From: "pondering" To: "ponderosas?" Subject: EXERCISE: Flashbacks! [hi, ho, three days to blow...no time to lose, let's get to writing!] 1. Pick a character and a scene. You may have more than one character in the scene, but you will probably want us to identify with one character. 2. Sketch out enough of the scene so that we know where it is going. Perhaps the main character is going to blow the brains out of the other person? or cheat at cards, kiss and throw up, you be the judge... 3. And, voila, something in the scene drives our poor little character into the throes of the flashback. Here, far from the maddening present, our character relives one of life's moments, and remembers...ah, that's what they remember? 4. Back to the present! However, due to the ameliorating influenza (germ of an idea, virus retrograde, or other twiddle), our character now acts differently, laying down the gun, playing an honest hand (5 Aces? How can this be?), swallowing and grinning, or hanging themselves on the old oak... Simple, straight narrative technique. Start a scene, interruptus, and resume. On those keys, get ready, tap-tap-tap! tink [do you really, truly like those first sentence quirkies? okay, here's another one... Uncle Ned lay dead on the dining room table. and you thought ... what? no, I can't believe...really? wow!]