Young Writers Society

I've devised a plot for my story and have already written a couple of chapters but I'm really stuck at this point. The main character has a very shady past which isn't revealed at this point but she has this ex who you do know about. Her and the ex broke up badly after he hurt her and she is still getting over him. Anyway, she meets a boy who knows her ex and he jogs the uncertainty and upset from her mind. She then has a flashback and I'm totally stuck for ideas on what could happen in the flashback. It need to show a bit of their relationship, but not too much as I want to keep that hidden for now.

Also, I'm struggling to come up with a concept of what the ex did to hurt her. Any help is greatly appreciated!!

What type of flashback are you talking about?

If you mean she has PTSD, that'll be a different beast than if you're simply going off of "bad memory".

That isn't to say she couldn't have PTSD, but I'm just wondering if you mean "bad memory" or "clinically diagnosable condition." It's actually not unlikely she has it— last stats I checked, around 45% of people who have been in abusive relationships develop it.

If she has a particularly good memory, is prone to dwelling on things, when the abuse showed up, how much she relied on him for support, and/or was in the relationship an extended period of time (6+ months), then she could likely be effected by it. Some people are in abusive relationships and end up fine, after a little bit, but others don't.

As for types of hurt.

You have physical, emotional, and/or sexual abuse. All of which can cause potentially extreme reactions and there isn't one that's "easier" than the others. You can only have one, you can have one leading to the other, or you can have basically all of them present nearly from the start. It depends.

You might need to characterize the both of them together, figuring out two critical pieces of information:

1- What type of abuse he is most likely to exhibit and his percentages for each (you can have a straight up emotional abuser, but you can also have an emotional and physical abuser— although do keep in mind forced dependance is a very critical part of abuse, in terms of how abusers generally work, which can take the form of physical isolation or emotional isolation)

2- What type of abuse is most likely to hurt her and upset her even after she's left (which might not actually be his main type of abuse. I know a story of somebody who was rather heavily emotionally abused, but the comparatively minor sexual abuse was what stuck with her after the relationship and causes her to be upset in future relationships)

Sorry I can't give a more solid answer— abuse is a highly personal thing, and you need to characterize them both for me to really help you.