And so we come to the end of another year - thank you so much for all your support and love this 2019 year, especially my patrons. Maybe consider getting yourself a Christmas present with both Nebula and Curiosity Stream at Nebula AND Curiosity Stream at curiositystream.com/hellofutureme Merry Christmas, eat family, sing your food, and talk with christmas carols. Stay nerdy for 2019, and I'll see you in 2020! ~ Tim
I couldn't agree more with this xD But I understand why, The last Airbender is a masterpiece of worldbuilding, creativity, character development, and narrative.
*Flashbacks affect pacing?* Naruto: This one character has one fight and will die, but before they do, here's a 20 minute episode explaining their entire life.
I want to know who Kishimoto's editor was because he/she did a terrible job. The redundancy in Naruto is shameful to the point of nearly ruining the show.
my favorite kind of flashbacks that you didn't cover here are what i call "campfire stories." basically a character reveals information about their past in a slightly more humorous way. if you're being dramatic, the story may end with the character recalling something they didn't want to. a good example of one of these is thor joking about his dark world adventure in endgame. the main advantages of using this kind of flashback are that it keeps the story mostly in the present, and makes it easier to deliver information naturally.
An ever better example is Avatar: the last airbender (because Avatar is great at everything) when the Fire Nations kids leave the party they just destroyed.
I think this may also be a good way to show trauma, when handled well ofcourse. When a character slightly humorously or more lightheartedly retells a traumatic experience or an event that mentions dealing with trauma, it can show having moved past or (partly) processed said trauma and also feeling comfortsble in sharing or consoling in the people theyre with.
I'm surprised you didn't mention "The Storm" in Avatar as a reference to how showing Zuko's backstory gave context to his action and developed his character. I kept waiting for it...
My one problem with The Storm is that there's no proper reason for that flashback to be there. What I mean is that it's a random episode in season 1. It happened because they decided to have an important flashback in the middle of season 1 and wrote an episode around it. It could've been ep.12 or 13 or 10 or 15 and it would've made no difference. I guess it's just more of a problem with season 1 being quite episodic in nature. In season 2 the Zuko flashback (Zuko Alone) has a specific placement in the story and you couldn't really mess with it. Zuko & Iroh separate in Avatar Day and they reunite in The Chase. The only possible change you could make is place Zuko Alone before The Blind Bandit. That's it. Nothing more.
I wanted to stay away from the usual examples that I and other people who discuss Avatar bring up. And as an example of what I was talking about in the video, the Southern Air Temple made a far better example. - Tim
There is one small flashback in the chapter where Zuko and Sang start to train the fire bending, Tooh suggest them to research in the origin of fire bending, explaining that those animals (whose original names I don't know xd) where the first earth bending masters, explaining that earth bending wasn't for fighting, but for interacting with the world and in that flashback we see one of those animals walking and then we see Toph walking (or ducking) in the exact same way, showing us a bit of worldbuilding and character backstory.
@@juanrodriguez9971 Badgermoles. I loved that scene and the bit of backstory on Toph. She actually mentioned it earlier in the episode "Sokka's Master" that she learned from Badgermoles, so it was great to learn what that meant.
Every time I think of poorly executed backstory, I hear Sorrow and Sadness while I see Naruto on the swing looking sad. I swear I remember Naruto's childhood better than my own.
My favorite example of a flashback is the fortieth episode of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, "Homunculus (The Dwarf in the Flask)." It's one of those flashbacks that only makes sense when you've watched the entire series, but when it happens it explains SO MUCH. The point being that y'all should watch FMA:B. It's an amazing show.
tbh I hated that episode. It was really boring to me. BUT it explained so much and really gave insight to who the real enemy was and how the rest of the story fell in line with that one single episode. It was boring, but it was so necessary and well done. FMA Brotherhood will always be one of my favorite anime.
quick: are you more sick of watching a: batman's parents die. b: spider-man's uncle die. c: naruto being upset on a swing. d: (insert overused memory here.)
Naruto is both extremely bad at using flashbacks, and sometimes extremely good at it. The great timing of the flashback in the Lee vs Gaara fight really cemented it as a lot of people's favorite fight, because the stakes are very clearly presented, and the loss feels so much sadder as a result.
my favorite use of a flashback is in "madoka magica" there is an entire episode about one characters backstory and it recontextualises the entire story. reactions you see earlier in the series you though were anger or frustration turn out to be saddness and desperation, the stakes it creates by giving the viewer more knowlege about the world adds a huge ammounts of weight to an already desperate situation. i honestly cannot recomend this series enough
I want to be vague to avoid spoilers because honestly, absolutely everyone should watch Puella Magi Madoka Magica, but one scene in that episode fucking kills me every time. Towards the end, when one character makes an important request from the character the episode is about which suddenly makes everything make sense, followed by a second request. They don't show her complying, but you hear it and my god that actress is unbelievable.
Ripley's Believe it or Not. I think that is what the show was called. The guy he shows is an actor called Johnathan Frakes. Hopefully I spelled his name right, I am bad with names.
I think a good examination of flashbacks is in the Legend series by Marie Lu. In this book most flash backs aren’t full scenes it’s the main characters remembering the main points instead of the entire scenes, this allowed the reader to know that these events have happened without having to put the plot on pause.
pirateKaiser Onepiece flashbacks are usually well done. They show a will that continues or a legacy continued. Naruto on the other hand would just shovel backstory for everyone even when it wasn’t relevant.
@@holdenmuganda97 yeah the oden flashback makes us care about Wano more, and makes us hate the villain more and gives us more info on Roger and than Whitebeard
One of my favorite use of flashbacks in recent memory is from the episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (nearly twenty years late, but I'm finally going through the series) The Body. It's a simple enough scene, just a dinner party, it has no influence on how Buffy reacts to her mother's death, but it's so crucial to the emotional weight of the scene. Seeing a slice of Buffy's everyday life, and then contrasting that with this shocking and horrifying event really let it sunk in. Amazing for a scene was added just so the audience wouldn't be distracted by the opening credits when Buffy calls for an ambulance.
Me: **After pausing the video for a while as I get distracted** What was I watching again? Anime me: I remember, so long ago, when I got that message... **Flashback to me getting the notification like 30 minutes before**
I'm kind of surprised you didn't mention Once Upon a Time. That show had tons of flashbacks and it was interesting how they used them. Awesome video, I think it will definitely help me with my writing.
In Once Upon A Time, the flashbacks themselves weren't in chronological order, but they were done in such a way that you could piece together where/when everything fit. Beautiful writing
When he mentioned the parallel stories use of flashbacks in arrow I immediately thought of OUAT as another example, though in Arrow the flashbacks tell one long story over the season and in OUAT they tell an episodic story relevant to what is currently happening. I agree Hanz Hanzo, Rumple is the best because he's part of literally everyone's backstory somehow.
