Remnants from the war:The main character could be visited by a former co-prisoner, for example, this ‘blast from the past’ prompting flashbacks illustrating the hardships of life as a prisoner of war. The above subplots could thus add complications, as well as an emotional intensity to the...
Some novels even maximize the dramatic impact by setting their narratives half in the present day and half in flashbacks. (Jodi Picoult and Gillian Flynn are great proponents of this technique.)No matter how you use flashbacks, however, they need to mean something in the story. You can ...
15. Be open to constructive criticism Don't be fooled by the innocent smile — Friedrich's harsh criticism of Jo March's writing inLittle Womenbreaks her heart, but it's ultimately helpful. Becoming a writermeans releasing your work into the world, and with that comes both praise and criti...
I freely admit it: this is not the kind of practical exercise I usually assign, but it’s essential for anyone tackling the daunting task of writing a synopsis for a multiple-protagonist novel to stop thinking of the book as a collection of disparate characters’ stories. There’s a communa...
Alfred Hitchcock utilized flashbacks in his films to surprise viewers with previously unknown information and create twist endings. Or do you prefer your plot twists at the midpoint, when something forces you to reconsider everything that happened up to that point, like in Gillian Flynn's bookGon...
Think about specific ways you could work backstory into your story. You could try: Dialogue where one character talks about their past (be careful not to infodump) A character’s internal thoughts (again, watch out for infodumping) Flashbacks, where you have a whole scene from the past. ...
Tips and techniques I've learned for thriller writing Writing a thriller takes dedication and an understanding of what makes this genre tick. By the end of this article, you'll have the knowledge to craft your own electrifying thriller story. ...
Not to those who handle writing professionally, no — which is why, in case those of you confused (and who could blame you?) by competing querying advice had been wondering, the argumentbut I saw it done this way online!/in a book of advice for writers/in what a friend of a friend...
4. Flashbacks The problem with these is that they take readers offstage to visit the past. Even if they reveal something important to the story, the danger is the cliché of a character daydreaming or actually dreaming and — after the flashback — being jarred back to the present by some...
An advantage of using storyboards is that it allows the director or producer to experiment with changes in the storyline to have stronger reaction. Flashbacks, for example, are often the result of sorting storyboards out of chronological order to help build suspense and interest. The process ...