: Writing flashbacks in novels You would have seen many movies where the flow of the story goes in such a way - The present life of the protagonist - talks with someone / sees something -

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I tried skipping flashbacks in a rough draft but after some prompting from a friend I wrote them in. I'm still not fully sure which to keep or which to cull, but this is my little guideline: If it adds to the story, helps the plot along, understand the characters' motives in the plot and is interesting to read, keep it, if it isn't then cut it.

Also it helps to write the flashback in the early drafts and go over it later. If you find yourself skipping over the flashback to continue reading the present plotline, then it likely isn't needed. But if the flashback is interesting and continues the flow or understanding of the main plot then keep it.

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If the flashback scene is short, you can use italics to show the protagonist thinking about the past. Some writers also use the 3 asterisks *** at the beginning of a flashback and at its end.

Or you can simply say: His mind went back to the time they were young... With this you're showing the MC's thinking back to his childhood.

Many times flashbacks end into an info dump so be careful with that. Also, even movies, at times, don't show the change from present to a past flashback.

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The best selling book on Amazon is the new stormlight archive book by Sanderson. It's the third of three, and a thousand pages that is entirely structured around a single character in present time and whatever bad thing happened prior. 1 in 3 chapters is a flashback.

The name of the wind, by rothfuss is largely only flashback.

The prestige (possibly greatest movies with flashbacks) was a book, first.

Wizard and glass of the dark tower is a flashback, book and it's also very good.

Yes, you can do this, but you're correct to worry about what a movie can do and what a story can do. While they share this implement, they wield it differently.

In either case your biggest concerns are going to be momentum and engagement. If either story is more interesting than the other, it will unbalance the novel and destroy it.

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