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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/38867
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/38867
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

As Matthew Dave pointed out, you don't really need dialogue for that kind of flashbacks. They are memories shared in a common, telephatic link; you can write them as a series of vivid images - cities, situations and people surfacing in the mind of the protagonist as the memories come.

Depending on how abstract and dreamlike you want them to be, some of the flashback may come out like a stream of consciouness: a series of quick sentences giving the "sense" of what its happening, without resorting to a full description.

For example, about the protagonist falling into a gang of street urchin:

"_Suddendly, he remembered. Waking up in the corner of a dark alley everyday, the strong scent of dog piss enveloping his ragged blanket like a tight embrace. The faces of the others from the gang - Pinwick pox-ridden face, Eyewick, ever sneering with his missing teeth, Corny covered in dirt. Walking in the market streets, launching hungry stares at the bright coloured fruits everywhere ..._"

Of course, this could be either more or less descriptive, depending on your need and your preferences. Playing with emotions, images and input from all five senses will get your point across. And after all, a memory doesn't need to be objective: we all remember our specific point of view about what happened. So you don't need to exactly report what has been said, you can just remember the general attitude of a person.

Original score: 1