WRITING STORIES: TECHNIQUE 2

Flashback. It is a scene within a scene, or summary, in which the writer reveals details about the past, something that happened before the current narrative, and a way to show fictional time. For instance, it is a way to add background details about events that happened in the past. It is a way to provide background details about the protagonist. This backdrop enables the reader to understand the current story. It is effectively used in storytelling to reveal at the “right point.” The writer can use a scene or summary to write the flashback. The writer often begins by introducing the flashback with the following: I recall…I remember….

Flashback

Chapter 1   —   Updated Oct 06, 2009   —   2,050 characters

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She ran on the sidewalk, her trainers thudding upon the cement. She pushed past people, not caring to apologize. Cars honked on the busy road next to her, the sounds clouding up her mind, making it hard to think. She kept running, as fast as she could, anything to get away, away from all of this.

A siren rang through the air, clearing her mind. Everything became sharp, and she could see every leaf on the tree she was passing, could hear every kitten meow with such clarity. A shudder passed through her body at the dreaded sound. She saw cars clear a path, try and make way in all the traffic. An ambulance rushed through, lights flashing, sirens screeching. Suddenly, she was no longer running next to the busy road, but she was back at the scene of that dreadful night.

The car had lost control. Something had gone wrong. And suddenly they were speeding, the world was moving too fast, everything was blurring past them. Screams echoed through her ears, some of them her own, and her body lurched forward and hit the back of the passenger seat. The seatbelt cut into her stomach paninfully, and her head bounced off the window harshly, knocking her out cold.

What seemed like years later she was being loaded into an ambulance on a stretcher. Her eyes snapped open and she saw a sea of red covering the road. Two bodies lay in the middle of the road, and with a jolt she recognized the jet black hair blotting the red. Her mother. Her eyes scanned the red and she felt sick as she recognized the glint of the silver watch which still lay upon the outstretched hand of her father.

Shock radiated through her as she realized what she was seeing and she passed out once again, the screams of her dead parents and the sirens mixing together in her mind.

The flashback passed and she found herself slumped against the trunk of a tree. She got up, shaking a little bit. She continued to run, slowly at first, but then gathering speed. To where, she did not know, the only thing she cared about was leaving all this behind.