Oh yeah! I watched once upon a time until season 5 when I started getting annoyed at the show. But seasons 1-4 were good in my opinion and the flashbacks every episode were genuinely interesting!
aww you forgot the part that is most used in Tv series/anime: make viewer remember important scenes they already saw!(That is suppose to affect the event of the same episode)
To be fair, at least in anime (and older anime before streaming), this was largely a necessity in order to make sure that newer viewers who missed the original episodes are up to date. From what I've heard, TV stations that run anime in Japan largely don't do re-runs (probably due to the volume of anime that's produced every year), and as such they often felt it necessary to make sure that new viewers weren't confused. Long-running old anime even had entire episodes which summarised previous seasons (often very far into their run, like 100 episodes in). It's a little annoying, but was pretty much a result of the time in which they were being made and the airing circumstances.
i paused the video to go read "story of your life" bc the spoiler warning got me interested haha awesome read, recommended! on to the movie now. thank you for everything Tim!
8. Naruto therapy flashbacks - if you can't defeat bad guy in fair fight, just show some 'sad childhood' moments and enemy will be immediately converted to good.
As an avid world builder and backstory constructor, I agree. It is important to know what the backstory is, but to explain it to the audience isn't always necessary, no matter how much we want the audience to know all the cool ideas we had.
I agree backstory is extremely important. You can do so much just through the environment, and the atmosphere of a place without a single line of dialogue. I think its important to keep that in mind
How many times have I had to watch Eren's mom getting chomped in Attack on Titan? It almost seems like it was an inside joke to include it so much in the anime. On the other hand, it could've forced us to remember what the Titan looked like so that the big reveal at the end of Season 3 would be more impactful (I was definitely shocked).
The fact that this moment was overused is real. But I disagree with what you said about the reveal of this Titan during the Season 3 being more impactful, since this same titan was the actual reason why Hannes and Carla died, and of course, that it permitted the introduction of the Coordinate. I think we wouldn't have saw that reveal differently if this overused scene was taken off.
An interesting case of the flashback comes from the book Halo: Evolutions. Its a book full of short stories from the Halo universe and one of them is called "Dirt" where a dying soldier tells the tale of how he got there to a Rookie ODST (basically a spec ops trooper) The entire story takes place in a flashback, with only the beginning and ending taking place in the "present" Not much more to it than that, but i found it very interesting how my thoughts slowly turned from "when does this flashback end" to "Oh yeah this was a flashback!" Once the story came together. The entire book is a good read, but that story in particular really held my attention from beginning to end just because of the suspence of how it all tied together. And boy the payoff is awesome.
I like mha approach a charter only gets flash back chapter if they are going to get a charter ark. Other wise they get a single panel. Then there's the naruto aproch of giving multiple episodes to a flash back then show those same clips 3 times throught one fight then a few more times throughout the show.
Pandora Hearts does an amazing job with its flashbacks. A large part of its story is comprised of all kinds of them and they do a great job further fleshing out the characters, building the story's ever-present mystery and subverting the reader's expectations. Manga as a whole is just a really good medium to utilise flashbacks in.
Oh boy, AoT and flashbacks. Many of them are good from the perspective of this video's 3rd point, but the ones in season 3 part 2 are golden - saying that they alter how the story works moving forward is an understatement
This is a lesson I learned years ago, when I was still writing my character's motivation out in the first pages of a story which often contained their backstory as well. I've stopped doing that once I felt excessively disappointed with my own style of writing. So I quit a few years and did my research. You, amongst other channels, recindled my love for world building and writing, and I've started rewriting one of the last stories I was working on. A story with multiple characters, each with their own motivations and backstory but none being conveyed. Thank you for this video, and for all your writing tips and trick. They've helped me, and a lot of peoople here I assume, a lot with settling a few issues within our stories. Keep up the good work.
I love watching these videos when I am sleepy or have executive dysfunction. The music at the end is so soothing and when it finishes I tell myself to get up.
12:30 Damn, I was using this instinctively the whole time! it just felt... right, more alive, more close up and personal, I never considered doing it any other way.
I need to stop watching these at 10:00. I wind up with a burst of inspiration, and now it’s midnight, and I’ve added 2.5 pages of notes/planning and 2 new mostly complete characters. 😰😰😰😭😭😭 I’m so tired.
3:22 You would absolutely love One-Punch Man. As a parody of Shonen Anime, one of the tropes it pokes fun at is how Shonen Anime always gives such overly-long backstory. Seriously; you'll love it.
Great subject matter that needs more examination. I would love a similar breakdown of Wizard and Glass and how it grades out in the context of the Dark Tower series.
Listening to this, it struck me that effective use in Villeneuve's films of "flashbacks" (and mind-bending non-linear story telling in general) that show how faultily remembered traumas of the past or future affect people in the here and now isn't limited to Arrival. It's prominent (or at least hinted at) in most of his films that I've seen: Polytechnique, Incendies, Enemy, Arrival, BR2049 and Dune. (And in Prisoners and Sicario, the traumas of the past are left to the imagination, prompted by images of photos, press clippings and people having nightmares...)
I struggled with this in my current book as when i was younger i remember hearing from someone that flashbacks were considered lazy writing for exposition. As i developed the world and overall story though I realized the flashbacks were pretty vital in dealing with the first main character's ptsd like trauma and in setting up the climax at the end of the first part. To make it less cheap i plan on using magic to explain why the character is having so many flashbacks as it ties into the main plot. Your video definitely made me more confident in that plan so thank you
I wrote a short story once “door to my past” to get over bullying in my past. It was basically that I would walk through doors, into rooms that I was in, in the past. I’d have a normal day and would run out of my room, into a classroom I had been a long time ago. I would have no control over my movements anymore. However, I had control of my mind, so the story is a lot about thoughts. Which really helped me deal with my issues.
Power and magic systems are usually best explained in pieces as they're relevant to story anyway. If the backstory is also tied to it, that actually gives something engaging to explain it through instead of dumping dry exposition.
A good technique for conveying backstory of very specific/main characters is simply starting the story earlier in time. Not as a prologue, but as the actual beginning of the story.
The best part about your videos is that you can watch them more than once after a long time and get inspired on how to write a part of your narrative. I am thus eternally grateful.
Hickman did a very good job of using the flashbacks in the recent big X-Men crossover series, House of X/Powers of X - All the flashbacks to Moira's past lives beyond the initial ones presented in summary in the third chapter are each presented in a manner in which they each present an engaging, curious look at a possible future, and only finally deliver the important information about Moira's plan in the new timeline she's created, at the moment when it becomes most relevant to the rest of the story's present-day arc.
Annihilation (the book) was great for me when it came to flash backs. There’s one point where we are at a moment we’ve been waiting for throughout the whole book, then right before she turns the corner, we’re stopped for a flash back. And while that should have been jarring, that flashback was told at the perfect time and it made the big reveal so impactful.
Hello, Tim Man, your videos have been helping me A LOT. It is so cool that there are not only talented people on RUclips, but those who can actually express their lessons so well. I know a lot of the references/people you use in your videos, but slowly, you are becoming the new reference for me. I write fiction in my free time and all your videos are priceless. Though I am sure you would like to put a price on them. LOL. Thank you for all this work and effort. Your material is invaluable to new /amateur writers. I hope to see good changes in my writing in time, and I owe a lot to you. And good luck with your upcoming book as well. Cheers.
