I must have been looking out of the window during school that that day because my hazy recollection of what I learnt in English Language is not helping me right now.
I'm in the middle of re-writing a flashback scene and I'm having problems with my tenses. Obviously because the flashback happened before the current time flow in my story I need to use the word had to modify the verbs (past perfect??), but the section is quite lengthy and I don't want to do that all the way through because it’s going to sound clunky.
Somewhere or somehow I need revert back to the simple past tense. Does anybody have any experience doing this? How long do I have to wait before I do? What is acceptable?
I would consider this a bubble experience. Writing in one bubble and flashback or flash-forward in another bubble. So all you need is the connection between the bubbles and of course the exit to the next bubble. So no need to worry about past future or hyper-dimensional grammar
As always it is just my opinion and not to be used you need to break the glass
Hi Phil
I don't see anything wrong with using past tense to describe a flashback. If you don't want to do this is it possible to show that you're describing a flashback using another method other than past tense? Can you use a sentence in italics (Phil remembered the day he met Rose) and then proceed as if it were the present tense? When you've finished the flashback maybe another sentence would flag your character's return to the present, e.g. 'The 8.05 arrived - late as usual. Phil's day with Rose faded as the train sped past blurry fields and hedgerows. Or how about assigning a date at the beginning of a flash back or maybe the simple phrase, 'ten years earlier'.
I feel that if you change tenses within a scene or flashback your reader might get confused. I can still hear my English teacher saying, 'Don't change tenses,' so if you start with a past tense stick with it.
I hope that helps a little.