Major Flashback #1: Drawing a Parallel
The major flashback is longer: perhaps a brief paragraph, even two. It can be handled in a number of ways, for a number of reasons.
Jim wade has just heard a rumor. Someone saw Jim’s wife, Emily, carrying a suitcase and going into the bus depot. She was heard to say: “Enough is enough. A woman can’t take more.” Jim and Emily have been married for sixteen years; he trusts her completely, but he jumps into the truck and heads for the depot—just to check. As he drives, he is tormented by a fear that the rumor may be true. She wouldn’t leave him… would she? No there’s a mistake.
To heighten Jim’s anguish, the author throws in a flashback that parallels the current situation.
It was raining—just as it had been raining twenty years ago. He’d been engaged to Cora… Cora with the red hair and green eyes and swirling skirts. Involuntarily he grinned, then quickly sobered. Cora had worn his wring, had whispered with him on the porch swing, had promised… Then, just twenty years ago---that was in May, too—she had disappeared, run off with a farm equipment salesman. Sweat formed on his forehead as he clenched the steering wheel.
But—Emily wasn’t Cora. She wouldn’t…He saw the depot, double-parked, and jumped out of the car.
The former betrayal strengthens the possible current betrayal. Our sympathy for Jim grows. We too had been sure Emily wouldn’t. Now we’re not so sure!
Your turn: Elaine Wells has just been fired from her job. She has worked for this company for eight years, but times are bad and she and a lot of others have been laid off. She is waiting for a bus to go home. She’s scared—near panic. How will she tell the children—Jeff, who, at 17 is full of dreams about going to college, and 12-year-old Mary who expects a new bike at her next birthday? More important, how will she buy food, pay the rent?
Write a flashback covering a memory of a parallel incident… one that increases Elaine’s fear or alleviates it.
Major Flashback #2: Drawing a Contrast
The exact opposite of the parallel flashback is the contrasting flashback. Ted Belasco, a coal miner for 23 years, is preparing to go down into the mine to try and rescue some workers who were down there just before the explosion. There’s still danger, and Ted is grim and justly fearful. This time, to heighten the mood, the author uses a contrasting flashback.
He remembered the first day he’d gone into the mine. It was June—school was out—and as he waited, with a lunch box just like his father’s, he felt like—like a man. In the hot sunshine, near the mine entrance, he made plans, big plans—he would work for a few years, then go off to college to study engineering. He felt fearful, but proud, too, as his mother embraced him, and his little brother stared enviously at the lunch box.
Now, 23 years later, he was waiting again at the entrance to the mine. But this time he just felt fearful. The pride was gone…
The early hope of escape emphasizes Ted’s present imprisonment; the early dreams of success emphasize the fact that Ted isn’t going anywhere—except back into the mine.
Your turn: Penny is on a train on her way to her aunt’s house 300 miles away. Not for a visit this time, but to stay. Her parents were killed in an accident, and Penny, at fifteen has been made ward of her aunt. She’s rebellious, unhappy, and fearful.
Write a contrasting flashback that will emphasize Penny’s present sad situation.