Tuesday 2 April 2013

BACKSTORY - A to Z Challenged

B is for
Backstory

Each post for the A to Z Challenge is the challenge I set for myself.

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


FOR B, I CHOSE THE BACKSTORY. WHAT IS THE SUBJECT OF YOUR B POST?

32 comments:

  1. 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.

    I chose author Judy Blume for my B post today!

    Happy A to Z-ing! from Laura Marcella @ Wavy Lines

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Laura
      Knowing 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.

      Delete
  2. Mine are Bravery and Blame.

    Backstory 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

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Misha
      Bravery is great personal quality, it contrasts well with blame which implies someone else is responsible.

      Delete
  3. My B post is about a cat named Bella :)
    Backstory 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

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ayjay
      I'm going to have to read about your cat, Bella. I am wondering about her backstory ;)

      Delete
  4. Your'e right about those cliche rewrites! :) thanks for stopping by my own B.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sandra
      The sneaky clichés have a way of sounding deceptively fresh. Bad clichés!

      Delete
  5. Excellent list of cliches to rewrite!

    My subject's Biotechnology/Biomedical Engineering.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi GE
      WOW! You chose the brainiest blogpost subjects, I'll dust my brain off and head on over ;)

      Delete
  6. I always struggle with backstory. I think it should always have some relevance to the main plot, not just to use up space.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Nick
      I agree. The trouble is even when it has relevance, dropping in the backstory feels like info-dump.

      Delete
  7. Bicycle Blunders :)
    Backstory is something I'm working on re another project. How much to reveal or even decide up on...
    Looking forward to tomorrow

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I enjoyed your Confessions story this morning. Great voice.

      Delete
  8. Backstory is definitely important, although there is a fine line of how much is the right amount.

    A to Z Participant
    Cherie Reich - Author and Surrounded by Books Reviews

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your series Foxwick is fascinating. Good luck to Umbria, she has a tough job ahead of her.

      Delete
  9. Backstory 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 :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Marcy
      I 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.

      Delete
  10. I don't write much fiction, but when I do, backstory is what I have the most trouble with.

    My 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

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sometimes trying to tell my own backstory ends up like writing a memoir.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Margaret
      I know what you mean. But, backstory is important for the character to be properly three-dimensional.

      Delete
  12. 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.

    My 'B' was for 'Bacteria' - which is the backstory on a magical epidemic in my fictional world.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bacteria has a lot of backstory in its chains. A magical epidemic, in your fictional world, sounds intriguing.

      Delete
  13. I 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!

    Donna L Martin
    www.donasdays.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Donna
      I loved the full list of clichés - I narrowed them down from many to the ones that were most appropriate for HAL.

      Delete
  14. I went super original with my B post and talked books...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jolene

      I didn't shirk from picking the obvious choice, sometime the obvious choice is the way to go :)

      Delete
  15. Writing backstory is hard without being boring.
    Damyanti @Daily(w)rite
    Co-host, A to Z Challenge 2013

    Twitter: @AprilA2Z
    #atozchallenge

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 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.

      Delete
  16. I 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. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Trisha
      Thanks for stopping by.
      Yes - that's the trick with backstory. :D

      Delete
  17. 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

    http://claudiacane.com

    Thanks!
    Claudia

    ReplyDelete