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Q&A Should a flashback be in past tense or past perfect?

Assuming the story itself is in past tense, normally when I go further into the past I'd use past perfect: He had first met her at the grocery store, six months prior. However, which is more...

2 answers  ·  posted 12y ago by Yamikuronue‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T02:02:09Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/4344
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Yamikuronue‭ · 2019-12-08T02:02:09Z (over 4 years ago)
Assuming the story itself is in past tense, normally when I go further into the past I'd use past perfect:

> He had first met her at the grocery store, six months prior.

However, which is more correct when writing an extended flashback (several pages):

> He fondly remembered the day they met.
> 
> _He had met her at the grocery store, where they had shared a long glance at the checkout line. She had bought sixteen oranges and one single banana, something that had caught his eye at once. He had only been purchasing a pack of gum. He had been about to leave when he had noticed her self-check ding..._

versus

> He fondly remembered the day they met.
> 
> _He met her at the grocery store, where they shared a long glance at the checkout line. She was buying sixteen oranges and one single banana, something that caught his eye at once. He was only purchasing a pack of gum. He was about to leave when he noticed her self-check ding..._

My instinct is to leave the first sentence as "had met her", then switch to simple past tense. Is that strange?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2011-11-01T15:04:34Z (over 12 years ago)
Original score: 6