(Let’s Talk About Backstory)
You’ve got your favorite snacks and drink, fluffed your pillow and settled in with the romance novel you couldn’t wait to read. It starts with a bang and you quickly turn the page, then it happens. Everything comes to a screeching halt and you’re immersed in…backstory. For three pages, you learn everything that happened to your lead character in the past few years that shapes his or her personality now. This could be a killer for readers but it’s especially high on the list of why agents or editors reject a manuscript.
First, what is backstory? Backstory is pausing the current flow of your story to describe something that has happened to the character in the past. There’s nothing wrong with having a little backstory—it’s necessary to understand why a character behaves in a certain way. The trick is knowing when and how to use it, and how much of it to use. I know you’re tempted to tell the reader everything now, but resist the urge. Too much backstory at once can destroy your pacing.
A few guidelines:
- The opening of your story is supposed to draw readers in quickly. Starting in the past doesn’t do this. However, it’s okay to drop a sentence or two that references the past, even if the reader doesn’t know what it means yet. This will plant questions in their minds that will have them turning pages to find the answers.
- Keep the backstory short. Tell us what we need to now, in this moment, without wandering down memory lane (I’m hearing Minnie Ripperton in my mind) and forgetting about what’s going on in the present.
- Readers don’t want to know everything about your character up front. If you tell them too much, there’s nothing left to discover as the story unfolds. Once the story is moving, you can drop in pieces of backstory here and there to flesh out your character, as appropriate. It may be good information, but if it’s not needed to understand what’s going on in the scene, skip it or save it for later. Add only what makes sense.
Although backstory often gets a bad rap, it’s the motivating factor behind your characters, and your characters drive the story. Their backgrounds and experiences create rich, multi-dimensional characters that the readers can fall in love with. You’ll want to mention the things that drive them to act, not just the stuff in their pasts. Choose what’s important to the character and the story itself.
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