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By: LAURIE WALLMARK,
on 5/3/2013
Your reader doesn't need to know everything about your characters and setting in the first few pages of your novel.
http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/2013/04/dont-be-information-dumper-guest-post.html
By: Debbie Ridpath Ohi,
on 1/3/2013
Originally posted in Writer Unboxed. See my other comics in Writer Unboxed.
By: M.J. Rose,
on 9/28/2012
Note from M.J. - I'm moving the Backstory blog that I've had since 2006, here. On Friday's BB&H will be a place where authors share the secrets, truths, logical and illogical moments that sparked their fiction or memoirs. Today I have a special backstory - since this is a book I've read and loved!
A Sweet, No-Bake Tale of Success by Therese Walsh.
You are a lover of words. One day, you will write a book.
That fortune, cracked free of a cookie after eating my favorite Chinese meal of chicken and broccoli (extra spicy), resonated with me. I did love words. I did want to write a book. In fact, I’d been writing children’s picture book manuscripts for over a year. I wasn’t choosing the right sort of words for children’s books, though—words like “Go, dog. Go.” I liked words that filled a mouth with multiple syllables and a mind with interesting possibilities—words like unbounded and asymmetry and cryptophasia and hallucination.
So, with the fortune cookie slip before me, I began writing a novel for adults. The year: 2002. I intended it to be a romance, because I had a friend who loved the genre. But the story wanted to grow beyond the traditional bounds of romance; there were twin sisters here with something to say—about a tragedy and music and misunderstandings—not to mention a Javanese artifact, an antique dagger called a keris, bent on having a starring role.
Two years later, after hacking 40,000 words off the manuscript and polishing the surviving sentences, I queried agents, still not 100% sure of what I’d written. Turns out, I wasn’t alone.
“The premise of your book is compelling and the writing evocative,” one agent wrote in her rejection letter, “but the tone and set-up make this novel a bit difficult to categorize.”
“The scope of your novel is too broad for a contemporary romance,” said another.
Agent Deidre Knight took the time to explain why the manuscript would be a difficult sell: While the love story drove the plot, the relationship between the sisters provided the most intense emotional moments. “My gut tells me you probably have a part of you that either wants to write women’s fic, or that ultimately *will* write women’s fic,” she said. “My gut tells me you need to write something bigger than romance.”
This? Depressing. I’d worked on the story for so long, making time for it while mothering my two children and between nonfiction jobs (I’d been a freelance health writer). I’d given up sleep. Given up television. My fortune cookie slip hadn’t predicted failure.
I tried to work on something new, but the desire to do my already rejected story justice gnawed at me. Eventually, I committed to a rewrite. I tucked the first incarnation of the tale into a box, and focused on the twins, looking for more. What hadn’t these characters already revealed to me? I cast off my developed notions about who they were, what they wanted, even whose story needed to be told. I decided to interweave narratives to better explore Maeve and Moira Leahy’s unique, magical relationship. I added new characters, left old ones to molder on the cutting-room floor. I turned the plot on its ear. I studied my craft.
Three years and several gray hairs later, I finished writing my 400-page manuscript for the second time and editing it for the 100th. There was still a love story there, along with elements from other genres—mystery, suspense, even mythical realism. But this time when I submitted it, I knew it belonged in the emotionally honest genre that is women’s fiction. Luckily for me, an important someone agreed; Elisabeth Weed became my agent, and sold my story to Shaye Areheart Books, an imprint of Random House, in a two-book deal.
After seven years, this word lover’s “one day” has finally arrived; I have written a book.
I credit the fortune cookie.
To learn more about Therese, please visit her website here.
By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 2/17/2012
The front story is determined by the characters’ goals and beliefs and traits.
By: Rebecca,
on 2/4/2008
Recently I was on an airplane reading an article in the New York Times when the woman in the seat next to me leaned over and asked what I was holding. I told her it was a Kindle, Amazon’s new ebook reader. I showed her how it worked, explained e-ink, walked her through my collection of titles and subscriptions, and showed how I could look up words in the built in Oxford dictionary. Her response; “That is really cool, but I prefer the feel and smell of a real book.” (more…)
By: Ellis Nadler,
on 3/7/2008
Can't decide whether the cosmic serpent had spots or not.
Proof of wood engraving with gouache paint dots. 5cm x 5cm. Click to enlarge.
By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 1/28/2010
A problem I often find in the plot consultations I provide is the misuse of flashbacks.
During a plot consultation, a writer outlines her historical novel to me. Before long, the story takes a u-turn into flashback. My immediate reaction is to refocus myself. I quickly scan the Plot Planner I am creating for her for what I know of the story so far ~ the time frame, the place, and the characters ~ in order to keep in perspective the time and place change.
If you've read Blockbuster Plots Pure & Simple, you know I am not a fan of flashback. Mostly, I dislike the whiplash effect, but also because I have seen too many writers, especially writers just starting out, overuse and abuse flashback. It is more difficult and takes more thought and creativity to integrate the pertinent backstory seamlessly into the front-story than it is to create a flashback. Flashback is a depiction of a past, literal experience. Full integration of back-story into front-story involves more nuance and skill.
