What is a scene that interrupts the present to reveal past events?

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Multiple Choice

What is a scene that interrupts the present to reveal past events?

A flashback is a scene that interrupts the present to reveal past events. This device lets readers or viewers step outside the current moment to see something that happened earlier, helping to explain a character’s motives, relationships, or situation by showing the backstory directly. Exposition, by contrast, provides background information—usually through narration or dialogue—without re-entering a past moment as a separate scene. Foreshadowing hints at what will happen later, pointing toward future events rather than recounting the past. Imagery uses vivid sensory details to paint a scene, but it isn’t itself a separate moment of recalled history.

A flashback is a scene that interrupts the present to reveal past events. This device lets readers or viewers step outside the current moment to see something that happened earlier, helping to explain a character’s motives, relationships, or situation by showing the backstory directly.

Exposition, by contrast, provides background information—usually through narration or dialogue—without re-entering a past moment as a separate scene. Foreshadowing hints at what will happen later, pointing toward future events rather than recounting the past. Imagery uses vivid sensory details to paint a scene, but it isn’t itself a separate moment of recalled history.

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