Flashbacks For A Character's Backstory

[officialue]

Do you guys think, if the character is important enough and is going to undergo a significant character arc, that it would be okay to take a chapter (maybe even two) to flesh out their backstory a little bit? Obviously the transition has to be natural, I'm not just gonna be like, "Okay now we're going to look at this character's backstory", but still...or do you guys think there would be a better way to do this, like incorporating their backstory into the flow of the main story? Or would it be better to avoid doing this at all?

 

[Typing...]

Like with all things. It depends. There are long flashbacks, short flashbacks, and stories that are in itself a flashback. They can be useful for explaining motives, for revealing significant moments in their life. But they can also be really annoying. Like watching your favorite show and right at a cliff hanger they cut to commercial. At that point no one cares about the flashback, just get on with it! It's even worse when the show comes back for a minute only to cut to commercial again.

When including a flashback ask yourself the following.

• Can I include this earlier in the story without a flashback?
• If I add a flashback here will it disrupt the pacing?
• How many flashbacks do I have so far in the story?
• How long will the flashback take?
• When was the last flashback?
• Am I in a flashback right now?

As for if the flashback is important or not, it depends on the author's style. It can be used, and it can be used to great effect. But it's an unwieldy beast that takes tender love and care to tame. Often times the past can be mentioned in a conversation or by longingly staring at a dirty photograph in the trenches. Sometimes, a lot can be said by saying little. While at times it's far more interesting when nothing is said at all.

Sometimes a subtle touch is all you need, while a flashback is a hammer. A useful hammer capable of doing a lot of great important things. Subtly however isn't one of them.

 

[EternalSunset0]

Coming from heavy manga and light novel influence, I have no problems with flashback chapters at all. As long as it is not too jarring or too dragging, I personally do not mind. I mean, I have sat through flashback ARCS in manga already, so a chapter isn't much by comparison lol.

Incorporating the backstory through bits of hints scattered throughout is still, for me, the better way to do it, but if the flashback is quite long and elaborate or you need to put your readers in the perspective of the past version of the character for an extended period of time, I do not mind your initial idea of having flashback chapters.

 

[CupcakeNinja]

Do you guys think, if the character is important enough and is going to undergo a significant character arc, that it would be okay to take a chapter (maybe even two) to flesh out their backstory a little bit? Obviously the transition has to be natural, I'm not just gonna be like, "Okay now we're going to look at this character's backstory", but still...or do you guys think there would be a better way to do this, like incorporating their backstory into the flow of the main story? Or would it be better to avoid doing this at all?

of couse.

 

[UYScuti]

If you can weave it into the story in 2-3 paragraph chunks when necessary to understand something it’s best. There’s nothing wrong with flashbacks, but if they’re a chapter long then they’re info dumps.

 

[crimson_carnation]

I've used one or two chapters of flashback to flesh out a character's background, detail their past, and explain their motivation, and the readers seem to like it well enough. An extended flashback like that can be good if you want to immerse the readers into a certain character's mind. Just make sure that the information in the flashback is important and/or interesting enough to keep the readers engaged.

Personally, I find that it takes away my interest in a flashback if it's dropped in the middle of a tense scene or after a cliffhanger. The flashback might be more welcome or even exciting to the readers if you hint and build up hype about it in the chapters leading up to it. Even better if the scene right before the flashback ends with a question or mystery that the flashback will provide the answers to.

Basically, if you make the flashback relevant to both the story and the scene before it if you can, and keep it as interesting as possible, the readers will most likely enjoy it~

 

[Queenfisher]

What an interesting thread ^^.



But I'm not gonna read it because if I do, I'll probably delete my whole book out of shame and anxiety, I'll read all the previous replies once I finish writing my story and only then!

My personal (very biased) opinion about Flashbacks is -- of course write one! Flashbacks is usually the part of the story that I like the most. I am just a past-fetishist, perhaps? Then again, I think my Flashbacks are crucial to the present so can't really be worked around... I have no idea about flashbacks that feel like a complete filler.

Transition? I usually establish a pattern so that it's just expected that at some point, there is bound to be a FB... But when I do firsts, they usually have some kind of a transitional lead-in from the present, like a phrase or two that will bear meaning in the FB.

I actually dislike when the authors are super afraid of flashbacks, and when they finally need one and go 50/50. As in -- they write a SUPER short flashback squeezed pathetically in between the usual present time scenes like some kind of a "yea, it happened, now MOVING ON, quick quick quick". Because -- if you're going to do that, then get rid of the flashback altogether. You can just tell this nugget of information in an Inner Monologue during present. No need to change the scene and especially time for such a small thing.

In short -- if it makes sense to do and you can actually do it without feeling ashamed or afraid and won't do a half-baked job -- then do it.

If you feel iffy about it, better not ╮ (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) ╭.

 

[Maple-Leaf]

Pft- good transition into a flashback? Sounds dumb to me. Just jump straight in, trust me it's an absolutely flawless strategy and nothing could go wrong.

 

[officialue]

Pft- good transition into a flashback? Sounds dumb to me. Just jump straight in, trust me it's an absolutely flawless strategy and nothing could go wrong.

Alrighty sounds like a plan

 

[Maple-Leaf]

Alrighty sounds like a plan

*waits in hell for you*
Good luck!

 

[RepresentingCaution]

If you can boil it down to a few sentences and move on, keep the story rolling. Stay in the moment as much as possible. Here's what I put in my first chapter about Joan's traumatic internship, which I bring up again in Chapter 17 and go into more detail in Chapter 34:

"Six rows of white desks with white computer monitors gave Joan a pang of agoraphobia, recalling an internship she'd endured five years ago. She took a deep breath and reassured herself that she could leave at any time. She worked from home now and called her own shots."

In short, bring up a character's backstory when it influences a character's emotions/actions. In this case, I wanted to explain why Joan lets Marc do most of the talking at first and only speaks up when she gets comfortable in the situation.