Definition
A flashback interrupts the current timeline of your story to show an event from the past. It is a way to deliver backstory dramatically rather than through exposition or summary. When done well, a flashback feels earned and essential. When done poorly, it feels like the author hitting pause on the interesting stuff to explain things.
Why It Matters
Flashbacks let you reveal character history, motivation, and trauma at the exact moment that information hits hardest. Instead of front-loading a character's entire backstory in chapter one, you can drop it in right when the reader needs it most. But they are tricky - a poorly placed flashback can kill your momentum, so you need to know when and how to use them.
Types of Flashback
Famous Examples
The novel opens with an adult Amir, then spends most of its first half in an extended flashback to his childhood. The flashback works because it makes everything in the present-day story hit harder.
Lost built its entire structure around character-centric flashbacks, using each episode's flashback to illuminate present-day conflicts and deepen character understanding.
Roy weaves past and present together in a nonlinear pattern, with flashbacks revealing the tragedy at the story's center in fragments that slowly click into place.
Common Mistakes
Make the reader curious about the past before you show it. If they are not already asking 'what happened?', a flashback will feel like an interruption.
Use clear signals when entering and exiting a flashback. A shift in tense, a sensory trigger, or a scene break can all help the reader follow the timeline.
If your flashbacks are more interesting than your present-day story, consider whether the flashback timeline should be your actual story instead.
Try It Yourself
Write a present-day scene where a character is cleaning out a deceased parent's house. Have them find an object that triggers a flashback to a specific childhood memory. Write both the present moment and the flashback, keeping the total under 700 words. Make sure the flashback reveals something that changes how the reader sees the character in the present.
Keep Your Timelines Straight
When your story jumps between past and present, Novelium's timeline feature helps you track every flashback and time shift so nothing falls through the cracks.