As in "a detour from the current scene into the past of one of the characters "
What's usually the good point to begin them? How long should they last? Are there any other guidelines?
From my observations getting knocked unconscious is a really popular way of transiting into a flashback, but it isn't always applicable.
Aug '21
Aug '21
I plan to do some flashbacks during a heartfelt conversation with some characters, I think that's also a way to start one. Or at random times, like everyone does, they start remembereing things that were either uncomfortable or important to them, which depends on their backstory.
Everything just comes down to plot, is how I see it, how much backstory you're willing to put into a character, but you don't have to put the character's whole past into one sinlge flashback. If that's the case, maybe it's a good idea to withhold less relevant parts of the story for later.
Being knocked unconscious for any significant amount of time is likely to lead to brain damage, so I'd suggest something a little less dramatic, unless you want to write the actual injury into the story. What I'm doing in my novel is adding in "flashback" chapters in between chapters of the normal timeline, generally after a theme relevant to each flashback comes up.
The other points you ask about are hard for me to advise you on without knowing the specifics of your story.
Since a flashback is an internal thing, I think you can handle it the way you'd handle an internal dialog. Whenever it's needed or appropriate, but you have to use some sort of device to clue the reader to the fact the scene has changed from the external to an internal, personal scene.
I believe it all depends on the story.
I won't go into the whole should you use a flashback, and is it really necessary etc. I assume that you want to use a flashback and the discussion is how you should go about it.
I wrote a story that is one big massive flashback. Used a technique at the start with a close-up, and transitioned from the older version to the younger version of the main character and continued with the story. Within that story, I had several other flashbacks and for those, I just cut into them with the narrator pointing it out. I also used the same or a similar panel going in and out of it if the flashback was in the middle of a scene and the story then returned to that scene before it continued. At a later episode, I put the old and younger versions of the protagonist in the same panel and made it look like the older version was visualizing what had happened when he was young and then the panels went from following the older version to the younger version as the story continued from that point of view.
I would say the trick with any flashback (provided that you must have a flashback) is that it feels natural. And if you want to avoid knocking characters out all the time, you just need to find reasons for them to remember something, or recollect. I mean, if the flashback is long enough, it could be an entire stand-alone episode. But as I said at the very beginning it all depends on your story. Stuff like the P.O.V., do you have a narrator, the genre, the set-up, and a few other stuff will impact the choice of how you will insert a flashback into the story.
I have some very brief flashbacks in upcoming episodes, and I transition into them through character dialogue. It's just one character explaining to another character where he found his ship, and I spot the dialogue bubbles over some borderless panels which illustrate the location in question.
With mine, in chapter 2 of my comic I had it at the very beginning. Mostly to show the relationship between two characters (protagonist and antagonist) on how or why they're relationship basis is based on what it is. And because of an event that happened in that. I had that be a transition to the current day where my villian is doing something or rather plotting a scheme.
Another I did is essentially during a "road trip" scene where it transitions to one of my supporting cast characters being out in the sticks and meet my protagonist for the first time during Chapter 3 and when it was finished I used that as a timeskip during the day for going from day to night during the whole comic so it didn't look jarring. So really you can use flashbacks in creative ways to speed up time, show relationships and make it loop back to certain events you want to wrap up, set up and so on.
Give my comic a quick squizz if you wanna see what I mean, Mostly chapter 2's beginning. Chapter 3's middle and so on.
Nice to meet you @Darth_Biomech
There's no true rule I know of,
I guess the character's mood and intensity level of the scene determines the manner a flashback transition occurs. A fast paced action scene or important scene is better with a very short flashback because the viewer would be heavily invested in the 'present scene', you wouldn't want to cut away too long to frustrate them.
But if they got K.O.ed in that 'present scene' like you mentioned, you can go a bit longer with the flashback to show hours have passed when they do wake up in the present.
Having a character's eyesight lock onto an Object within the environment (person, prop, or something that stimulates the 5 senses) can also be a neat way to trigger a memory. This object either (a) is significant to his/her past or (b) reminds him/her of something from the past:
eg scene. Mc is sitting in a café waiting for her friend, she sees a little girl with a yellow balloon sitting on a nearby table. We see the Mc's eyes widen as she stares at the child with shock, we then we see a closeup of the yellow balloon (the object she was actually staring at). It cuts to a flashback of her terrifying past, where her little sister holding a similar yellow balloon was killed by a reckless driver
[In the above scene it also portrays 'Show don't tell' eg. we see that the yellow balloon gives the above mc traumatic memories and possibly spacing out. Having her say 'Omg I hate yellow balloons' can come across cheesy, but her facial expression and memories are enough to portray her personal struggle to the viewer.]
eg scene 2. During a major battle, the Mc is struck by his rival with immense force! The necklace Mc was wearing brakes apart and falls beside his weakened body now slumped onto the floor. The Mc quickly glances at the broken necklace (closeup of broken necklace). We transition to a flashback where his marital arts master gifted him that necklace for his hard training and advised him to never give up.
[In this scenario the viewer would be eager for mc to get up and kick his rival butt, but what was the level of damage inflicted onto Mc? Did it stun him for 5 seconds, or 5 hours? The length of the flashback can be used to reflect that.
It would feel very weird if the flashback dragged on for an entire episode+ and then we cut back to the Rival still standing there, the Mc only received a scratch wound n quickly returns to his feet.]
A flashback's purpose is to further aid the viewer in understanding the overall plot, and get into the character's head: based on his/her reception to their current environment.
Put yourself in the viewer's shoes, how do you want them to feel when they read your chapters? The guys who replied above said some good stuff, and yea you never want to give away everything in one scene. You want to keep the viewer curious to find out what happens next so they stay till the end. Always keep the scenes n flashbacks to the point, you never want to deviate far from the main plot or you'll throw viewers off. There's something called 'red herrings' don't abuse it, but they are neat ways to trick your viewers and mislead your Mc on his/her journey, they can help you avoid making the plot predictable.
I sort of wrote this unplanned, but hope it serves you some use 
Wishing you success on your creative journey! 
I feel like they can last as long as you need them to, but I’d recommend keeping the flashback scene in a single episode to avoid confusion. Also not sure if you’re dealing with a comic or novel, so that could also factor into how you go about things. This is how I went about writing a similar scene for my novel, if you’re looking for an example
It depends on the story really
My character has ptsd and a dissociative disorder so whenever there's a flashback he'd be having "an episode" as other characters will call it
They're usually at the beginning or end of a chapter
And they line up with what's going on in the present
Writing them like that typically isn't recommended though from what I heard
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