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The Big Reveal in Backstory

By on April 18, 2008 in Backstory

So you’ve whet your reader’s appetite with just the right amount of bread crumbs to lead them into the story. They knew, basically, that there is a dark secret in your hero’s past, a good reason why he needs to fight the dragon, or climb the mountain. So…when do you reveal the secret? I love HG TV….it’s sort of an addiction, I agree, but HG TV tells me that I CAN fix up my house, I CAN be an interior designer. (regardless of the truth!) I especailly love the show where they go into a really ugly room, and fix it up based on the stuff they have around the house (like Design ReMix). However, every HG TV show is the same…they present the problem, they show how they’ll fix […]

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Dropping Breadcrumbs for effective Backstory

By on April 17, 2008 in Backstory

Oh Hansel, I’m so afraid no one will find us! Never fear, Gretel, we will drop breadcrumbs, and someone will follow… Let’s say you’re the woodcutter, now wouldn’t YOU be curious to know what is at the end of those breadcrumbs? (Especially if they were, say, Panera bagel breadcrumbs? So I might be a little hungry this morning….). The key to backstory is dropping just enough crumbs to stir your reader’s hunger for more. You don’t want to give them too much at the beginning, or they’ll get filled up, satisfied, and they won’t have an appetite to finish the journey. How much backstory should you put into a scene? Just enough to give the reader the information he/she needs to understand/accept the current action and decisions. To embrace the […]

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Digging for Treasure: The Backstory

By on April 16, 2008 in Backstory

So here’s the deal. I was teaching all day Saturday at the MN Christian Writer’s Guild spring seminar, and then again on Monday night, at their monthly meeting, then I drove home on Tuesday, 6 hours, only to arrive just in time to pick up my oldest son and another son’s bike, return to town, drop off my packages, then hang around until another son got done with track practice, only to pick them (sons and bikes) all back up and return home, drag in my suitcases and drop into a heap. That’s the backstory to why I didn’t blog yesterday. Now, I’m thinking you didn’t need all that. A simple….life washed over me and swept me away, and I was unable to blog would have been sufficient. Yes, it […]

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Handling Back story Paul’s way

By on April 14, 2008 in Nurturing the Soul

This week we’re going to be talking about back story. What is back story, you ask? It’s the history of your characters. Past events, family, career, friendships, you name it. Anything that happened before “today.” One problem writers face, especially new writers, is weaving in back story so the reader and story is not overwhelmed. Back story, as you will learn this week, slows down the action. It jerks the reader from “now” and lures them to the past where they most likely forget the “current action.” The same is true for real life back story. We need to learn how to deal with our past, our history. Paul writes to the Philippians in chapter 3 verses 13 – 14 “… but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind […]

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