I don't know if it belongs here, but I am having trouble with flashbacks. My main character starts out in the present, but she flashes back to a memory, and then from the memory she comes back. Its hard because she falls asleep, so it could be a dream, but I don't want it to be. From there the memory ends and my character comes back to the present as she wakes up. My whole first chapter is like that, but I don't know how to make the audience aware we are in another period of her life. I need some help!! Please!
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Violet Vanquish
14,138 / 50,000
Nov 20, 2008 - 09 18
Hi there,
You could put the flashback in italics. The readers will catch on that your character flashes back after falling asleep. In my story, my MC has out of body experiences that take her into the past. Before my MC is about to leave her body she hears a boom. This might change but for now it is useful as a signal to me and the reader. Hope this helps. :D
53,732 / 50,000
Nov 20, 2008 - 23 29
Personally I'm a fan of subtlety. I would say that you don't need to put them in italics until it looks better than way, and you don't have to go out of your way to show that it's a flashback. If you have a clear way of showing that your MC is younger, etc. that would be good, or have references to the happenings later as being the past.
50,348 / 50,000
Nov 22, 2008 - 20 00
At first I thought I would use italics, but now I am leaning toward a different chapter for a flashback. Thr transition is forecast in the last word of the previsous chapter and then the chapter after the flashback picks up on a word or theme from the flashback. This is not a consistent pattern for me, but I'm hoping that when I start revising I will figure out whether I want a variety of ways to deal with time or if I will stick to one formula/
50,651 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2008 - 03 09
I have flashbacks as well and I bracket round it with ~ Flashback ~ that's how I always did it when I started writing them and it worked well enough. Not a particularly good technique but it's ok, I can always change it later. I had one dream sequence but I made it obvious it was a dream by having my MC freaked out when he woke up. Good luck!
52,610 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2008 - 07 32
Ignore it for now, you don't have a lot of days left to write.
When you can go back and edit it, you can separate it out some. A lot of times readers do not like a lot of dreams of flashbacks. Any change in the writing, (tense, character, place etc" needs to be separated out-- often as new paragraphs.