I think a show that does this really well is the new “lost in space”, it uses the flashbacks during a mortal danger scene for one of the characters, and uses the flash back connecting the person in danger with the other character in the situation with them that adds gravity to the relationship and history so you feel the weight of the two character being trapped in the situation, and gives he fight and fury of how to get out of it
The amount of work you put into these videos is staggering. Your work is really appreciated and I hope you continue forever! Thank you very much and a Merry Christmas!
Thank you for this. Thank you for all your videos. I am an amateur writer currently focusing on fanfic for now to practice my craft and my current work is a very experimental piece where I regularly flash back to previous events. In fact, it would be more accurate to say my story is set in flashbacks connected by a thread of the current time period. This enables me to experiment with different writing techniques in the flashbacks. Your advice and analyst into techniques and story telling tools is incredibly useful.
Holy-so I (or more my brother, but I quickly snatched it up from him with permission) got your book for Christmas (I've been reading, annotating, and taking notes for like the past couple hours ngl) and I didn't even know it was you. I saw your profile picture on Amazon and I like vaguely recognized you. I looked up your RUclips channel realizing you were probably the person who did that mental health video on 13 Reasons Why and I was RIGHT and I'm like high key ecstatic. I've been sharing funny excerpts from it with my friends and recommending it to them (“While your hero might be a devout vegan Mormon and your opponent a separatist otherkin communist, unless their two ideologies come into conflict during the story, they add little to the narrative.” being a personal favorite.) It's been super helpful so far, literally everything I've been struggling with you've addressed and I've thought of so much new stuff I never would have otherwise! I see that it says volume 1 on the cover (and it's such a freaking beautiful cover) so I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for volume two :D Anyway, absolutely love your book, and I'm totally subscribing.
I really like working with flashbacks. I find it fun to go back and forth between past and present (as a reader and writer). I am currently writing a story with a character who experiences panic attacks and with those panic attacks, the memories that they are trying to force into the back of their mind resurface. I also don't let too much information come through and a few of the flashbacks are repeats of themselves but with slight differences to express how many people will forget, remember and rewrite details from their experiences. Also love how you mentioned Arrival! I've only watched the film so far but I loved it and thought it was very well done.
Arrival is one of my ALL TIME favourite sci-fi movies. It was sooo brilliantly made and executed. I freakin love it. :) Some of this advice is still ap0plicable to roleplaying games as well. I can totally see how using flashbacks as a DM can be an awesome narrative tool, to tell a Player Character's backstory or a flashback to quickly tell some backstory to give some relevance to the current scene that they're playing. I really really love your advice.... I'm mostly looking at how to use your advice in roleplaying games and how it can be used there. Thanks again for yet another awesome video. :)
19:04 something that , in my opinion, The Ritual does wonderfully. Constantly going back to that trauma in flashes, only staying and longing on that scene when the mc over comes it
I love it when anime gives entire episodes of backstory to every character. It builds the world. Yeah, it slows the pacing dramatically, but it gets you to care & know the characters. But yes, excessive backstory isn't needed in a 300 page stand-alone novel
I've had some trouble working some character development in my writing due to some issues in revealing her backstory too soon, so this is really helpful.
Gotta tell you, as a huge fan of your channel, seeing a thumbnail with Arrival (my favorite movie) and The Last Airbender side by side is one of the most exciting moments of the week.
I really appreciate all of the varied examples and the way you present them. I feel like often times people giving writing advice will present one 'correct' way of doing things, but you always give a much more well rounded approach that is much more helpful for me as a writer.
I think Mr. Robot, especially the currently airing season, does a fantastic job of showing just the right amount of information in its flashback, as well as not having too much of them, so that all of them add to Elliot’s character. The fact that they were payed out so specifically, and in some particular cases, vaguely, is what made the huge reveal this season possible. Mr. Robot is one of the best tv shows of the decade, and Rami more than deserves an Emmy for his work, as do the show’s writers and directors
Hey! I just wanted to say that this video broke me out of writer's block. I think it’s the tone of your voice and how engaging you formulate your sentences. You made everything so easy to understand. Also, Shaelin is really fun, thanks for introducing her! I put on a playlist of your and her videos and finally got two paintings done and could take really great notes for my writing at the same time! I'm gonna go buy your book now, bye!
I keep forgetting to get your book. This series is very much appreciated. Even when I don't fully agree there are still interesting points and things to learn from. Good examples and bad examples alike.
Breaking Bad is actually a good example of using flashbacks, Gus being the main antagonist of season 4 only gets one flashback and that was enough (plus the chat with the DEA), Vince didn't need to show us his entire life because his character and actions tell us his story in a better way.
I've got something I started the other day that's going to revolve pretty heavily around a flashback, because the plot and the main character's arc will be about learning to confront his own past and give himself a second chance even when he doesn't think he deserves one. However, I want to be very careful about it because with the way the story has to be structured, the actual flashback doesn't involve the protagonist or his past at all. If I wrote it any other way a different character would have to be the point of view, one whose arc isn't nearly as interesting and is nearly over by the time the story starts. But the main character needs to hear that person's story to understand what he needs to do to start growing as a person again, and I think it should be presented to the reader in at least the same detail as it would be presented to him. My plans for right now are to make it as short as I can, set up one or two driving questions earlier in the narrative for the flashback to resolve, showing the beginning of that character's development without necessarily showing how they got to exactly the place they're in when the protagonist meets them, and watching this video before I start writing that part. :) Unfortunately I don't have twenty-three minutes and thirty-five seconds to spare right now. :(
im not sure if youre gonna see this but recently ive been wanting to finally commit into making manga styled stories i had planned for years now and after watching a bunch of your vids ive been feeling more inspired and motivated to do so, im 23 and i had these ideas up in my head since 2018 so it kinda shames me its taken this long but either way im just gonna say thanks for makimg these videos
0:14 nice done working in the "commercial" as an example of a segue. Loving your work, it gives me so much to think on and has actually helpt me getting back into writing on my own book, (I've been too engulfed in consuming stuff instead of actually creating stuff)
Wow... I was subbed to you a year or two ago for your HTTYD theories, which I was enamored with at the time. I started my first really truly serious (i. e. Publish??) writing project just a few months ago and found one of your writing advice videos yesterday. Until I went through your channel, I wasn't even aware that you were the same person. So, to conclude this mini ramble, thanks for being there as I go through different stages in life and keep being awesome!
Hey Tim, i'm going to heavily recommend the Poppy war novel. so far it's somewhere between a grown-up avatar and Name of the wind. i think you'd like it
I rewatched, curious to know why I'd left before the 5-minutes mark the first time, and I have to tell you, it's pretty impressive how you can get to a great lesson in just a few minutes and still have an entire video left to do it again. I guess I left because I felt I had learned enough for the day haha, I'm glad I'm watching the whole thing now
Person of Interest is a TV show that does flashbacks almost every single episode and actually almost always works. I'm not sure if you'd think they make everything narrative relevant, but this video made me want to rewatch with these ideas in mind.
