Pens and Flashbacks

I just did something I haven’t done in a long time.  No, not that.  I did that just…well, since I did this other thing, for sure.  And it’s none of your business when I…  Oh right, what I actually did do.

I wrote a scene by hand.  Just a scene, but it was a complete scene.  I was editing my Codex story and decided a scene was needed and grabbed a pen and wrote it out.  It felt really good.  Better than any scene I have typed in a long time.  Why was it so good?  Was it the pen-in-hand?  Or just because the story so desperately needed the scene?  I’m not sure, but I’ll likely do more.  It’s something different.  Writing by hand uses different parts of your brain, so it may well stimulate different ideas.

The scene, as it turns out, was a flashback.  (No!  Not a flashback!  Never a flashback!)  Flashbacks get a bum rap sometimes.  Don’t get me wrong, bad flashbacks are very bad.  Flashback overdose is the reason I stopped watching The Event.  But there are times when a flashback is appropriate, nay, necessary.  I tried the story without it.  It begged for the scene.  I wrote it and now I am happy.  It must mean something.

Here are my rules for flashbacks, be they for the flashback squeamish or the flashback junkie.

1. Try the story without it. Flashbacks are like that jerk wide receiver on a football team; only keep him around if the team can’t win without him.  If it takes three guys together to take his place, do it and get rid of the bad influence.
2. Make the flashback work harder. Parts of a story propel plot, character, backstory, milieu, ideas…the flashback should do it all.  It should be the tightest part of the story, doing more work than any other comparably long section of the story.
3. Be proud of your flashback. If you’re ashamed of any line in it, toss that line or fix it.  There are people out there who believe that every flashback is bad.  They are wrong, but giving them ammo to deflate your flashback is going to cause doubt.  Be confident in your whole story, but especially the flashback.
4. Don’t make the story about the flashbacks. Memento was a clever film.  Once.  Flashbacks should serve the story.  You never want the attention in a story to be drawn to the writing; you want it drawn to the story.  If your flashbacks are about style, you’re asking for trouble.
5. All rules are made to be broken…if you have a great reason. Punctuation, spelling, syntax, continuity, all have rules that are worth breaking for effect and cause.  Know the rules and break only when it’s beneficial to the story.  If you don’t know why you chose to break the rule, don’t break it.  The same goes for these.

Besides, these are my rules that I made for my stories, not yours.  So go make your own rules.  And do it in pen, just to change things up.  You’ll love it.