How smart verb-tense management can guide readers seamlessly in and out of expository flashbacks.
I give writers this mundane note on verb-tense usage so frequently that I am, in fact, writing this guide just so I can link to it next time. Fair warning: This is a purely mechanical lesson and it might be difficult, but it is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL. Heed this advice, and your flashbacks—and readers—will thank you for it.
FIRST, A FEW QUICK NOTES
A Tense Refresher
Present Tense = I go
Simple Past Tense = I went
Past Perfect Tense = I had gone
Intros and Outros
No matter what tense your story is told in, your flashbacks will benefit from intros and outros—especially if the expository passage is on the longer side.
Flashbacks Embedded Within Flashbacks
Things get tricky when your flashbacks are embedded like Russian nesting dolls. You've been there before—it can get confusing as all get-out, for you and your reader. Always be aware of the temporal movement of a flashback; if the narrative is moving further and further back in time, the tense must follow. (There's one exception that we'll address when we get to embedded flashbacks in past-tense stories.)*
Always be aware of the temporal movement of a flashback; if the narrative is moving further and further back in time, the tense must follow.
FLASHBACKS IN PRESENT-TENSE STORIES
Flashbacks in stories told in the present-tense are more straightforward than flashbacks told in past-tense stories. Because you're telling your story in the present ("I am"), your flashback will be told in very simple past tense ("I was"). If you are embedding another flashback within the flashback, you'll use past perfect ("I had been"). Let's imagine we're playing a game of hopscotch.
You are standing on a square marked present tense.
Your flashback takes you back one square to simple past.
If you go even further back, you'll have to step back to your past-perfect square.
When the flashback is done, you'll step forward to get us back into the present story with an outro that uses present tense.
Some examples:
Present-Tense Exposition (Short)
I went to see my grandmother yesterday [simple past]. She’d been feeling ill for years, and I’d gotten into the habit of seeing her every week [past perfect, embedded]. Mom says it’s important, so I keep doing it; I’m planning on going again today [present, outro].
This three-sentence flashback is fairly straightforward. The first sentence gets us right into the flashback with simple-past tense. The second sentence with its "embedded flashback"is a bit trickier: "She'd been feeling ill for years" and "I'd gotten into the habit" suggest continuous action in the past, and therefore employ past-perfect verbs. (This verb tense is, in fact, called "past perfect continuous" tense.) In the third and last sentence, we get back into the present (and present tense) with Mom's admonishment, and the speaker's decision to visit his grandmother again today.
Present-Tense Exposition (Long)
I’m at the Lamborghini dealership and feeling just terrific. Man, I’m walking on a cloud [present, intro]. And to think, just yesterday I was feeling like a turd on bread [simple past]. I went to school in the morning and who was there to greet me but my principal, Mrs. Killjoy. She was standing in the doorway, looking at me like I’d murdered her pet rabbits [past perfect, embedded] . “Nice of you to join us today,” she said. I mumbled something in return and took off to class. Things went downhill from there. Until last night, when they read the Lotto winners on Channel Two. Twenty-four hours later I’m looking at a row of Italian race cars, and one of them will be mine [present, outro]. I wonder aloud, “What color?” The salesman is practically drooling at my side. Things are never going to be the same again.
Although this passage is longer, the same rules apply. There's a present-tense intro this time, and the meat of the flashback is told in simple past. We go into the past-past (using past-perfect tense) in a very brief embedded flashback ("...like I'd murdered her pet rabbits") before stepping back into simple past, and then the sentence beginning, "Twenty-four hours later..." takes us out using present tense, which is the tense of the present storyline.
FLASHBACKS IN PAST-TENSE STORIES
Stories told in past tense are a little trickier, only because the bulk of your flashback, if told literally, will use the past-perfect, and past-perfect verb tense is impractical to sustain. How much of "I had done this, and I had done that" can one read before the sentences start sounding unwieldy? To make matters worse, what if you're planning on embedding a flashback? Never fear—there's a solution to this issue. And it involves smoke and mirrors.