Great video, as usual. :D One note I would add is that you don't have to refrain from writing out detailed backstory or flashbacks. It's often helpful to write out everything during the first draft. Or, as a friend puts it, vomit out all the words. Then, when you do your second draft, you can strain out all of the extraneous scenes that turned out to not move the story in any compelling fashion. One piece I'm working on at the moment has about a dozen flashback scenes in it so far, but I don't think I'll have any by the time I'm done with the second draft because they're mostly there so that I have a better grip on who the characters are and why they behave as they do so that they're more fully fleshed for me as I write them; the reader will only get that information by way of the front story narrative in its finished form.
I like to use flashbacks in the form of dreams or memories linked to trauma. Because my story focuses on the memory contained in blood and the prolonged life one can gain from it these dreams and flashbacks are very important, because they merge and come up from different perspectives given on the relationship the person had with the original man or woman whose blood was consumed. The dreams always have to do with the moment though, with the situation at hand.
The reveal at the end of Arrival managed to feel both like a reward and a slap in the face. It's satsifying to see the culmination of what otherwise would be a film where not much seems to be happening. Yeah a linguist is trying to communicate with aliens but truth be told, it seems to drag on, almost over and over again. A bit like the highway scene in sicario, except it is stretched into a whole movie and the feeling they are going for is not tension and more heartbreak. So it feels like a reward for having watched it through. But then, also, it's a slap in the face bc a child, one she doesn't even have yet, will die young. She has witnessed its suffering, held that little hand through it all. And even though she knows that she will face that heartbreak, she still has the courage to go ahead with it, start a relationship, go on towards what is coming. It was definitely an unexpected mix of feelings i had to sit with after that movie.
I always love your insightful explanations on writing. It gives me a better grasp of story telling and the art of fiction. I decided that I'd like to write books myself and your videos can provide me with the appropriate wisdom into making some impactful storytelling.
I feel, at the end of the day, it's always the most important thing to consider 1) Who is your audience? 2) What type of medium are you writing in? (1) is very simply explained. A certain type of medium will more likely than others be picked up by specific people. For example, whenever there are discussions around Light Novel adaptations, there is usually the Light Novel reader that will tell you that the source was so much better, because the author went into much more detail about the inner thought process of the characters. However, the fact that most of these things can be portrayed in different ways and that a bunch of inner monologues is hurting the pacing in a series (be it anime or live action) is often something that fans of the source don't really see the same way as for example me. They like these moments. And while this is not necessarily the same as flashbacks, it explains why these types of stories also show flashbacks that some people would consider unnecessary. (2) is explained if you think about the structure. Like, is your story really split into chapters or is it a play that is split into acts or is it one movie or is it a series that is made up of episodes. Depending on the type of medium, inserting flashbacks has to be done differently. For example, if you are writing in chapters or episodes, it is easier to just add a chapter/episode that solely focuses on that flashback. In that case, the pacing isn't as affected (at least if you are not doing it during some tense moment) compared to including it into a movie.
Thanks Tim and Merry Christmas! 100% agree. A few months ago I removed an entire chapter of backstory from my novel and boiled it down into a memory of a few hundred words for the sake of pacing and relevancy.
I write for over ten years now, and the only rule, I found to be really usefull, to allways follow, is this: Every Scene, has to, at least serve two purposes or more. In fantasy, I mostly use the all mighty triangle: Story, Character, Worldbuilding. But not every scenes purpose is it, to have more then one of those in it. But even then, it forces you, to think about subplot and subtext, and what you could include, which hightens the tension or the understanding of the character. Whatever it is, one scene is never just one scene. There is allways a memorie or a circumstance in the world, the characters etc. that influences the scene. That also helps with flashbacks or backstory reveals etc. Because it can be used to evaluate every scenes purpose and if it is necessary to include it
![On Writing: How to deliver exposition PART ONE [ Avatar l Matrix l Game of Thrones l Harry Potter ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/iq5A5bppyUg/mqdefault.jpg)
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
And so we come to the end of another year - thank you so much for all your support and love this 2019 year, especially my patrons. Maybe consider getting yourself a Christmas present with both Nebula and Curiosity Stream at Nebula AND Curiosity Stream at curiositystream.com/hellofutureme Merry Christmas, eat family, sing your food, and talk with christmas carols. Stay nerdy for 2019, and I'll see you in 2020!
~ Tim
Love you Tim!!
Wait we're can I buy Yr book
@@jasper2719 Amazon! www.amazon.com/Writing-Worldbuilding-I-Timothy-Hickson-ebook/dp/B07PNKHDFZ
~ Tim
Your book is on my list, hope I get it. Merry Christmas Tim!
@@HelloFutureMe thx I'm going to get that real quick
Question do you recommend any place to reach out to for advice or input on stories we are writting?
"I'm actually filming this beforehand."
So this entire video was... a flashback?
Twilight Zone theme intensifies.
Ha ha ha!
😂😂😂😂
Oh, my...
Lmao
Or vsauce music
Ask Reddit: what words have you heard the most?
Me: In Avatar the Last Airbender.......
I couldn't agree more with this xD
But I understand why, The last Airbender is a masterpiece of worldbuilding, creativity, character development, and narrative.
There's a good reason tho
Every community has a masterpiece that is cited as it’s “bible.” In the writing community ATLA is pretty much it’s “bible”
MY CABBAGES!
*Flashbacks affect pacing?*
Naruto: This one character has one fight and will die, but before they do, here's a 20 minute episode explaining their entire life.
i've seen naruto sadly sitting on a swing and crying next to shadow people as many times as i've seen the waynes die. and uncle ben for that matter.
Clash Bluelight kishimoto’s insane for not realizing how over abundant that is and how it negatively ruins pacing.
I want to know who Kishimoto's editor was because he/she did a terrible job. The redundancy in Naruto is shameful to the point of nearly ruining the show.
what, you don’t like watching Sasuke and Itachi having the same conversation about the Mangekyou Sharingan 9 times?
Kayson Oleen or seeing that bullshit of naruto and Sasuke passing each other other on the port as little kids?
So many fucking times.
my favorite kind of flashbacks that you didn't cover here are what i call "campfire stories." basically a character reveals information about their past in a slightly more humorous way. if you're being dramatic, the story may end with the character recalling something they didn't want to. a good example of one of these is thor joking about his dark world adventure in endgame. the main advantages of using this kind of flashback are that it keeps the story mostly in the present, and makes it easier to deliver information naturally.
An ever better example is Avatar: the last airbender (because Avatar is great at everything) when the Fire Nations kids leave the party they just destroyed.
I actually intend on doing this but instead as a way of revealing some history in the mythos!
I think this may also be a good way to show trauma, when handled well ofcourse. When a character slightly humorously or more lightheartedly retells a traumatic experience or an event that mentions dealing with trauma, it can show having moved past or (partly) processed said trauma and also feeling comfortsble in sharing or consoling in the people theyre with.
Like "the beach" episode in Atla?
The one I like is V for Vendetta with V in disguise telling “his story” as one of the original Fingermen.
