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| I was chatting with my friend Kalyan on Facebook, after sending him the link to my last For Authors Newsletter "Going back to childhood" . The chat veered specifically to 'flashbacks', and became interesting. I decided to use it as material for a newsletter, with due permission from Kalyan! |
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Dear Reader,
Here it is then. Copy-pasted from a chat with Kalyanarama Durgadas, after reading "Going back to childhood" . We got to chatting specifically about the technique of a flashback into the character's childhood.
The most important reason why authors visit their characters' childhoods is to provide causes, reasons for current behaviour and decisions of their characters. Sometimes even to show growth/decay in their maturity. Not necessarily to do a 'Freud' on their characters.
Really speaking, in a novel, doing a flashback/ backstory is painful as it takes the reader away from the main story. If it exists at all, it usually has a damn good reason.
(I ask about his novel, Songs of the Cauvery, how he crafted the childhood scenes.)
Not so much in Songs of the Cauvery because it begins in the beginning and proceeds more or less chronologically. While it had better be still significant either in the plot or on establishing character -- or showing the trajectory of growth (as in a coming of age story) - the problem is even more acute in a story that starts in media res. Going back in time is at the expense of pacing then. You will, if you are not careful, take the reader away from the main story. You might have no option but to 'tell' instead of 'show; the childhood scenes. Not saying it can't be done. It takes skill.
One book which does childhood memories really well (technically, these were memories, not flashbacks.) Was "The Sense of an Ending" by Julian Barnes. It also shows up the unreliability of memories.
The fact is, flashbacks, childhood or more recent, are difficult to do really well. Flashbacks have to be relevant to the theme of the book while at the same time not sounding like a too-pat explanation for the motivation for the character being what she is today. It shouldn't sound like a DIY book on 'Parlour psychology for the amateur.' Nor should it be a random event from the past. It's a tricky path to navigate.
Often, in an effort to start the story with relevant action, the author does not start at the beginning. This necessitates the description of what happened earlier through memories, backstory or flashback. While a backstory, told simply, is the easiest to do, it might mean info-dumps that may be off-putting to the reader.
Memories and backstory have the advantage that they can be easily peppered through the narrative. Flashbacks need to be done at least one scene at a time.
Some authors structure their stories in such a way that there are two narration arcs, one current and another starting in the past, and allow these arcs to meet and merge at some point in the story. Only if the story is amenable to such a structure, this is fine.
The other way to do it is to tell the story more or less chronologically, for instance, as in "Kite Runner" (if I remember right.)
In any case, childhood flashbacks present serious challenges to the author.
Hm. Takes skill. Presents a challenge. So I ask the reading group I belong to on Facebook to name a book that uses the technique of childhood flashback effectively.
There's a deluge of responses!
"A Little Life", "A Horse Walks into a Bar" by David Grossman, "When we were Orphans" by Kazuo Ishiguro "The Forgotten Garden" by Kate Morton, the Harry Clifton chronicles by Jeffrey Archer, "Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, "Sleeping Murder" by Agatha Christie, Tara Westover’s "Educated", "The Guilty One" by Lisa Ballantyne, "Kite Runner" by Hosseini (which, by the way, Kalyan has mentioned as being chronological), "Purple Hibiscus" by Adiche, "My Brilliant Friend" and others in the Neapolitan series, "Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens, "Catcher In The Rye", "Gorky's Childhood", "A Painted House" by John Grisham, "Clear Light of the Day" by Anita Desai, "Blueeyedboy" by Joanne Harris, "he God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy, "The Lies of Locke Lamora", "Six of Crows", "Brotherhood of the Rose" by David Morrell, "Tell Me Your Dreams" by Sidney Sheldon, , "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini, Cormoran Strike series, "Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine", "Atlas Shrugged", "The Secret Keeper"
are some of the books mentioned by members of the group. While most have simply suggested a title, two people give a bit of explanation as well.
Taheg Gloder says '"Wizard and Glass", Stephen King. The whole books is essentially a giant flashback to Roland’s first mission as a Gunslinger and it’s amazing.'
Jayashree Khandige says :"The Love Machine" by Jaqueline Susan. The book is mostly about amnesia.
Seems it can be effective, but needs to be used with care, the flashback to childhood!
Thanks to all who contributed to this newsletter, and thank you for reading!
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Thanks for the responses to "Going back to childhood" !
hbk16 Childhood period is the most beautiful epoch of the life. It cannot be forgotten. As most of our dreams as adults emanate from our childhood. Childhood is a life where someone is free and out of responsibility. He lives in reverie and a fairy world. It is the innocence and the hope. Indeed in each of our subconsciousness as adults remains a child. I like such issue a lot and allows me to travel within my childhood memories full of love,tenderness and hope.
Thanks, Writing.Com Support, for the highlight in "Note: View this Note"! 
And here's a question for the Potterheads among us:
What do you think of JK Rowling's use of the Pensieve, to show us Snape's childhood (and Lily's)? What about her use of Rita Skeeter's book, to show Dumbledore's childhood? |
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For Authors: October 30, 2019 Issue [#9834]
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