Three plot tips when it comes to flashbacks:
1) If you feel you just have to have a flashback, wait to use it in the Middle of the story. By then, the reader has had time to ground themselves in the front-story and is better able to transition back and forth in time
2) A flashback is portrayed moment-by-moment in scene. Consider instead using a memory (summary)
3) If flashbacks are integral to the overall plot and structure, do like Audrey Niffenegger in The Time Traveler's Wife, make the story line non-linear and create the very structure of your story based on time jumps.
Posted on 4/13/2010
Marcus Zusak’s The Book Thief is a brilliant book on so many levels I don’t even know where to begin. I loved the book, but I hated the prologue. Let’s take a look for a minute:
By: Adventures in Children's Publishing,
on 4/14/2010
Posted on 4/16/2010
We've talked all this week about the challenges of writing backstory in summary. Specific details about the past events of a novel may need to be given to the reader, but less is more. Don't tell too much, and be selective and succinct when choosing the details to reveal. But what happens when you need to show the reader a scene? Chances are you will consider writing a flashback.
Technically, a flashback is a shift in the narrative that temporary stops the forward motion of the story. The trick is, of course, to make sure that that temporary stop informs your narrative, rather than distracting from it.
Unlike prologues, I don’t mind flashbacks. In fact, they can deepen the reader’s understanding of a story by showing character emotions and plot twists. But again, less is more. If done too much, a flashback can stop the forward movement of the narrative arc. If done without specific clarity, a flashback and confuse readers, especially reluctant readers.
So, here’s a tip sheet for writing flashback:
By: Darcy Pattison,
on 5/7/2010
In a recent post, Gail Carson Levine discusses how to get background material into a story without the use of a flashback scene,
along with tips for when you do use a flashback.
Poem. She points out that in her story, The Two Princesses of Bamarre, she uses an epic poem: everyone knows the poem, quotes from it at times, or even perform parts of it.
Newspaper clippings. Levine also points to The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, which uses newspaper clippings to introduce backstory.
Dialogue in a counseling session. Of course, a character could spill the beans during a session with a counselor.
Sometimes, I’ve heard the opinion, though, that these “techniques” are cheats of sorts, ways to work in material that doesn’t really belong. A story should start in one place and pretty much progress linearly. Using backstory is like this picture of tattoos on a woman’s back: for her, there’s no easy way to SEE these tattoos (mirrors, photo, description), it’s unnatural for her to visualize them.
A bold opinion, that backstory is a cheat — there are certainly shades of this.
Do you think backstory techniques like this are effective, or do they feel like cheats? When are they effective? Do you like prologues as a way to introduce backstory? What’s your favorite way to deal with backstory?
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By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 7/13/2010
Watch your delivery of backstory ~ the story of what, in the past, made the character who they are today (in story time).
Writers want to cram everything right up front.
"I know all their history, why would I want to withhold it from the reader?"
"I wrote it that way."
"It's the good part."
Writers spend lots of time imagining and writing every little detail about a character's past, be it for a child or an adult. So, of course, writers want to tell everything right away. Perhaps, in the process, even show off a bit how clever they are. Until, one understands how curiosity works.
Not telling everything makes the reader curious. Curiosity draws the reader deeper into the story world. The reader wants to fill in the "who," "what," "how" (the "where" and "when" have already been clearly established right up front to ground the reader). They keep reading. This is good.
Tell the reader only what they need to know to inform that particular scene. This is especially true in the Beginning (1/4 mark). During the first quarter of the project, the character can have a memory. But, if you feel you just must inject a full-blown flashback, where you take the reader back in time in scene, wait until the Middle.
(PLOT TIP: If you're absolutely sure you absolutely have to include the flashback, try using one when you're bogged down in the middle of the middle.)
By: Ken Baker,
on 3/24/2011
Just about every story has some element of back story that provides critical detail that the reader needs in order to make sense of what is going on. Unfortunately, back story not only tends to be boring, but it can literally pull the reader out of the story and cause them to lose interest if not handled correctly. Imagine a fast paced chase scene packed with action and intensity that gets interrupted by a narrator popping onto to the scene, giving a monologue that explains why the results of the chase scene are so crucial to the story. All the action is suddenly brought to a halt. The intensity is deflated. And you just lost your reader.
Some beginning authors make the common mistake of trying to put all their back story at the beginning of the book, thinking that the story can’t begin unless the reader already knows everything that has happened before. That’s a big mistake, unless you want to lose the reader’s interest in the first few pages. Nor does it work to just drop a big chunk of back story in later chapters either.
One overused way of handling back story, is to leave it in big chunks by including it in a flashback or dream sequence. While this can work, it often has the effect of still pulling the reader out the present action of the story. I’m not saying, you shouldn’t approach back story in this manner, it’s just not always the best method and has become a bit cliché.
Back story has to be handled with care. It’s usually best if sprinkled and woven into the story in a way that it hardly goes noticed by the reader. One way to do this is to break it down into small pieces that can be injected a piece at a time throughout the course of the story; maybe a quick comment in a dialogue, a tiny memory that a character recalls, a headline on a newspaper (not the entire newspaper article), and as needed, short bits over time from the narrator can be effective if done in an unobtrusive manner.