I'm surprised you didn't mention "The Storm" in Avatar as a reference to how showing Zuko's backstory gave context to his action and developed his character. I kept waiting for it...
My one problem with The Storm is that there's no proper reason for that flashback to be there. What I mean is that it's a random episode in season 1. It happened because they decided to have an important flashback in the middle of season 1 and wrote an episode around it. It could've been ep.12 or 13 or 10 or 15 and it would've made no difference.
I guess it's just more of a problem with season 1 being quite episodic in nature.
In season 2 the Zuko flashback (Zuko Alone) has a specific placement in the story and you couldn't really mess with it. Zuko & Iroh separate in Avatar Day and they reunite in The Chase. The only possible change you could make is place Zuko Alone before The Blind Bandit. That's it. Nothing more.
i think its because avatar is coming back so much in those videos. especially the storm.
I wanted to stay away from the usual examples that I and other people who discuss Avatar bring up. And as an example of what I was talking about in the video, the Southern Air Temple made a far better example.
- Tim
There is one small flashback in the chapter where Zuko and Sang start to train the fire bending, Tooh suggest them to research in the origin of fire bending, explaining that those animals (whose original names I don't know xd) where the first earth bending masters, explaining that earth bending wasn't for fighting, but for interacting with the world and in that flashback we see one of those animals walking and then we see Toph walking (or ducking) in the exact same way, showing us a bit of worldbuilding and character backstory.
@@juanrodriguez9971 Badgermoles. I loved that scene and the bit of backstory on Toph. She actually mentioned it earlier in the episode "Sokka's Master" that she learned from Badgermoles, so it was great to learn what that meant.
Every time I think of poorly executed backstory, I hear Sorrow and Sadness while I see Naruto on the swing looking sad. I swear I remember Naruto's childhood better than my own.
Well I would say that was a job well done on Kishimoto's part.
My favorite example of a flashback is the fortieth episode of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, "Homunculus (The Dwarf in the Flask)." It's one of those flashbacks that only makes sense when you've watched the entire series, but when it happens it explains SO MUCH.
The point being that y'all should watch FMA:B. It's an amazing show.
Emily Armstrong, you fucking queen. Keep spreading the good news of FMA Brotherhood. Thank you for your service. 😁
True words
The skill of FMA:B recommendation has been passed down through the Armstrong family for generations!
tbh I hated that episode. It was really boring to me. BUT it explained so much and really gave insight to who the real enemy was and how the rest of the story fell in line with that one single episode. It was boring, but it was so necessary and well done. FMA Brotherhood will always be one of my favorite anime.
@@VayBabe tbh, i personally found it very interesting
Granted that was because i really wanted to know who hohenheim was
This is definitely a needed video for an aspiring writer.
this whole channel is tbh, I've been watching it for almost a year now my brain is now large
*"Flashbacks and Backstory"*
*Naruto:* _You called?_
Perfect example
_Sadness and Sorrow intensifies_
@@akilw.3360 Love that Sad Naruto Flute
quick: are you more sick of watching
a: batman's parents die.
b: spider-man's uncle die.
c: naruto being upset on a swing.
d: (insert overused memory here.)
Naruto is both extremely bad at using flashbacks, and sometimes extremely good at it.
The great timing of the flashback in the Lee vs Gaara fight really cemented it as a lot of people's favorite fight, because the stakes are very clearly presented, and the loss feels so much sadder as a result.
**waits patiently for a On Writing: Anti-Heroes video**
OSP just did a great Trope Talk on them. If you like these videos you should definitely give them a look.
How about an 'On using "an" vs "a" properly' video first? Seems like you should deal with the fundamentals before tackling anything more complex.
Scott Ramsay cause it’s not a grammar channel
@@Mastafigz I think you've misunderstood who my comment was directed at...
@@scottwramsay i doubt that
my favorite use of a flashback is in "madoka magica" there is an entire episode about one characters backstory and it recontextualises the entire story. reactions you see earlier in the series you though were anger or frustration turn out to be saddness and desperation, the stakes it creates by giving the viewer more knowlege about the world adds a huge ammounts of weight to an already desperate situation. i honestly cannot recomend this series enough
madoka magica is amazing
I came here looking for this exact reply lol. Never has a backstory hit me harder.
I want to be vague to avoid spoilers because honestly, absolutely everyone should watch Puella Magi Madoka Magica, but one scene in that episode fucking kills me every time. Towards the end, when one character makes an important request from the character the episode is about which suddenly makes everything make sense, followed by a second request. They don't show her complying, but you hear it and my god that actress is unbelievable.
That sponsorship was slick, dude. Not even mad.
god it's so good to get writing advice that isn't just "Never do ____ ever."
btw, what's that "it's not true" from? the guy he keeps using?
Ripley's Believe it or Not.
I think that is what the show was called. The guy he shows is an actor called Johnathan Frakes. Hopefully I spelled his name right, I am bad with names.
I think a good examination of flashbacks is in the Legend series by Marie Lu. In this book most flash backs aren’t full scenes it’s the main characters remembering the main points instead of the entire scenes, this allowed the reader to know that these events have happened without having to put the plot on pause.
People: *get outraged by a whole flashback episode*
One Piece: hold my arc... for the next year
pirateKaiser Onepiece flashbacks are usually well done. They show a will that continues or a legacy continued.
Naruto on the other hand would just shovel backstory for everyone even when it wasn’t relevant.
@@holdenmuganda97 yeah the oden flashback makes us care about Wano more, and makes us hate the villain more and gives us more info on Roger and than Whitebeard
I like how the name of the channel is "hello future me"
Meaning that he will eventuly watch this videos and that is going to be a flashback
The fact that Tim doesn't have millions of subscribers despite having some of the absolute best content on RUclips is ridiculous.
One of my favorite use of flashbacks in recent memory is from the episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (nearly twenty years late, but I'm finally going through the series) The Body.
It's a simple enough scene, just a dinner party, it has no influence on how Buffy reacts to her mother's death, but it's so crucial to the emotional weight of the scene. Seeing a slice of Buffy's everyday life, and then contrasting that with this shocking and horrifying event really let it sunk in. Amazing for a scene was added just so the audience wouldn't be distracted by the opening credits when Buffy calls for an ambulance.
Me: **After pausing the video for a while as I get distracted** What was I watching again?
Anime me: I remember, so long ago, when I got that message... **Flashback to me getting the notification like 30 minutes before**
Meanwhile in Naruto, there’s so many flashbacks that even tenten’s Kunai has one!
I'm kind of surprised you didn't mention Once Upon a Time. That show had tons of flashbacks and it was interesting how they used them. Awesome video, I think it will definitely help me with my writing.
In Once Upon A Time, the flashbacks themselves weren't in chronological order, but they were done in such a way that you could piece together where/when everything fit. Beautiful writing
When he mentioned the parallel stories use of flashbacks in arrow I immediately thought of OUAT as another example, though in Arrow the flashbacks tell one long story over the season and in OUAT they tell an episodic story relevant to what is currently happening.
I agree Hanz Hanzo, Rumple is the best because he's part of literally everyone's backstory somehow.
