In general, Take Our Word for It, Nothing Is Scarier and Beige Prose rely on strong direction from the author to be really effective. In order for the reader to imagine how big the iceberg is, and be intimidated by it, they first need to see what's above the surface. If the "outlines", so to speak, of the scene are not written well enough, then either of the following happens:
- The reader misinterprets the scene, missing its point completely. Imagination can run wild, and the author needs to ensure that the reader reaches the required conclusions from the scene's outlines.
- The outlines are so vague the reader doesn't notice that there is a point to this scene at all.
In short, if you want to use this technique when narrating the flashback, you need to thoroughly prepare the reader for it, or they'll miss the point of the scene. When dealing with this situation specifically, if it was the "getting hit" part that traumatized your character (if it did so), then they probably wouldn't want to recall it vividly.
Spiral out, keep going.
I was wondering about a similar issue, but in general, how effective is using flashbacks to establish a character's backstory instead of simply writing a generic description of their past and letting the readers fill in the blank themselves? E.g. if a character was bullied in the past, would it be enough to simply mention that through dialogue, or would it be more effective to show a flashback to the bullying scene?
I know it's common for visual medium like manga can dedicated several chapters to segue into flashbacks, but this seem less common in written works unless it involves magic, so I'm wondering if writing detailed flashbacks in literature is seen as a bad form or something.
Flashbacks do tend to break up the narrative, which is generally not something you want in a non-visual medium. Written works need to work harder to establish a sense of place than visual media, and interjecting a flashback can just drag you right out, forcing the reader to try and get reestablished in the narrative twice (once in the flashback, and a second time when the narrative jumps back).
I've done some flashbacks and haven't really gotten complaints on them, but I put them only at the start of the chapter to minimize disruption, and I make them long enough to justify taking some words to give them a sense of place. If I don't have enough content to stretch the flashback out into a full scene, I'll reduce them down to just an inline description of the events.
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
Yeah, whether the flashback interrupts the flow of the story is something to consider. However, I'm curious about the emotional effect it has on the audience. Let's say you're trying to convey that a character was abused as a child. Could having the character mention the abuse be more effective than showing it in a flashback?
Thinking about this issue a little more, I guess it all boils down to the context of the scene, and how much a the flashback and the "present" scenes relate to each other. I asked about this in another forum as well, and I was told that, in general, flashbacks should be used sparingly, and only if it enhances the current scene.
For example, if the hero is meditating over whether or not to give up on the Quest, having him reminisce about his favorite past times to help him come with his decision is alright. But having that same flashback scene show up in the middle of an intense battle against enemy mooks, or during a fight with a teammate, is probably inappropriate ... even if the flashback does relate to the present situation, a fond remembrance of one's childhood has a very different mood from a fight/conflight, and mixing the two together is just going to be jarring.
Another example: a character who's been through a traumatic event, and comes across something very triggering, a brief flashback could be warranted. In this particular context, showing a more detailed account of the backstory probably more effective than simply having the character give a Thousand-Yard Stare, then mention in a dialogue what they're reminiscing about during that episode. But this doesn't mean that the backstory should be conveyed in flashback every single time the issue is addressed. If, say, the character's trauma causes them to develop a distinguishable Character Tic, the audience don't need to be shown the root of their peculiar trait every time it's displayed.
Edited by Adept on Jul 7th 2018 at 1:51:38 AM
Stuff like Nothing Is Scarier or Take Our Word for It can be very effective when it comes to creating a sense of horror and dread. However, I don't know if these techniques can be effective for scenes that are supposed to have an emotional impact on the audience. If one is describing an event that greatly affected a character, it seems to me that by leaving things to the imagination of the audience can undermine their emotional investment. The reason I'm asking is because I'm writing a scene where a character has a flashback to an argument they had that got physical. I'm debating whether to end the scene right when the protagonist gets hit or if I should show the rest of the fight. Should I show how the protagonist responds to getting hit, or should I leave it to the reader's imagination?