If the flashback is long, we deal with the overabundance of past-perfect verbs by setting up some scaffolding and easing the reader from past-perfect to simple-past tense—in effect, fooling the reader into thinking we're using the accurate flashback tense when we're really not (not by the letter of grammatical law, anyway). This will take some getting used to, but the more you practice, the easier it will be to build this "flashback scaffolding." Here's the same hopscotch analogy for stories told in past tense.
You're standing in the present of the story using simple-past tense.
Your flashback takes you back one square to past perfect.
After a sentence or two in past-perfect tense, you'll ease back into simple past, while still in flashback.
Just before wrapping up the flashback, you'll give a reminder that we're in flashback by reintroducing the past-perfect tense.
When the flashback is done, you'll step forward to get us back into the present story with an outro that uses simple-past tense.
*Note: if you have to embed a flashback while you're already in past-perfect, stay in past-perfect; it's as far back as you can reasonably go using English-language verbs.
Past-Tense Exposition (Short)
I’d gone to see my grandmother yesterday [past perfect]. She had been feeling ill for years, and I’d gotten into the habit of seeing her every week [past perfect, embedded]. Mom said it was important, so I kept doing it; I was planning on going again today [simple past, outro to the present].
Because this flashback is short, we forego the scaffolding and remain in past-perfect tense for the duration of the expository passage, until the outro brings us back into the present, with simple-past tense. Notice we use past-perfect tense when we get into the continuous past ("I'd gotten into the habit...") because it's as far back as we can go! Is the passage unwieldy with all those "I'ds" and "had beens"? Sure, maybe a little...but it's only three sentences long, so we'll live with it.
Past-Tense Exposition (Long)
I was at the Lamborghini dealership and feeling terrific. Man, I was walking on a cloud [simple past, intro]. And to think, just the day before I’d been feeling like a turd on bread. I’d gone [past perfect] to school in the morning and who was [easing into simple past] there to greet me but my principal, Mrs. Killjoy . She stood in the doorway , looking at me like I’d murdered her pet rabbits [past perfect, embedded]. “Nice of you to join us today,” she said [simple past]. I mumbled something in return and took off to class. Things went downhill from there. Until later that night, when they’d read [easing into past perfect] the Lotto winners on Channel Two. Twenty-four hours later I found [simple past, outro to the present] myself looking at a row of Italian race cars—one of them would soon be mine. I wondered aloud, “What color?” The salesman was practically drooling at my side. Things were never going to be the same again.
This example is the trickiest of all. We begin with an intro in simple past (the story's present), then move into the past with past-perfect for two sentences ("And to think, just the day before I'd..." and "I'd gone...") But the last sentences switches quickly to simple past "...school in the morning and who was..." because we've got to prepare for the embedded flashback, which will be contrasted with past perfect ("I'd murdered her pet rabbits.") From there, we go back to the simple past of the most recent flashback ("...things went downhill..."), then ease back into past perfect ("...when they'd read the Lotto winners...") before our readers realize we've been tricking them. Finally, we come full circle by returning to the story's present with a simple-past tense outro ("Twenty-four hours later I found...")
Things can get confusing when we refer to a story's present as being told in past tense—so for a quick reset, think of a longer flashback in a past-tense story as having the shape of an hourglass.
Think of a longer flashback in a past-tense story as having the shape of an hourglass.
The widest circumferences of the hourglass (the top and bottom) represent the story's present (intro and outro)—in this example, the story's present is the scene at the Lamborghini dealership. All the stuff in between the intro and outro is scaffolding that takes the reader from past-perfect to simple-past and back again in a perfectly symmetrical fashion.
With all that said, these are the general rules for managing flashbacks; exactly where and how you set up the scaffolding is up to you. As you get used to writing flashbacks in past-tense stories, it'll come naturally, and you'll trust your instincts. Read expository passages out loud and your ear will tell you if they sound right.
Most importantly...don't tense up. You got this!
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