In my post two weeks ago, I covered different types of flashbacks (using only one, several, or telling a whole story through them - a revolutionary way of telling a story, in my opinion). Today, we're taking a look at actually writing these things. If you haven't read Part 1 in the series, I'd highly recommend checking that out here first. Now that that's out of the way, let's dive right in!
Tag: Plot
Flashbacks: What They are, and Why I’m Obsessed with Them
Have you ever read a book where you're suddenly taken back in time to see something that happened to the character in the past? That's called a flashback. We're going back in time in a flash to see something that happened to the character, also in a flash. It usually only lasts a single moment in real-time, as the character is just having a memory flash through their mind. But, as a reader, we get to see the whole scene play out. Flashbacks are a great way to insert backstory, or a character's ghost. There are other ways to do that, of course, but sometimes the best way is to completely immerse the reader into the scene to get the full impact of the emotion of the character. Flashbacks are generally reserved for important scenes; no reader wants to leave the storyline just for random thing that happened in the past. Those are the sort of things conveyed in passing, as a line of dialogue or a mention in the story. They don't need a full-on scene of their own. Most people know at least that much about flashbacks. Today, I'm diving in a little deeper than that general description to see the meat and bones of a flashback: what they are, when they should be used, and if there's even such a thing as over-using them.
The Inciting Incident: The Point of No Return… Or Is It?
In my last post on making the problems in a story personal to a character (which is *cough* totally awesome *cOuGh* and you should check it out *wheeze*) I mentioned that I was going to do a post on the Inciting Incident. Not that long later, I had a conversation with my sister Mary that made me very glad I was going to post on the subject. We both are working on outlining new stories, and we started talking about the Inciting Incident, which was really confusing both of us for some reason. What exactly is the Inciting Incident supposed to be? Is that when the character gets kicked out of their Normal World? And are they even supposed to accept it?
The Importance of Plot Line {How to Keep Readers Interested}
Having amazing, relatable characters can save a story (which we discussed how to write in the previous posts in this series). But we don't want to have to save your story at all. We want to amp up its awesomeness and keep readers interested! So, in this last post in the series on how to keep readers interested, we're going to talk about plot lines.
How to Plot Your Story: The Actual Plotting Part of this Series
Hey there! I wrote out a draft post for this, and left it, even though it didn't feel like it was... good enough. But eventually, I just decided that enough was enough, and I was only going to give you guys quality content. So. Here we are, with an entirely different kind of description … Continue reading How to Plot Your Story: The Actual Plotting Part of this Series
How to Plot Your Story: What the Parts Mean
Hey there! Today we look at what each part of the plot (which we learned about in THIS post) actually is. I was actually really happy with how excited some people were about this series. 😉 I quote from my sister Mary last Saturday evening: "I need your post. I can't believe I just said … Continue reading How to Plot Your Story: What the Parts Mean
How to Plot your Story: The 15 Parts of Plot
Hey there! Welcome to today's post! We're going to be talking about the plotting process. I personally found out about new things on the plotting of a book recently and had to stop my rewrite of The Triad of Caosdif because I was missing some of them. I also have friends and family who need … Continue reading How to Plot your Story: The 15 Parts of Plot