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No story exists in a vacuum. Sometimes, a writer needs to return to the past to help the reader understand the present—a technique known as a flashback.
No story exists in a vacuum. Sometimes, a writer needs to return to the past to help the reader understand the present—a technique known as a flashback.
Flashback - a literary technique which involves an interruption to a story, during which the narration returns briefly to a past moment.
Introduction
Introduction
A flashback allows a creator to briefly take the audience back to the past to make whatever is happening in the present more meaningful.
This is a time (and word) saving device that can have a dramatic effect on readers when used sparingly.
A Handmaid's Tale
A Handmaid's Tale
Let's consider some examples of flashbacks from Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel The Handmaid's Tale.
In this dystopian story set in a near-future, America is now a patriarchal, totalitarian, theocratic and white supremacist society.
When the story begins this world is already in place, intriguing the reader as to what could possibly have led to such a transformation.
The reader follows protagonist Offred as she struggles against her oppressive society. However, Atwood uses occasional flashbacks to return the reader to moments that established this world, such as the bombing of Congress and forced immigration.
In addition, Atwood also uses flashbacks to return the narrative to earlier moments in Offred's own life, revealing her painful separation from her husband and daughter. This generates sympathy for Offred, helping to invest the reader in her story.
Margaret Atwood, author of A Handmaid's Tale. 2017. Mauro Rico / National Ministry of Culture. Creative Commons.
Understanding Flashbacks
Understanding Flashbacks
Flashbacks are an effective way to 'dip' into the past, making the "present" in a story more meaningful.
Writers have total control over when to return to the past to reveal key information to the reader. While this information can also be revealed through exposition or dialogue, flashbacks can be a more interesting way to show the reader what happened before the present.
Editor's Notes
Editor's Notes
A common assessment task in English is to write a short story.
The important word here is short, and as writers we are always looking for ways to save words in such tasks.
Flashbacks allow us to begin stories in media res—that is, "in the middle of things". When using these sizzling starts, we can use one or more flashbacks to briefly return the reader to the past to explain how and why the story begins where it does.
The word briefly is important, though—a story is about what is happening now, not back then.
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