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IWW
Practice-W Exercise Archives
Exercise: Take Me Back
These exercises were written
by IWW members
and administrators to provide structured practice opportunities for its
members.
You are welcome to use them for practice as well. Please mention that
you found
them at the Internet Writers Workshop
(http://www.internetwritingworkshop.org/).
Prepared
by: Ruth Douillette
Posted on: 5 November 2006
Reposted on: 8 June 2008
Reposted on: 15 November 2009
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Exercise: In less than 400 words, use one of the five senses to trigger
a flashback that
will give a reader needed insight into a character. Begin by briefly
grounding your
protagonist in the present, provide a sensory trigger that brings forth
a memory, and
then show us the event that affected your character. Be careful to make
a smooth
transition.
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A flashback is a scene in a story that takes the reader back in time
from the story's
current setting.
Through flashbacks, readers gain information they need to understand the
character's motives, or to understand a current conflict. Dreaming,
finding a diary
or an old letter, or meeting an old friend can catapult a character
into such a
recollection. Another approach is to have the character see, smell,
hear, touch, or
taste something that leads to a significant memory.
A well written flashback moves the reader from the present to the past
without
seeming contrived or awkward.
For this exercise use a sensory trigger to spark the flashback. Perhaps
your
character smells banana bread and flashes on a childhood scene with her
grandmother. Or your character sees a candle melted to a stub and
remembers dark
days when the electric bill wasn't paid.
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Exercise: In less than 400 words, use one of the five senses to trigger
a flashback that
will give a reader needed insight into a character. Begin by briefly
grounding your
protagonist in the present, provide a sensory trigger that brings forth
a memory, and
then show us the event that affected your character. Be careful to make
a smooth
transition.
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Critique: How smooth was the transition to the past? Was the sensory
trigger
appropriate and effective? How much insight does the flashback provide?
Web site created by
Rhéal Nadeau and
the administrators of the Internet Writing Workshop.
Modified by Greg Gunther.
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