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.

Creative Writing courses

If you have the chance sign up for a creative writing course. You'll always learn something new and exciting. At one creative writing course I attended we were instructed to write a page and a half story. The following week instead of handing in our stories we were instructed to rewrite the story, getting it down to a half page, without changing the emphasis or the point of the story. It seemed an impossible task. I had worked very hard at getting the story to fit onto the page and a half. But somehow I managed and returned the following week with the same story on only a half page. Actually I was amazed at how the quality of my story had improved. There were fewer words but they were more action packed. And the instructor did not stop there. Again we were told to cut the story in half and again after that. I wouldn't have believed it was possible. My story, that had started out as a page and a half, was now down to two sentences. Obviously it was no longer a story, but those two sentences were the most powerful words I had ever written. It was a lesson I have never forgotten--a lesson on tightening a story--telling it with the least amount of words yet dripping with action and emotion.

At another class I attended everyone was asked to start writing and not to stop until we were told to do so. We were to write without pause and on whatever topic we wanted to write on. And periodically the instructor would interrupt and tell us to change our topic. No matter what we were writing, we were to start writing about something else, never raising the pencil from the paper, never stopping to pause or think of what to say. It sounded ridiculous but we all did as we were told. She then asked each of us to read what we had written. It was most interesting. All the readings were interesting. Our minds had no trouble jumping from one topic to another. In fact the abrupt changes didn't seem abrupt at all--more like they were intended to build interest. And that's the point she was making. For the reader to be captivated by your story it should include unexpected happenings and bumps in the road.

I enjoy the variety of people who attend creative writing classes--both young and old. Their interests are so diversified. It never fails to get my creative juices flowing.

Wisconsin Regional Writers

Belonging to a writer's club is great. Creative people are so friendly that just being among them will inspire you. I recently attended a WRWA(Wisconsin Regional Writers' Association) Spring Conference. The speakers were very interesting and the Open Mic (microphone) always intrigues me. Anyone can sign up to speak during the Open Mic, with a time limit of four minutes. The benefits are twofold for the novice writer--listening to other writers read a portion of their work is not only inspiring but, if you read a portion of something you wrote, it will help to build confidence in yourself.

The conferences always have a number of very interesting speakers and they also acknowledge contest winners. One of the participants in the Open Mic was a woman who had a winning contest entry. For the Open Mic she read her winning story. The title was A Tight Squeeze. She said it was a true story about herself--and her car. The woman was in her 60's, maybe older--not that age had anything to do with it--but somehow, as she read, it seemed to enhance her story. Somehow she'd gotten her car parked in her garage so close to the wall that she couldn't move it in any direction. Her husband had already left for work, for which she was thankful--apparently this sort of thing had happened before--her husband, she explained wasn't the most understanding person in the world. We all laughed.

Not only was her story well written, but she read it well. After numerous attempts to get out of her predicament failed she called a tow truck. Voile' she was out. And by the end of the day, what had seemed so frustrating earlier now seemed extremely humorous to her and she decided to share it with her husband, which brings the story to it's conclusion. "Only then did I realize," she said, "that my husband, the old coot, didn't have a humorous bone in his body."

The captive audience was in stitches. She had drawn us in. She didn't just tell her story, but with the use of properly placed dialogue she allowed us to walk in her shoes and feel what she felt. It was wonderful.

The WRWA is a writer's club that anyone can belong to. Check it out on http://www.wrwa.net/ I like it because it doesn't take a lot of my time, there are no regular meetings, just two conferences a year and regular contests to take part in. I can be as involved as I want to or just lay back and read their club newsletter that comes out quarterly.