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Exercise #831: Craft
Posted 12/6/19
Since flashbacks are pretty much a part of everything we write anymore, let’s do another exercise around them. The goal today is to leave a cliffhanger - we will wrap it up in the next Craft exercise so make it a good one!
Flashbacks need clear starts and stops. In today’s video age, this is easily done with fadeouts or change of color but in writing that’s not so easy. The most common way to clearly delineate your flashback is with the tense you use. A flashback generally starts in past perfect tense (had traveled instead of traveled, had seen instead of seen, for instance). Because this is a bit tedious for longer flashbacks, once we set the tone we are fine to return to just past tense. Often the author returns to past perfect at the end of the flashback so the reader can easily follow the return to “real time” in the story.
(Note: I am using "she," "he," "his" and "her" for this exercise, but you are not limited to a human female as your character for your piece.)
Your character has just seen a “porch pirate” steal a package from the neighbor’s front porch. She knows the elderly man who lives there is probably home.
Show us how she handles this situation, using a flashback in your work. Remember to end on the cliffhanger section!
Critiquers, along with a technical critique, note whether you were clear on whether events were happening "now" or "then." Pick out lines that clarify it for you, or note where you got lost.
Word limit: 1200
Please use the subject line
SUB: Exercise #831/yourname
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