Friday Flashback - Chalkie 64 by Chalkie_CC
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With today's novel's backstory and the first 50 pages gone, there will be points in your novel where dialog, common knowledge shared with your reader, and inferences aren't enough to provide the reader enough information for the story to flow. It is then - and with caution - the writer is well-advised to insert a flashback.

Author Janet Burroway of Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft second edition implores us not to use phrases like "And she thought back to when..." or "He remembered once before..." when introducing the flashback. Burroway also says the cardinal rule to flashbacks is to never give anything more than is actually necessary to keep the story moving along.

Other rules of flashbacks:

-    Always use past tense (especially if the story is being told in present tense)
-    Bring the reader back to the present story at the conclusion of the flashback.
-    Take pains to transition the reader between the present story and the flashback, both going in and coming back out;

Nancy Kress authored an article that appeared in the October 2000 issue of Writer's Digest, 3 Tips for Writing Successful Flashbacks. This is a very helpful article when attempting to incorporate flashbacks into your story.

A repeated caution that appears in most articles about writing flashbacks is to avoid the "info dump" and be certain the flashback is relevant to the story. Too much involvement in the backstory, the flashback, can pull your reader away from the story itself. Improper placement of the flashback is a surefire way of having your book tossed into the reject pile.

Another great online resource about flashbacks, Writing Flashbacks, can be read here: [DarcyPattinson.com].

Keep in mind that genre dictates how to use and when to use, or even if you should be using, flashbacks. A literary novel might be well served using many flashbacks whereas a science fiction novel would be best served with minimal use of the flashback. Read. Research. Practice. In the coming Daily Prompts you'll have opportunity to test your hand at flashbacks.