2.261. On Backstory and Informing Action

Long ago I declared war on flashback.

I realized first as a reader that flashback accomplished the goal of pulling the reader out of the immediate action and thrusting them into the backstory that informed or set up that action. It seemed like a crude tool to use in order to get a character to do what you wanted or even to explain their action. I felt there were better ways. Maybe I was right, but I am slowly appreciating how one can use flashback and backstory if done in the proper fashion.

For the purposes of this post flashback will be defined as a scene that takes place in a story that is out of time of the story–a memory that interrupts the flow of a normal scene. This can be done in less invasive ways such as a dream sequence or a conversation about past events. No matter how it is formed, the idea present is that we need to know what happened in order to understand what is happening. In my opinion this strategy is best saved for really big moments and best used through the ‘long con’ method in which a writer piece-meals out parts of the story leading to a crescendo where we can, on our own, figure out what happened and how that affected the moment that is happening now in the story.

The example I’d like to use is a story I am working on now where my main character’s lifeplan was interrupted by a traumatic incident. His story is about finding an alternative route back to this life plan (he fails, of course). During the course of the story we learn bits and pieces about the traumatic event and at the pivotal moment another character brings up the event, calling into question his recollections of the event and thus driving the narrative forward to a startling (not really, I just like sounding like it is) conclusion.

The point there is that we learn the backstory in bits and pieces and it helps us to understand our character’s motivations without the cudgel of a flashback happening to slow the action of the dramatic moment. By the time we get to the point where we have to see the flashback–see the scene where the trauma occurred–we are so familiar with that aspect of the story that it doesn’t require a scene. All we need is for a character to tell us (in character) what actually happened and it satisfies our investment while keeping us ‘in scene’.

Flashback doesn’t have to be terrible or necessary. It does have to be done well.