Flashbacks

A flashback is a scene from the past that gives the reader further insight to what is going through the mind of the person he is reading about. There is always something that triggers a flashback--a smell, a familiar sight or a remembered comment. In our book, A Speck In God's Eye, there are number of flashbacks. In one particular story the flashback is triggered by a number of things--the glowing headlight beams from my car, a lonely country road and the dark of night. The following two paragraphs are excerpts from the story:

I was on my way home from a late night school board meeting when suddenly the car labored and slowed down. It felt as though I had just dropped anchor. I knew what was wrong. I had a flat tire. I pulled over to the side of the road but I did not get out. I was all alone in the car and it was very dark. It was after midnight. Instinctively I reached over and locked all the doors. I knew all about changing a tire. I had done it many times, but I did not get out. The headlights of the car lit up the road ahead and as I followed the beams of light piercing through the black of night I was reminded of a story my mother had told me long ago.

"One night when I was a teenager," she said, "I stayed too long at a friend's house. It was after dark when I left for home, and we lived on a lonely country road. As I was walking home, the headlights of a car, coming from behind me, lit up the road and then passed by, I watched as the lights of the car slowly disappeared. Then suddenly bright red taillights flared in the darkness, and I watched as the car pulled over to the side of the road and started to turn around. My heart began to race. I was alone. What if they were coming back for me? I turned and ran through the ditch into the hay field and lay down in the knee-deep hay, my heart pounding in my chest."

Obviously there is more to the flashback than what I've printed here, but hopefully you are able to see that the flashback is justified. It doesn't have anything to do with my flat tire, but it puts the reader in touch with my fear. It grabs their attention and because of the similarities of then and now the reader bounces right back to my tire problem all the more eager to know what happens.

Flashbacks can add excitement to a story.