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| B is for Backstory |
Each post for the A to Z
Challenge is the challenge I set for myself.
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| Some things never change: if there's a tree, someone's going to climb it. |
B is for Backstory because all characters need depth – a
past that led them to this point – and also the hopes, dreams, and fears, they
hide from everyone except you and the reader ;)
HAL LONGLEAT AND THE TROUBLE WITH TRUTH
Stepping out of character, Edith took Hal by his
shoulders. She frowned. “Don’t be an idiot, boy,” she said. After waving at a
friend, she patted the top of his hat. “The one thing in life that’s certain is
that some man fathered you. Now, you know he knew about you too.”
Could YOU have been gifted with the ability to identify
and eliminate weak and brittle phrases from your work? To the uninitiated,
these interlopers look like quality imagery.
CLICHÉ RAIDERS: REWRITE!
• bag of
tricks
• barking
up the wrong tree
• beggars
can’t be choosers
• between a
rock and a hard place
• blind
leading the blind
• bloody
but unbowed
• blow hot
and cold
• borrowed
time
• bright eyed and bushy tailed
• bruising
battle/encounter
Hello, Elaine! Backstory is so important to get right! You must only include the most necessary information and at the same time keep the story moving along.
ReplyDeleteI chose author Judy Blume for my B post today!
Happy A to Z-ing! from Laura Marcella @ Wavy Lines
Hi Laura
DeleteKnowing why someone behaves the way they do makes such a big difference to the words you select to describe their actions and so foreshadow their change.
Mine are Bravery and Blame.
ReplyDeleteBackstory is so necessary, but it gets on my nerves when the writer dumps it all on me at once.
My Writing Blog
My Life Blog
Hi Misha
DeleteBravery is great personal quality, it contrasts well with blame which implies someone else is responsible.
My B post is about a cat named Bella :)
ReplyDeleteBackstory is so important! My next step on my WIP is to work on my character's history..
Good luck this month!
AJ Lauer
#atozchallenge helper minion
Twitter: @ayjaylauer
Hi Ayjay
DeleteI'm going to have to read about your cat, Bella. I am wondering about her backstory ;)
Your'e right about those cliche rewrites! :) thanks for stopping by my own B.
ReplyDeleteHi Sandra
DeleteThe sneaky clichés have a way of sounding deceptively fresh. Bad clichés!
Excellent list of cliches to rewrite!
ReplyDeleteMy subject's Biotechnology/Biomedical Engineering.
Hi GE
DeleteWOW! You chose the brainiest blogpost subjects, I'll dust my brain off and head on over ;)
I always struggle with backstory. I think it should always have some relevance to the main plot, not just to use up space.
ReplyDeleteHi Nick
DeleteI agree. The trouble is even when it has relevance, dropping in the backstory feels like info-dump.
Bicycle Blunders :)
ReplyDeleteBackstory is something I'm working on re another project. How much to reveal or even decide up on...
Looking forward to tomorrow
I enjoyed your Confessions story this morning. Great voice.
DeleteBackstory is definitely important, although there is a fine line of how much is the right amount.
ReplyDeleteA to Z Participant
Cherie Reich - Author and Surrounded by Books Reviews
Your series Foxwick is fascinating. Good luck to Umbria, she has a tough job ahead of her.
DeleteBackstory is hard to get right; too much and you'll lose your readers, too little and you'll also lose your readers. Just right and they'll follow happily to the end :)
ReplyDeleteHi Marcy
DeleteI know! Backstory is so hard to reveal at just the right rate, enough to keep the reader's interest high but not so much the pace of the action wavers.
I don't write much fiction, but when I do, backstory is what I have the most trouble with.
ReplyDeleteMy B was Bird. The story of a deer we raised with that name.
Dropping by from A to Z. First year participating.
Brett Minor
Transformed Nonconformist
Sometimes trying to tell my own backstory ends up like writing a memoir.
ReplyDeleteHi Margaret
DeleteI know what you mean. But, backstory is important for the character to be properly three-dimensional.
I may be liberal with my backstory. I try to focus on the current and future issues, but everyone worth knowing carries some baggage, and discusses it or is tackled by it as some time. I think it's largely a matter of how you present and balance it against other elements.
ReplyDeleteMy 'B' was for 'Bacteria' - which is the backstory on a magical epidemic in my fictional world.
Bacteria has a lot of backstory in its chains. A magical epidemic, in your fictional world, sounds intriguing.
DeleteI love your bag of cliches! I hope I never find them in my own stories. Good luck with the challenge! I participated last year and had a blast!
ReplyDeleteDonna L Martin
www.donasdays.blogspot.com
Hi Donna
DeleteI loved the full list of clichés - I narrowed them down from many to the ones that were most appropriate for HAL.
I went super original with my B post and talked books...
ReplyDeleteHi Jolene
DeleteI didn't shirk from picking the obvious choice, sometime the obvious choice is the way to go :)
Writing backstory is hard without being boring.
ReplyDeleteDamyanti @Daily(w)rite
Co-host, A to Z Challenge 2013
Twitter: @AprilA2Z
#atozchallenge
The sad fact about backstory (MC or genuine people) is that we all have a past but it is more important to us than to anyone else.
DeleteI think the real trick is to know all the backstory you need, but to introduce it at the right moments and not in one great spewage of info dump. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Trisha
DeleteThanks for stopping by.
Yes - that's the trick with backstory. :D
I love backstory and love seeing your cliches. My post about using holidays-H has some tips for weaving in backstory. I can't figure how to link back to my blog on Blogger because I have Wordpress but you'll find on my google page or
ReplyDeletehttp://claudiacane.com
Thanks!
Claudia