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Dialog in flashbacks

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Christracy19

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I've seen dialog in flashbacks represented like:

Tommy saw Martha coming up the road. 'Yo, what's up!'

Or like:

Tommy say Martha coming up the road "Yo, what's up!"

I'm not sure which is correct? Or maybe both are since I've seen the first example used in a book before.
 

Jamesaritchie

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A flashback doesn't change the rules, so the first is correct, though I see no flashback in your example.
 

Roxxsmom

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What James said. A flashback is just a scene from the past that's presented as if it were happening in the story's now (with a proper transition and framing so the reader knows it's not really in the story's now), so there's no reason why it would have different rules for punctuation, including quotes.

Note, since I don't know where you're from. In the UK, some writers use single quotes for normal dialog, but I believe that double quotes are the rule in the US. In either case, treat dialog (and everything else) the same in flashback scenes.
 
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Bufty

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Agreed - dialogue is dialogue no matter where it appears.

Welcome, but for someone who's been 'writing for most of my life' it's a very odd question.
 
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K.S. Crooks

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Agreed. The dialogue remains the same. What is most important is the framing in and out of the flashback so that the reader knows when it begins and when it ends. There seems to be no text or symbol for fuzzy fade in and out or the motions Wayne and Garth did in Wayne's World. Good luck with the story.
 

Jamesaritchie

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Agreed. The dialogue remains the same. What is most important is the framing in and out of the flashback so that the reader knows when it begins and when it ends. There seems to be no text or symbol for fuzzy fade in and out or the motions Wayne and Garth did in Wayne's World. Good luck with the story.

I like flashbacks written so the reader usually doesn't realize he just read a flashback. Interference with the story is why flashbacks have a bad name, but when readers don't even notice they just read a flashback, this isn't a problem.

I try not to frame in or out, but to do a smooth transition. Get in quickly, get out quickly, and try to make the transitions smooth enough to make the reader unaware of what just happened.
 
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