Today’s topic from the Armchair Genealogist‘s writing challenge (day 19) was using flashbacks effectively. As usual Lynn has some good points to remember:

1. Find a trigger to ignite the flashback
2. Does it advance the story?
3. Keep it brief
4. Use in moderation
5. Find a trigger to bring the character back to the present

The writing exercise was to practice writing a flashback scene from a past memory. I decided to write about our pet dog Shadow and used finding his old sticker brush in the garage a couple of weeks ago when we were cleaning. This stuff is always harder to do than it looks. The trigger wasn’t too hard but I don’t think I really did a flashback, it seemed like more of just reminiscing about Shadow. I’ll have to pay close attention to how authors write flashbacks in the future and learn more about the differences.

With the steady progress I’m making each day, I’ll have the challenge finished before the end of August. Then I’ll have to get really into actually writing this history. But I’m learning things everyday so I think it is worth the time.