 Mystery: March 15, 2017 Issue [#8179] |
  Mystery
This week: In a flash! Edited by: Arakun the twisted raccoon  
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Quote for the week: "As a writer, one of the things we all learned from the movies was a kind of compression that didn't exist before people were used to watching films. For instance, if you wanted to write a flashback in a novel, you once had to really contextualize it a lot, to set it up. Now, readers know exactly what you're doing. "
~Salmon Rushdie |
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When you are telling a story, there is no time like the present. Action and dialogue are more engaging if they happen in the here and now, and stories are usually more exciting when time keeps moving forward. However, sometimes you need to take the readers to a different time to give them a true understanding of events. Flashbacks and forward flashes can be an effective part of storytelling, but if they are not carefully planned, they may bring the reader out of the story and confuse or annoy them.
A flashback is a glimpse of the past that can be used to clarify present events. Flashbacks are often conveyed in movies or TV shows with black and white or hazy photography to indicate they are memories. Many readers and editors don't like flashbacks for any reason, so keep them to a minimum, and only use them if there is no other way to convey the important information. Make sure it is clear that the passage is a flashback. Use a heading with the date or a title such as "Six months earlier" and set the flashback section off by printing it in italics. If possible, let the flashback occur naturally, such as in dialogue with characters discussing previous events. If appropriate to your story, the flashback might be portrayed as a dream. Avoid internal dialogue or long sections of a narrator "explaining" previous events. A flashback doesn't have to give a detailed account of the past. Maybe just give a hint of what happened to keep the reader wondering until the conclusion of your story.
Forward flashes aren't used as often as flashbacks, but they can be effective in the right story. A forward flash is a glimpse of the future used to tease the reader. For example, you might begin your story showing a character standing on a rooftop about to jump. Then you can show the events leading up to this point, and conclude by revealing whether they jumped and why not. A flash forward can be used to misdirect the reader by only showing a portion of what is to happen that is actually different than what it seems. For example, you might structure your forward flash to look as if one character was killed when actually another was. The TV show "Revenge" often made good use of forward flashes. At the beginning of a season, they would show a short, intense scene from the season finale. As with a flashback, make sure it is the time sequence is clear to avoid confusion.
Something to try: Write a mystery story that shows a glimpse of the ending at the beginning. |
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| Question for next time: What famous mystery writer does your style most resemble? |
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