These three techniques use time to enhance the plot development. They can add depth to characterization, mystery, suspense to the plot and are very effective to set the scene for some future crisis the character must face and resolve. Flashbacks and recollections deal with the past. Foretelling and foreshadowing deal with the future. Flashbacks are sometimes misunderstood, mis-used and feared. They need not be. Flashbacks contribute material from past events, background, insights, perceptions, motivations, failures, successes to enhance present situation. A present must first exist, so flashbacks are used only after character and conflict are known. Until then, a reader could care less about what happened to strangers. Flashbacks occur during passive, thinking moments, never during an action scene. They are complete scenes in themselves, with a beginning, a middle and an end. Flashbacks vary the pace by slowing down the action. A character's thoughts bring about the flashback, and through it, the character learns something, maybe an insight or a motivation, not previously known. This changes the character and possibly the motivation or plot. Flashbacks deal with the same character at various times. Describe what character looks like with each flashback so that reader gets the sense of time, then what character looks like again when flashback is over and character is in present. When to use flashbacks: When the scene that provides the flashback is dramatic enough to be picked up the moment the flashback ends without loss of pace or intensity in the present When the dramatic dynamics in the flashback scene are almost equal to those in the present scene Flashbacks in Dialogue: This is a good alternative to internal flashbacks, but must be used sparingly to avoid long spoken passages. Begin with a few words of dialogue, drop back into narrative flashback and end with more dialogue. Tense Changes: There is no need to get tangled up in tense changes, with past participles and pluperfects. Only five separate grammatical shifts to get from present to past and back to present: The present Leaving the present In the past - which is the present for that time Leaving the past In the present again Example: He noted the Driver's Education car as he crossed the street. (the present) He remembered when he was fifteen years old and aching to get his driver's license. (Leaving the present) "Mom," he had begged. "Let me drive. Just this once." (in the present for the past) "Not until you get your beginner's license," his mother answered. (still in the present for the past) "Then you can take the wheel." The blast of a car horn jolted him out of the memory of his first time solo. (leaving the past). He smiled at the young driver behind the wheel. (in the present again) Flashback versus Recollection: Where a flashback is a full scene that takes the character into the past, and doesn't have to be long to be complete, a recollection is a fleeting fragment, a memory of something in the past that reader may not recall a few pages on, but is the setup for something to happen in the future. A recollection doesn't take the character out of the present, nor does it change the present. Example: A woman is the mistress of a gambler and recalls father warning her against drinkers and gamblers. Many pages later, the gambler takes to drink and abuses her. The reader might not remember the recollection consciously but is unconsciously prepared for this. In a recollection, the character remains in the present. It's an intimate connection with his or her own past, without changing the character. In a flashback, the character returns to past and then to present. It's a distancing action, emphasizing the past and diminishing the present. When the character returns, s/he is changed in some way. Foretelling or Foreshadowing: This is very effective when a character is involved in a passive activity such as riding in a car, a plane, train, stagecoach, spaceship, etc. with time on his/her hands. Like a flashback, the character remembers some event in past which author may use as foretelling some future event. The flashback is active, revealing depths of character, usually into a dramatic scene where the character perhaps failed a moral or physical crisis, or performed some action hurtful to others. The flashback reveals the character's fears, goals, ambition, emotions, etc. at that past time which will affect a coming situation. This technique creates suspense and heighten tensions as the reader waits for the character to face a similar crisis. Whatever the outcome, it changes the character. Check out more Transitions. Good luck and keep writing! Let me know how these tips work for you. Send me a note via the Contact Me page. Or, you can post a note on my Yahoo message board: Subscribe to bonniehamre Powered by groups.yahoo.com Web Design by Bel Oso Productions All contents Copyright © 1995 - 2007. All rights reserved.