So, let’s see if this flashback ticked off all the components we listed before:
The protagonist’s current situation is problematic in some way that the reader understands because previous context has been given.
Katniss has volunteered to take her sister’s place as tribute in The Hunger Games.
A trigger in the present moment.
Peeta Mellark is named the second tribute, causing Katniss to react instantly.
The character transitions to thinking about the past.
The mayor begins to read the boring and long Treaty of Treason, and Katniss does not pay attention. She’s thinking, reflecting on why him and trying to convince herself it doesn’t matter, and reveals they had an interaction in the past that she will never forget. It does indeed matter—a lot.
An anchoring into the past experience with a tense change.
The author transitions us to the past with a tense change in this sentence: It was during the worst time (the use of was is the indicator here) and continues with the past perfect verb tense (pluperfect), which further grounds the reader in the understanding that the character is recalling something that has occurred in the past.
The memory of the event is presented in scene form.
Katniss outside of the bakery and Peeta throwing out the burned bread.
A transition back to the present moment.
The author transitions us back to the present by using the present tense in this sentence: To this day, I can never shake the connection between this boy, Peeta Mellark, and the bread that gave me hope, and the dandelion that reminded me that I was not doomed.
A takeaway for the main character that creates a new or deepened desire, effectively moving the story forward and ideally increasing the stakes.
Katniss then reflects on what it means for her to enter The Hunger Games with Peeta Mellark. She may have to kill him, but she hopes it doesn’t come to that. Yet the reader wonders, will she do it when push comes to shove? And from that, we have another story question that drives the narrative forward and a much deeper understanding of the emotional stakes involved.
So yes, this flashback scene has all the components we need to make it feel seamless, to deepen our understanding of the characters’ motivations, and allow us to anticipate their future actions!
And bonus: it was also a payoff to a story question posed early in the book. It answered why Katniss was so angry with her mother and what exactly happened to create the family dynamic of Katniss being the primary provider.
A quick craft trick for handling tense changes in Flashbacks
Here’s a technique I learned from Dreyer’s English by Benjamin Dreyer (a very funny grammar guide–like snort-laugh funny) to keep in your pocket if you are writing in the past tense and need to take a reader into a flashback.
Start your flashback off in past perfect tense (pluperfect) by using a few “had”s.
Example: He had been, she had done, we had liked.
Then drop had into a contraction with a solid “d” for a hot second.
Example: he’d been, she’d done, we’d liked.
Then drop the past perfect and roll with simple past tense and the reader will read on without notice.
Example of it all put together: The day Lou died, Jennifer had been observing him with interest. Curious as she’d never noticed him before. But that September day, for whatever reason, Jennifer watched Lou stroll across the boardwalk, all the way to the end of the pier and step off the end like it was nothing.
Don’t Overuse the Perfect Past Tense When Writing Flashbacks
If you overuse the perfect past tense, the prose feels clunky, especially when you read it out loud, which I always recommend. In fact, that is my critique of The Hunger Games flashback we just analyzed. The past perfect tense is overused for my taste. But that’s me.
While flashbacks often receive a bad rap, they are far from unwarranted.
When executed skillfully, this narrative device is a powerful tool to enrich your storytelling. By seamlessly integrating past events into the present narrative, you can deepen character development, heighten tension, and engage readers on a deeper level.
So don't avoid using them. Instead, learn when and how to employ them effectively. They must serve a purpose beyond exposition—whether illuminating character motivations, heightening stakes, or resolving story questions. Make sure that your reader needs to know the information they contain now and that it contributes to the story's forward momentum.
Study other author's techniques and see if you can pick out the components we discussed: a character with a problem, a trigger, a transition to the past with a reason to anchor into a specific moment, the event of the triggered memory, a transition back into the present, and a takeaway for the character because they had the flashback!