The point is, be careful about how you handle back story. Pay attention to what it does to the flow and interest level of your story. Find ways to use it to enhance your story, rather than drag it down.
What have been some effective ways that you’ve learned to handle back story?
By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 9/23/2011
A writer hears it from me when we do a plot consultation -- the mother needs to die at the 1/4 mark / the end of the beginning. Flash forward several years (I mean several, like four or five or six), she hears it again from her critique group. Then she starts reading The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master and unravels that old plot planner I created years before and affixes it to her wall. There it is again, at the one quarter mark -- the mother must die.
By: Adventures in YA and Children's Publishing,
on 12/6/2011
"We have to find my sister," I finally say, the thought of her kick-starting my mind away from the horror of what's going on, giving me a goal--something to focus on so that I'm not pulled under in the tide of panic.
"How?" Catcher stands facing me. He looks as helpless as I feel.
"I don't know." I start jogging across the roof, dodging around old barren gardens thick with dead weeds. I vault a low wall onto the next building and thread my way toward the bridge at the end of the block.
"Where are you going?" Catcher shouts, following me across the spindly bridge, the boards under my feet almost rotten.
"Home," I call over my shoulder as I race south. This corner of the City was practically abandoned even before the horde hit, and most everyone who tried to scrape out an existence here already left after the Rebellion, when it became pointless to pay such high rents to live in a city that no longer promised safety and order.
We cross past a few panicked families, their backs loa15 Comments on Active versus Static Backstory and Description, last added: 12/9/2011Display Comments Add a Comment
By: Ellis Nadler,
on 11/22/2007
Inspired by Morgenstern, the Gallows Moon and Human Snail.
Pen and wash with biro 10cm x 8cm / Wood engraving 8cm x 6cm. Click to enlarge.
By: Ellis Nadler,
on 11/23/2007
One must tame the dog of desire.
Lino cut 25cm x 30cm. Click to enlarge.
By: Ellis Nadler,
on 11/24/2007
A bit of nonsense.
Etching 20cm x 29cm. Click to enlarge.
By: Ellis Nadler,
on 12/5/2007
Etched and cut lino 25cm x 25cm. Click to enlarge.
By: Ellis Nadler,
on 1/2/2008
2 colour lino print. 26cm square. Click to enlarge.
By: Ellis Nadler,
on 1/10/2008
Dennett's Beard.
Lino cut 20cm x 25cm. Click to enlarge.
By: Ellis Nadler,
on 1/11/2008
Just finished "Side Effects" by Adam Phillips.
2-colour lino cut 25cm x 25cm. Click to enlarge.
Great tips on backstory. I agree that mostly dripping it in is best.
The best advice I've heard is write the backstory, then act like it's a piece of glass. Drop it. Let it shatter. And add the slivers of backstory into your story. Works for me. :D
I'm writing a first draft right now and I'm just letting the words flow. I've got all kinds of comments to myself through it like... (this is all telliing!) (backstory alert!) I don't want to stop the flow of the words right now, but I know it needs a lot of work in that 2nd draft! :)
That is a BIG picture of me - yikes! Thanks for answering my question so quickly. I like the drip, drip method, and Stina's slivers of glass. I tend to have multiple paragraphs of backstory and then have to pare it waaaaayyyy down.
I think backstory is tricky. Well, everything is tricky....but I usually find that I don't include enough! Crit partners want to know more. :)
Adding back-story can definitely be challenging, but I agree, "dripping" it in is the best method. No one should rely on doing it through dialogue when all the other characters are already in-the-know, unless you want that same dialogue to come across as incredibly fake and clunky....
My current WIP could easily contain A LOT of backstory, and yes, it's challenging to get it in. While I've been "dripping" it in here and there as my protag discovers key items, there is a point in which she meets an important secondary character who is in a position to tell her about her father's life (my protag's father died 20 years prior). While this secondary character doesn't tell the protag everything under the sun, she does provide historical details about halfway through the story.
So far my beta readers love it. Let's see what my sharp-eyed crit partner thinks when she gets to it. ;)
As always Lisa, another thought-provoking post from you! Thank you! :)
Great tips, Lisa. I love, love, love it when I learn tiny bits of backstory along the way. It keeps me curious.
I'm all for the drip-factor.
Love the drip by drip. Hate the dump. Worry a lot about backstory when I'm writing. Guess this was the perfect post for me to read. Thanks.
Interesting that in some other cases I can think of, it's also the world itself that shows it best, rather than a character. Though you can use almost any character or setting to spark a memory in your main character's head that can reveal a "drip" of backstory.
That's such a great image - dropping a piece of glass and adding the slivers!
The drip, drip, drip of information is perfect. Information dumps are so obvious and awkward. Backstory is tricky, but when it works, it's amazing.
Wow! This is a GREAT way to distinguish what makes effective backstory and what kills it! Thanks, Vicki! I've never known how to put it in words. The main story has to be the main story. It's like good cooking. Backstory is the seasoning. :o) <3
I think you've nailed it - this is pretty much it. :) Great post, and great advice!