Flashbacks and Memories

[Guest]

............

 

[Liar]

"Hm." Liar said, "the only one I've ever used were a character in my story who told her story. It started out as her lines, with her language and style, for one or two paragraphs, before a graphic marker..."

***

After that graphic marker, when Liar had written part of the character's narrative, the spoken line by the character switched over into narrated prose instead. And thus the "flashback" or what-have-you could continue with more freedom on the witer's part to tell the story. But Liar would have to be careful there to stay in non-omniscient mode. The story told was still that of the character, and only what that character experienced could be told.

***

"... and when I was beginning to draw near the end of the memory, switched back to 'real time', and the character ending her story. All in all, it worked pretty well. At least better than this example of it, which is a bit too short to producethe right narrative effect."

 

[TE999]

Hi Neo.

In my story 'Rewrite' I used flashbacks throughout as the principal character used an enchanted computer to alter her past. This plot device worked for me, but it is a bit unusual I grant you.

To see the results, go here: www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=283378

I have also used flashbacks in a more conventional manner.

 

[CeriseNoire]

For me, it depends. If it's a large chunk of memory, I'll use italics. Whenever possible though, I prefer to stick to interspersing small bits of memory here and there (usually as internal speech in italics as well)

Flashbacks in my stories tend to get a transition indicating time as well as a scene break, though a really long flashback may require its own chapter.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

I'm not that creative--I think it'd sound kinda janky if I tried either.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Memories, the horse recalled, were easier. Three years ago when midway through a draft, it had remarked the ease with which the softly blinking cursor followed a simple transition word or phrase into the past. And now, staring at that blinking cursor once more, the horse smiled. It came back to the present just as easily.

Flashbacks were another matter.

God, that draft - was it the fifth? The reek of whiskey everywhere; the heaps of papers about the floor in nests; the stale, sour taste of sweat and exhaustion. The horse crawled about the floor, trying to piece together smudged, smeared, crumpled-and-uncrumpled leaves of scribble to find the key to it.

Sometimes the introduction was structural. A bare sentence drew the reader's attention to the shift. After that, the new setting and time frame were dropped in. Sometimes that worked. And it could close things too.

The horse's whiskey-bleared eyes slowly closed.

***

Two days later, with a splitting headache, it winced with each strike of an ancient typewriter key as it recorded further thoughts.

Sometimes, it thought, some sort of symbol or marked break might also work for flashbacks or shifts in time. It was more ... break-y. But you still needed to have an open an close in the words themselves - establish the setting and time frame, then put it to bed with the flashback's close.

Ah yes. That was the way of it.

A few moments later, only gentle snores echoed from beneath the stable door.

 

[TE999]

Memories, the horse recalled, were easier. Three years ago when midway through a draft, it had remarked the ease with which the softly blinking cursor followed a simple transition word or phrase into the past. And now, staring at that blinking cursor once more, the horse smiled. It came back to the present just as easily.

Flashbacks were another matter.

God, that draft - was it the fifth? The reek of whiskey everywhere; the heaps of papers about the floor in nests; the stale, sour taste of sweat and exhaustion. The horse crawled about the floor, trying to piece together smudged, smeared, crumpled-and-uncrumpled leaves of scribble to find the key to it.

Sometimes the introduction was structural. A bare sentence drew the reader's attention to the shift. After that, the new setting and time frame were dropped in. Sometimes that worked. And it could close things too.

The horse's whiskey-bleared eyes slowly closed.

***

Two days later, with a splitting headache, it winced with each strike of an ancient typewriter key as it recorded further thoughts.

Sometimes, it thought, some sort of symbol or marked break might also work for flashbacks or shifts in time. It was more ... break-y. But you still needed to have an open an close in the words themselves - establish the setting and time frame, then put it to bed with the flashback's close.

Ah yes. That was the way of it.

A few moments later, only gentle snores echoed from beneath the stable door.

Y'know sumthin' Shang? If words were weapons, you'd be a one horse army!

That's a compliment BTW.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Y'know sumthin' Shang? If words were weapons, you'd be a one horse army!

That's a compliment BTW.

*laugh* Why, thank you very much, TE999. I do know that if words were nickels, I'd be trapped in a clinking pile of my own verbosity. But you are very kind.

 

[rgraham666]

Yes, this be a writerly type thread.

I recently read about flashbacks and memories, how the author defined each and used them in his writing. My questions are whether you've used either back story device, and if you have, how did you transition in and out of them?

I've used both. In my story The Orange Slip. (No longer on Lit)

For flashbacks I had an event in the story trigger them. Then I'd use a '* * *' to separate them from the rest of the story.

For memories, I'd just use them in passing, as internal thoughts.

 

[Guest]

...........

 

[Darkniciad]

On Lit, I used blockquote and italic to set off the one flashback in Ebon Genesis. Other places it's posted, I also changed the font color to a dark blue ( Not possible here )

 

[rgraham666]

That's what I do/did for flashbacks in one of my stories (and I have read "The Orange Slip" - an excellent bit of prose).


Ok, new question. What about dreams, how do you transition in and out of them or signify them?

Usually, I don't describe the dream. The person comes awake and I describe what images are still in their mind.

I did write one story that was almost all dream sequence. I wrote that as if it were part of waking life as it is so detailed. It's called, appropriately enough, The Dream.

My Colleen Thomas memorial story also has a dream sequence in it. I did both above techniques with it.

So I guess my answer is, it depends.

 

[only_more_so]

I tend to use flashbacks alot and use "* * *" which I also use as a section break. Basically anytime I use "* * *" it means there is a significant change in time or setting. In many of the flashbacks I indicate within the first paragraph when and where the section is being set. I do try to be a bit subtle about it, since I don't like self-conscious writing. I also try to indicate before the section break that what is coming is a flashback. Nothing as crude as "I remember when..." but something of the sort.

 

[Stella_Omega]

That's what I do/did for flashbacks in one of my stories (and I have read "The Orange Slip" - an excellent bit of prose).


Ok, new question. What about dreams, how do you transition in and out of them or signify them?

In the ghost story I'm working on, I use italics, and a slight change in writing style as well-- more run-on sentences and more emotion words. Waking, non-possessed life has shorter sentences and more action words.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Ok, new question. What about dreams, how do you transition in and out of them or signify them?

Dreams are interesting because there are different ways to approach their sense of reality, just as there are different ways we ourselves perceive our dreams. If I want readers to be hooked into the dream and not realize that it is one, I simply start the scene and let them discover that it's a dream when the dreamer wakes. Then again, there's the dream that the dreamer vaguely realizes is a dream while in it; for those, I use italics. And then there's the dream that you recognize chiefly when waking, which is conveyed best as a memory.

Flexible things, dreams. They intrigue me.