Oh yeah! I watched once upon a time until season 5 when I started getting annoyed at the show. But seasons 1-4 were good in my opinion and the flashbacks every episode were genuinely interesting!
aww you forgot the part that is most used in Tv series/anime: make viewer remember important scenes they already saw!(That is suppose to affect the event of the same episode)
Overly Sarcastic Productions made a video about that.
To be fair, at least in anime (and older anime before streaming), this was largely a necessity in order to make sure that newer viewers who missed the original episodes are up to date. From what I've heard, TV stations that run anime in Japan largely don't do re-runs (probably due to the volume of anime that's produced every year), and as such they often felt it necessary to make sure that new viewers weren't confused. Long-running old anime even had entire episodes which summarised previous seasons (often very far into their run, like 100 episodes in). It's a little annoying, but was pretty much a result of the time in which they were being made and the airing circumstances.
I like your revelant screens
Your videos are an absolute cure! Thank you so much!
i paused the video to go read "story of your life" bc the spoiler warning got me interested haha
awesome read, recommended! on to the movie now. thank you for everything Tim!
8. Naruto therapy flashbacks - if you can't defeat bad guy in fair fight, just show some 'sad childhood' moments and enemy will be immediately converted to good.
Knuckles #2761 that’s an extreme oversimplification
@@davidajayi6516 believe it!
Knuckles #2761 yare yare
@@davidajayi6516 daze
BACKSTORY IS A GOOD THING THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
As an avid world builder and backstory constructor, I agree. It is important to know what the backstory is, but to explain it to the audience isn't always necessary, no matter how much we want the audience to know all the cool ideas we had.
I agree backstory is extremely important. You can do so much just through the environment, and the atmosphere of a place without a single line of dialogue. I think its important to keep that in mind
How many times have I had to watch Eren's mom getting chomped in Attack on Titan? It almost seems like it was an inside joke to include it so much in the anime.
On the other hand, it could've forced us to remember what the Titan looked like so that the big reveal at the end of Season 3 would be more impactful (I was definitely shocked).
The fact that this moment was overused is real. But I disagree with what you said about the reveal of this Titan during the Season 3 being more impactful, since this same titan was the actual reason why Hannes and Carla died, and of course, that it permitted the introduction of the Coordinate.
I think we wouldn't have saw that reveal differently if this overused scene was taken off.
An interesting case of the flashback comes from the book Halo: Evolutions. Its a book full of short stories from the Halo universe and one of them is called "Dirt" where a dying soldier tells the tale of how he got there to a Rookie ODST (basically a spec ops trooper)
The entire story takes place in a flashback, with only the beginning and ending taking place in the "present"
Not much more to it than that, but i found it very interesting how my thoughts slowly turned from "when does this flashback end" to "Oh yeah this was a flashback!" Once the story came together.
The entire book is a good read, but that story in particular really held my attention from beginning to end just because of the suspence of how it all tied together. And boy the payoff is awesome.
And also a huge chunk of ODST was missions based on flashbacks
one piece and berserk does flashbacks pretty well
I like mha approach a charter only gets flash back chapter if they are going to get a charter ark.
Other wise they get a single panel.
Then there's the naruto aproch of giving multiple episodes to a flash back then show those same clips 3 times throught one fight then a few more times throughout the show.
Pandora Hearts does an amazing job with its flashbacks. A large part of its story is comprised of all kinds of them and they do a great job further fleshing out the characters, building the story's ever-present mystery and subverting the reader's expectations.
Manga as a whole is just a really good medium to utilise flashbacks in.
i so often forget that first chapter of berserk that makes the entirety of the golden age arc technically a flashback
Love your videos. Each one shows your passion for all of the aspects of writing.
I was going to watch some AoT but this is important 😤
AoT is also important though...
What is AoT?
Mr Serpophaga I’m guessing attack on titan
@@guillermoc7736 Attack on Titan
Oh boy, AoT and flashbacks. Many of them are good from the perspective of this video's 3rd point, but the ones in season 3 part 2 are golden - saying that they alter how the story works moving forward is an understatement
This is a lesson I learned years ago, when I was still writing my character's motivation out in the first pages of a story which often contained their backstory as well. I've stopped doing that once I felt excessively disappointed with my own style of writing. So I quit a few years and did my research. You, amongst other channels, recindled my love for world building and writing, and I've started rewriting one of the last stories I was working on. A story with multiple characters, each with their own motivations and backstory but none being conveyed.
Thank you for this video, and for all your writing tips and trick. They've helped me, and a lot of peoople here I assume, a lot with settling a few issues within our stories. Keep up the good work.
I love watching these videos when I am sleepy or have executive dysfunction. The music at the end is so soothing and when it finishes I tell myself to get up.
12:30 Damn, I was using this instinctively the whole time! it just felt... right, more alive, more close up and personal, I never considered doing it any other way.
I need to stop watching these at 10:00. I wind up with a burst of inspiration, and now it’s midnight, and I’ve added 2.5 pages of notes/planning and 2 new mostly complete characters. 😰😰😰😭😭😭 I’m so tired.
Arrival is an incredible film and i am so happy you brought it up.
3:22 You would absolutely love One-Punch Man. As a parody of Shonen Anime, one of the tropes it pokes fun at is how Shonen Anime always gives such overly-long backstory. Seriously; you'll love it.
Great subject matter that needs more examination. I would love a similar breakdown of Wizard and Glass and how it grades out in the context of the Dark Tower series.
Flashbacks showing up as a dream is one ive seen multiple times that seem to work well
Listening to this, it struck me that effective use in Villeneuve's films of "flashbacks" (and mind-bending non-linear story telling in general) that show how faultily remembered traumas of the past or future affect people in the here and now isn't limited to Arrival.
It's prominent (or at least hinted at) in most of his films that I've seen: Polytechnique, Incendies, Enemy, Arrival, BR2049 and Dune. (And in Prisoners and Sicario, the traumas of the past are left to the imagination, prompted by images of photos, press clippings and people having nightmares...)
I struggled with this in my current book as when i was younger i remember hearing from someone that flashbacks were considered lazy writing for exposition. As i developed the world and overall story though I realized the flashbacks were pretty vital in dealing with the first main character's ptsd like trauma and in setting up the climax at the end of the first part. To make it less cheap i plan on using magic to explain why the character is having so many flashbacks as it ties into the main plot. Your video definitely made me more confident in that plan so thank you
These videos are super helpful for me. Thank you for making content like this.
I wrote a short story once “door to my past” to get over bullying in my past. It was basically that I would walk through doors, into rooms that I was in, in the past. I’d have a normal day and would run out of my room, into a classroom I had been a long time ago. I would have no control over my movements anymore. However, I had control of my mind, so the story is a lot about thoughts. Which really helped me deal with my issues.
Nice concept,bro
Thank you soooooooooooo much for this video, sensei!
Me: *Creates power system that entirely depends on a character's backstory* Welp.
Power and magic systems are usually best explained in pieces as they're relevant to story anyway. If the backstory is also tied to it, that actually gives something engaging to explain it through instead of dumping dry exposition.
could be great if well executed!
