Linear Formatting Question. . . Sorta

[MstrTal]

The question is this: When writing a work that involves flashbacks or scenes that take place prior to your current main plot do you write from the earliest points/ flashback sequence first or write your plotted sequence?

In other words do you write everything earliest to latest in your plot and then chop things up, insert scenes were appropriate and modify as needed? Or do you just write out your story and if a flashback is needed work it in as you go? If its the second how do you keep track of everything and if its the 1st how do you know when it is best to insert a flashback or earlier time period scene?

My own writing has been a jumbled mess. I write those scenes and chapters that come to me without any regard for a flow with the future hope of being able to tie them together. I think my writing is suffering because of this.

 

[Warren_Paul]

I work it in as I go depending on what the scene needs -- what details need to be conveyed by the flashback -- and as for keeping it all coherent, that's what second, third... tenth draft is for. The first draft is really just getting the ideas down on paper -- or screen. The second draft is where you go over it and make sure those flashbacks made sense and actually work where you put them. Most of the time for me it requires rewriting, but that's just part of the process -- we always do multiple drafts no matter what.

 

[monsterchic]

For my WIP, I have a prologue that shows a little backstory that comes into play later, then dump the reader into a scene years later when the protagonist is older. For flashbacks, so far I've had a few, and the first was basically just a random jumble of images, and after that when there's a flashback, I just put a line between the story and the flashback. If they're done well enough, then the reader will know when it's a flashback.

What I do mainly is have a plan at the beginning, write up to where backstory is needed, and insert a flashback while writing the rest of the story. Below is the flashback I first mentioned, the jumbled images one.

His voice faded into the background as snippets of memory flashed across my vision. Black, silver and red whirled across my unseeing eyes. And a voice, saying, “You are ours.” Screaming, pulling away, confined by ropes.


This is a memory of his parents being killed, described in the prologue. Black clothes, silver swords, and red blood are present, but the trauma kind of erased most of the memory.


I rambled, but I hope this helped

 

[allmywires]

Not sure if this is what you're asking, but in my contemp fiction WIP I had two timelines running at one: the 'present' and the 'past' (flashbacks). I wrote both of them linearly, and they appear in the work as interspersed chapters/scenes. RE: keeping track of everything...well, for that, since there wasn't really much plot in between A to B, it was fairly easy. I had ideas for key scenes, wrote them, and if I felt a certain period of time was lacking I added more in later.

My advice to you would be to try and storyline/plan your novel, find the connectors between the scenes you've already written and use those to figure out how the plot will develop later.

 

[Mouse]

The question is this: When writing a work that involves flashbacks or scenes that take place prior to your current main plot do you write from the earliest points/ flashback sequence first or write your plotted sequence?

I used flashbacks. I don't plot. So, I wrote my 'flashbacks' on the hop, as it were, and they weren't in order but they made sense for the POV character to be thinking about them at the time. If that makes sense.

 

[Tecdavid]

What I like to do is draft out all the major plot-points, then decide how I will link them together. It's the linking of these plot-points that become the story itself, and because I've gone ahead and drafted the story's skeleton beforehand, I'll know in advance whether something will need to be elaborated on, or showcased, via flashback. I'll also have a strong idea as to which character should experience this flashback.
It also helps if you establish some lore and background to your work, so any flashbacks will have a fully constructed location/timezone/premise to belong to, and so they wont damage any continuity.

His voice faded into the background as snippets of memory flashed across my vision. Black, silver and red whirled across my unseeing eyes. And a voice, saying, “You are ours.” Screaming, pulling away, confined by ropes.

Effective example there, Monsterchic. Gripping.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I figure out a lot of the back story in advance, but flashbacks tend to be important parts of the back story that come to me as I write. Almost always these surprise me because I didn't plan for them until I wrote them (although seeing how they fit in, I suspect that there was a part of my mind that knew all about them all along)

I'm trying to remember if I've ever moved a flashback to a different place in the story, and I don't think I ever have.

When I have multiple story lines going, with different time lines, I do move those sometimes, but not very often.

 

[alchemist]

In my latest, I have two strands. The main narrative goes from A to B, and the flashbacks are strewn throughout, going backwards in time (think Memento). I'm writing it as it appears on the page, although I did think of writing the flashbacks as a separate entity and then inserting them. What will inevitably happen is that I'll have to majorly rewrite at the end to address issues that cropped up in the first draft.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Have you read any other novels that use flashbacks and similar? If so, have you taken anything from how they've structured it you can use?

 

[MstrTal]

I have read and taken into consideration other authors flashback sequences.

I am asking however about the writing process. Not necessarily how the end product results.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

As you can see, not everyone has the same process. If what you are doing now doesn't feel right, then it may not be the best way for you.

On the other hand, the story that you think is a jumbled mess right now may sort itself out naturally in time.

You can always switch back and forth between the two methods, until you find out which works for you. You may even find that a combination -- planning your story out from the earliest point, but being flexible about incorporating new ideas as they come up -- is what you need.

Experiment, but don't worry too much if everything doesn't fall into place immediately. Like I said, sometimes things sort themselves out naturally.

 

[Brian G Turner]

My own writing has been a jumbled mess.

A lot of published authors regard their first draft as similar - that's what rewrite drafts are for.

Presumably that's the case here? Or have you completed your first draft and are not sure if the structure makes sense?

 

[MstrTal]

Sadly I am still a long way from completing the 1st draft.

I keep getting bogged down. I guess that is why I am interested in how other people handle these situations.

 

[Phyrebrat]

I think there's a struggle between keeping the momentum of your writing going, and forcing away the despondency demons.

I'd echo I, Brian's comments and if you haven't got a first draft, at least get some semblance of one down, even if it is a royal mess. That will give you the raw ingredients to play around with.

If the big picture is too confusing, how about writing different sections in different colours. For example, main plot in one colour, subplots in another, or apportion colour to different characters or settings. That way when you come to compile it to a more concrete story, you can at least put like with like and go from there.

And on the subject of flashbacks, my general rule of thumb is; if a large body of text is in italics, it is either a flashback or someone's thoughts.

pH

 

[kromanjon]

I recently wrote a humoristic short story where I used flashbacks but it being a short story it was pretty easy to plan the whole thing ahead so that I could write the story in the order I wanted it presented. For a longer story I would probably do a complete outline of all the flashbacks before trying to write it in this fashion.

 

[Tecdavid]

Sadly I am still a long way from completing the 1st draft.

I keep getting bogged down. I guess that is why I am interested in how other people handle these situations.

Don't let it get to you. Remember that the first draft is only the first draft. You can change and restructure things in any way you please, afterward. Why not try and write it out, inserting flashbacks whenever you think they could be welcome (or perhaps none at all, after all!), and then, once the draft is done, look over it and see what you think? Sometimes it's easier to decide what's best for a WiP once you have a version of it completed. You can analyse it from top to bottom then.