Flash backs and going back in time.

I hope it works. I've just done it in my last book.

There's nothing wrong with using flashbacks or starting in the present, then jumping back to where the story started. It's a technique used frequently in books and movies. FORREST GUMP is a perfect example. But be sure to establish time, place and POV right up front. Try and answer the question, "Whose story is it?' first, then move back in time to tell the story. Good luck.

As long as each scene makes it clear that you've gone backward/forward in time, I see no problem with using the technique. You can use tags such as "Ten Years Prior." Some folks even change tense (from past to present or vice versa) in flashbacks. As long as it works for the story you are telling and is clear to your reader.

mum23 said:

Its a long journey this writing lark.

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Good fun, isn't it?

As for flashbacks, I think they work as long as there's a reason for them. Looking at my own example, the MC is on the run with a load of stolen cash. His plan is to get the money to his sister. From the first flashback, we find out why he thinks he owes his sister.

I could have started the story with the first flashback as now and worked my way to the theft of the money and so on, but that wasn't the point of this story. The MC's redemption and self-forgiveness is the point so it works as I've written it.

ChaosTitan said:

Some folks even change tense (from past to present or vice versa) in flashbacks.

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Yep, that's how I did it.

seun said:

As for flashbacks, I think they work as long as there's a reason for them...

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bingo!

I'm guilty of using flashbacks as info dumps. ACK!

The best "flashback" work I've ever seen is in a book called The Time Traveler's wife. The sections HAD to start out with a date, AND how old each character was. It was quite interesting. But that was the beauty of the story, because you got the bits and pieces as if you were the time traveler.

(oh and I'm at 50 posts now.. do I get a star?)

Sometimes flashbacks are neccessary. I personally like them, as long as they aren't too long or jarring from the main story line. It's an intimate feeling to peek into someone's past...sort of like reading their diary...the really juicy bits can be fascinating.

Nicole

I use flashbacks sometime, but I try to make them punchy and short. I don't want to have it drag the story down. I'm the same with dream sequences. I have one chapter that starts with a dream, but it's only the MCs confused feelings about the dream.

Light and pain. Pain and…wings? Michael jerked awake and stared around the sun-drenched room. What a dream.

---

I like my flashbacks the same way, though admittedly, sometimes you need to go back in time for a bit longer to understand.

mum23 said:

By going back in time I mean to begin one's story then go back a few years. Does this really work? Is it confusing? Should one just stick to starting at the beginning and moving forward with no flashbacks?

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Some agents and publishers really, really hate flashbacks, if only because flashbacks get misused so often in some of the poorer and more painful manuscripts they read. For instance, start with a sentence in the present... then instantly flashback! That sort of thing is very clearly an indication you ought to start at the beginning, and/or reshuffle things around.

Also, sometimes flashbacks that you think are necessary really aren't; they would make the storyline clearer if they were arranged linearly.

A distinct advantage of starting at the beginning is that you establish context. And of course, any flashback is a scene with interesting things happening in it that drive the story forward (right?) and not merely an info dump. You may find that filling things in from the beginning is a better way to flow the story. You may find hidden parts of the story that you wouldn't find before, because you tucked them away in the unexplored area between five years ago and now.

You don't know until you try. I suggest trying it linearly first and see whether you discover anything new.

The problem with flashback is that it stops the current story dead in its tracks, and if the flashback is too long---or you didn't have enough context when you started the flashback---or if the flashback has nothing at all to do with the current part of your story---then your reader will forget what happened when they come back to the present. This is one of the abuses of flashback that make agents and editors so jaded.

I have a flashback in the current version of my first chapter, but even after five pages of establishing context, a flashback that answers a question just after the end of that context, and a mere two pages of flashback, and then a return to the current context, picking up with the same theme as the flashback...

... I rearranged it and it works out better linearly, and indeed, despite my flashback only being three weeks before, there were still interesting incidents tucked away in the three weeks that I had not explored. I've sketched out what happens, and though I will still end up skipping forward two weeks, it added depth to my original "beginning".

That may just be because I'm very poor at story telling, mind you.

As others have pointed out, it's all in the execution. In my WIP, I have a little "flashback" at the beginning of each chapter. The story in the flashbacks runs parallel to the main storyline, so my hope is (if I've done it right) that it's almost like two stories in one, each reflecting upon the other. This was my "creative" solution to having way too much back story that I didn't want to shove into the narrative. Rather than telling the whole thing, I just highlight key moments in the character's history.

ChaosTitan said:

Some folks even change tense (from past to present or vice versa) in flashbacks. As long as it works for the story you are telling and is clear to your reader.

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I'm having a problem with this - I can't keep my tenses straight, and I catch myself going back and forth within a story, especially if there's dialogue. For now I'm planning to fix it in edits

In Stolen Identity, I originally had the story beginning with the part where he learned he was adopted showing the reader why he was so upset with the news. My editor felt it was better starting with him looking for his birth mother and family and giving the information in tib bits from there. After reading through the new beginning, I had to agree.

Sometimes giving back story after you have began telling the story works much better and the information in itself can push the story along. It can give motive for the character as well as a look into the personality, you know what makes the MC tick. I liked using flashbacks and the time travel. I use a lot of both depending on the story and why I need it. It adds interest to the story so it's not so "square" lol.

Amber

Well, my story would be really confusing if it didn't have any flashbacks. Since coming onto this website, I learned it wasn't all that good to have your first chapter be set in the past, so I switched it up a bit. Making my MC remember a time when she was a kid, while doing something...like driving. Where's it quiet, so she can remember and concentrate.

SuzyB said:

Well, my story would be really confusing if it didn't have any flashbacks. Since coming onto this website, I learned it wasn't all that good to have your first chapter be set in the past, so I switched it up a bit. Making my MC remember a time when she was a kid, while doing something...like driving. Where's it quiet, so she can remember and concentrate.

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My first chapter is set in the past... So far my betas love it to pieces. Even made my husband cry. Nothing is 100% wrong.

I guess each story is different in just about every way. When I switched my story up, after I read flashbacks for the first chapter wasn't exactly the best way, it was better for the story, I think, to wait for the flashbacks. My story actually flows a lot better.

mum23 said:

By going back in time I mean to begin one's story then go back a few years. Does this really work? Is it confusing? Should one just stick to starting at the beginning and moving forward with no flashbacks?

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It works, if the flashback is relevant to the forward story. And I suggest making them separate chapters, so it's clear (also distinguish the time line by dating the chapter or using a different tense or telling the readers: Three years ago...)

In the TPB, I alternated past and present in 7 chapters, switching back and forth, but the forward story is related to the flashbacks (which introduced characters who will reappear in the forward story). Eventually the two merged and the readers have a very good understanding of where the protagonist came from but the main story moved forward as well... It works very well, I think.