FMA Brotherhood?
So, how did you handle it?
t o l k i e n
A good technique for conveying backstory of very specific/main characters is simply starting the story earlier in time. Not as a prologue, but as the actual beginning of the story.
The best part about your videos is that you can watch them more than once after a long time and get inspired on how to write a part of your narrative. I am thus eternally grateful.
Hickman did a very good job of using the flashbacks in the recent big X-Men crossover series, House of X/Powers of X -
All the flashbacks to Moira's past lives beyond the initial ones presented in summary in the third chapter are each presented in a manner in which they each present an engaging, curious look at a possible future, and only finally deliver the important information about Moira's plan in the new timeline she's created, at the moment when it becomes most relevant to the rest of the story's present-day arc.
Annihilation (the book) was great for me when it came to flash backs. There’s one point where we are at a moment we’ve been waiting for throughout the whole book, then right before she turns the corner, we’re stopped for a flash back. And while that should have been jarring, that flashback was told at the perfect time and it made the big reveal so impactful.
Hello, HFM!
I just started watching your videos and I thoroughly enjoy them. Thank you for your fantastic content. 😊
Hello, Tim
Man, your videos have been helping me A LOT. It is so cool that there are not only talented people on RUclips, but those who can actually express their lessons so well. I know a lot of the references/people you use in your videos, but slowly, you are becoming the new reference for me. I write fiction in my free time and all your videos are priceless. Though I am sure you would like to put a price on them. LOL. Thank you for all this work and effort. Your material is invaluable to new /amateur writers. I hope to see good changes in my writing in time, and I owe a lot to you. And good luck with your upcoming book as well.
Cheers.
My mind: remember the John Carter fight scene while he remembers him burying his wife and daughter
Have your videos always been this good? I mean, you've been awesome in the past, but it feels like you've dialed it up. Good show sir.
I think a show that does this really well is the new “lost in space”, it uses the flashbacks during a mortal danger scene for one of the characters, and uses the flash back connecting the person in danger with the other character in the situation with them that adds gravity to the relationship and history so you feel the weight of the two character being trapped in the situation, and gives he fight and fury of how to get out of it
I like your way of communication because you don't tell writers what to do (unlike other "advise videos"), you give them tools to decide by their own!
The amount of work you put into these videos is staggering. Your work is really appreciated and I hope you continue forever! Thank you very much and a Merry Christmas!
Thank you for this. Thank you for all your videos. I am an amateur writer currently focusing on fanfic for now to practice my craft and my current work is a very experimental piece where I regularly flash back to previous events. In fact, it would be more accurate to say my story is set in flashbacks connected by a thread of the current time period. This enables me to experiment with different writing techniques in the flashbacks.
Your advice and analyst into techniques and story telling tools is incredibly useful.
Holy-so I (or more my brother, but I quickly snatched it up from him with permission) got your book for Christmas (I've been reading, annotating, and taking notes for like the past couple hours ngl) and I didn't even know it was you. I saw your profile picture on Amazon and I like vaguely recognized you. I looked up your RUclips channel realizing you were probably the person who did that mental health video on 13 Reasons Why and I was RIGHT and I'm like high key ecstatic. I've been sharing funny excerpts from it with my friends and recommending it to them (“While your hero might be a devout vegan Mormon and your opponent a separatist otherkin communist, unless their two ideologies come into conflict during the story, they add little to the narrative.” being a personal favorite.)
It's been super helpful so far, literally everything I've been struggling with you've addressed and I've thought of so much new stuff I never would have otherwise! I see that it says volume 1 on the cover (and it's such a freaking beautiful cover) so I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for volume two :D Anyway, absolutely love your book, and I'm totally subscribing.
Huh, not nearly as many Avatar examples as I thought there would be.
I thought he’d talk about “the storm” episode
Half of this guy’s videos is just avatar circlejerks 😂😂
Love the subtle desktop of arrival language, also never knew that it was an adaptation from a book; gonna give that a read
I really like working with flashbacks. I find it fun to go back and forth between past and present (as a reader and writer). I am currently writing a story with a character who experiences panic attacks and with those panic attacks, the memories that they are trying to force into the back of their mind resurface. I also don't let too much information come through and a few of the flashbacks are repeats of themselves but with slight differences to express how many people will forget, remember and rewrite details from their experiences.
Also love how you mentioned Arrival! I've only watched the film so far but I loved it and thought it was very well done.
I appreciate these videos so much! I've been taking note and you have the most useful writing advice I've ever heard!
IT, the book, is a good example, it uses parrallel stories to have two plots linking together
Arrival is one of my ALL TIME favourite sci-fi movies. It was sooo brilliantly made and executed. I freakin love it. :)
Some of this advice is still ap0plicable to roleplaying games as well. I can totally see how using flashbacks as a DM can be an awesome narrative tool, to tell a Player Character's backstory or a flashback to quickly tell some backstory to give some relevance to the current scene that they're playing.
I really really love your advice.... I'm mostly looking at how to use your advice in roleplaying games and how it can be used there.
Thanks again for yet another awesome video. :)
19:04 something that , in my opinion, The Ritual does wonderfully. Constantly going back to that trauma in flashes, only staying and longing on that scene when the mc over comes it
I love it when anime gives entire episodes of backstory to every character. It builds the world. Yeah, it slows the pacing dramatically, but it gets you to care & know the characters. But yes, excessive backstory isn't needed in a 300 page stand-alone novel
I've had some trouble working some character development in my writing due to some issues in revealing her backstory too soon, so this is really helpful.
Gotta tell you, as a huge fan of your channel, seeing a thumbnail with Arrival (my favorite movie) and The Last Airbender side by side is one of the most exciting moments of the week.
I really appreciate all of the varied examples and the way you present them. I feel like often times people giving writing advice will present one 'correct' way of doing things, but you always give a much more well rounded approach that is much more helpful for me as a writer.
Can we talk about that flashback from "A Study in Scarlet" . So abrupt that I thought my book was misprinted
I was listening to it via audio book the first time and thought I must have accidentally hit a skip button or something 😂
I think Mr. Robot, especially the currently airing season, does a fantastic job of showing just the right amount of information in its flashback, as well as not having too much of them, so that all of them add to Elliot’s character. The fact that they were payed out so specifically, and in some particular cases, vaguely, is what made the huge reveal this season possible. Mr. Robot is one of the best tv shows of the decade, and Rami more than deserves an Emmy for his work, as do the show’s writers and directors
Hey! I just wanted to say that this video broke me out of writer's block. I think it’s the tone of your voice and how engaging you formulate your sentences. You made everything so easy to understand. Also, Shaelin is really fun, thanks for introducing her! I put on a playlist of your and her videos and finally got two paintings done and could take really great notes for my writing at the same time! I'm gonna go buy your book now, bye!
I keep forgetting to get your book. This series is very much appreciated. Even when I don't fully agree there are still interesting points and things to learn from. Good examples and bad examples alike.
Thank you for this- I always enjoy your content
Breaking Bad is actually a good example of using flashbacks, Gus being the main antagonist of season 4 only gets one flashback and that was enough (plus the chat with the DEA), Vince didn't need to show us his entire life because his character and actions tell us his story in a better way.
I've got something I started the other day that's going to revolve pretty heavily around a flashback, because the plot and the main character's arc will be about learning to confront his own past and give himself a second chance even when he doesn't think he deserves one.
However, I want to be very careful about it because with the way the story has to be structured, the actual flashback doesn't involve the protagonist or his past at all. If I wrote it any other way a different character would have to be the point of view, one whose arc isn't nearly as interesting and is nearly over by the time the story starts. But the main character needs to hear that person's story to understand what he needs to do to start growing as a person again, and I think it should be presented to the reader in at least the same detail as it would be presented to him.
My plans for right now are to make it as short as I can, set up one or two driving questions earlier in the narrative for the flashback to resolve, showing the beginning of that character's development without necessarily showing how they got to exactly the place they're in when the protagonist meets them, and watching this video before I start writing that part. :)
Unfortunately I don't have twenty-three minutes and thirty-five seconds to spare right now. :(
im not sure if youre gonna see this but recently ive been wanting to finally commit into making manga styled stories i had planned for years now and after watching a bunch of your vids ive been feeling more inspired and motivated to do so, im 23 and i had these ideas up in my head since 2018 so it kinda shames me its taken this long but either way im just gonna say thanks for makimg these videos
10:02 - Randy Ingermanson was the first in-depth guide on this stuff I found, real blast from the past to see him mentioned
0:14 nice done working in the "commercial" as an example of a segue.
Loving your work, it gives me so much to think on and has actually helpt me getting back into writing on my own book, (I've been too engulfed in consuming stuff instead of actually creating stuff)
You always do a great job
Wow... I was subbed to you a year or two ago for your HTTYD theories, which I was enamored with at the time. I started my first really truly serious (i. e. Publish??) writing project just a few months ago and found one of your writing advice videos yesterday. Until I went through your channel, I wasn't even aware that you were the same person. So, to conclude this mini ramble, thanks for being there as I go through different stages in life and keep being awesome!
Hey Tim, i'm going to heavily recommend the Poppy war novel. so far it's somewhere between a grown-up avatar and Name of the wind. i think you'd like it
I rewatched, curious to know why I'd left before the 5-minutes mark the first time, and I have to tell you, it's pretty impressive how you can get to a great lesson in just a few minutes and still have an entire video left to do it again. I guess I left because I felt I had learned enough for the day haha, I'm glad I'm watching the whole thing now
Very Smooth ad placement and great video buddy I recently purchased your book for my campaigning building in my tabletop game at home 😏
Riker spitting straight facts will never stop being funny to me.
Person of Interest is a TV show that does flashbacks almost every single episode and actually almost always works. I'm not sure if you'd think they make everything narrative relevant, but this video made me want to rewatch with these ideas in mind.
Holy hell. Best ad break segue ever.
I was wondering when Arrival would be mentioned.
Also, have you read/heard of “We Have Always Lived in the Castle”?
Oh my gosh! Yes! What a fantastic book
I love the Beyond Belief clips so much
Love the use of the voice for my favorite character of all time. David Xanatos
Great video, as usual. :D
One note I would add is that you don't have to refrain from writing out detailed backstory or flashbacks. It's often helpful to write out everything during the first draft. Or, as a friend puts it, vomit out all the words.
Then, when you do your second draft, you can strain out all of the extraneous scenes that turned out to not move the story in any compelling fashion. One piece I'm working on at the moment has about a dozen flashback scenes in it so far, but I don't think I'll have any by the time I'm done with the second draft because they're mostly there so that I have a better grip on who the characters are and why they behave as they do so that they're more fully fleshed for me as I write them; the reader will only get that information by way of the front story narrative in its finished form.
I like to use flashbacks in the form of dreams or memories linked to trauma. Because my story focuses on the memory contained in blood and the prolonged life one can gain from it these dreams and flashbacks are very important, because they merge and come up from different perspectives given on the relationship the person had with the original man or woman whose blood was consumed. The dreams always have to do with the moment though, with the situation at hand.
The reveal at the end of Arrival managed to feel both like a reward and a slap in the face. It's satsifying to see the culmination of what otherwise would be a film where not much seems to be happening. Yeah a linguist is trying to communicate with aliens but truth be told, it seems to drag on, almost over and over again. A bit like the highway scene in sicario, except it is stretched into a whole movie and the feeling they are going for is not tension and more heartbreak. So it feels like a reward for having watched it through. But then, also, it's a slap in the face bc a child, one she doesn't even have yet, will die young. She has witnessed its suffering, held that little hand through it all. And even though she knows that she will face that heartbreak, she still has the courage to go ahead with it, start a relationship, go on towards what is coming. It was definitely an unexpected mix of feelings i had to sit with after that movie.
I always love your insightful explanations on writing. It gives me a better grasp of story telling and the art of fiction. I decided that I'd like to write books myself and your videos can provide me with the appropriate wisdom into making some impactful storytelling.
I feel, at the end of the day, it's always the most important thing to consider
1) Who is your audience?
2) What type of medium are you writing in?
(1) is very simply explained. A certain type of medium will more likely than others be picked up by specific people. For example, whenever there are discussions around Light Novel adaptations, there is usually the Light Novel reader that will tell you that the source was so much better, because the author went into much more detail about the inner thought process of the characters. However, the fact that most of these things can be portrayed in different ways and that a bunch of inner monologues is hurting the pacing in a series (be it anime or live action) is often something that fans of the source don't really see the same way as for example me. They like these moments. And while this is not necessarily the same as flashbacks, it explains why these types of stories also show flashbacks that some people would consider unnecessary.
(2) is explained if you think about the structure. Like, is your story really split into chapters or is it a play that is split into acts or is it one movie or is it a series that is made up of episodes. Depending on the type of medium, inserting flashbacks has to be done differently. For example, if you are writing in chapters or episodes, it is easier to just add a chapter/episode that solely focuses on that flashback. In that case, the pacing isn't as affected (at least if you are not doing it during some tense moment) compared to including it into a movie.
Thanks Tim and Merry Christmas! 100% agree. A few months ago I removed an entire chapter of backstory from my novel and boiled it down into a memory of a few hundred words for the sake of pacing and relevancy.
*watching random Beyond Belief clips* Hell, I need to rewatch this series.
Also very good video, good job :D
I'm so glad that someone else recognized the Beyond Belief clips.
I write for over ten years now, and the only rule, I found to be really usefull, to allways follow, is this: Every Scene, has to, at least serve two purposes or more. In fantasy, I mostly use the all mighty triangle: Story, Character, Worldbuilding. But not every scenes purpose is it, to have more then one of those in it. But even then, it forces you, to think about subplot and subtext, and what you could include, which hightens the tension or the understanding of the character. Whatever it is, one scene is never just one scene. There is allways a memorie or a circumstance in the world, the characters etc. that influences the scene. That also helps with flashbacks or backstory reveals etc. Because it can be used to evaluate every scenes purpose and if it is necessary to include it