Without initially taking the time to define the concept it is difficult and problematic to analyze.
For instance, in many of the articles that are posted online, back-story is mistaken for 'background' and plenty of criticism is developed.
Many editors and authors simply state, "get rid of it", without clarifying what they are attempting to remove from a story.
Plenty of self-proclaimed-critics argue that back-story slows the story down and "bogs" the reader down with unnecessary information.
I would entertain that a story is not limited by the typical a-b-c method of chronology. Imagine how a Dr. Who might operate with this limitation. Not pleasant. There is a beauty to transcending the physical limits of this universe. Plenty of stories do this regularly. Think of Robert Jordan's 'The Wheel of Time' or maybe even Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings', just to mention a simple few. The point is clear. Fantastic writing often involves breaking the rules that us mere mortals are limited by.
Time is just another one of those rules. A story can move forward. Stop, turn around. Begin anew. Think about a character that has nightmares of her past. What about a character that dreams about a divergent future? Would it be possible for a character to tell the reader about events that have already happened?
If you take a moment to look at the diagram that I have placed above (go ahead and look over it again) you will notice that back-story is divided into two concepts. Flashback and background.
Flashback is break in the present story that relates past events to the reader i.e. the character with nightmares. A flashback can occur within a story several ways.
- Dreams / Nightmares
- Conversation / Thoughts
- Memories
- Scene
Background is simply information that the author wishes the reader to know. This is the dreadful 'telling' that so many self-proclaimed-critics warn new writers about. They are right. Telling the reader a lot of information is boring.
You want to show the reader a story.
The reader can be shown these elements of the past by:
- Scene - flashback within the story
- Scene - prologue before the story
- Scene - epilogue after the story
Placing a scene from the past into a story is blunt. Robert Jordan did this masterfully in the beginning of his books. The Dragon Reborn is classic. Don't discredit the method.
Another method could be called the 'bread-crumb' or 'slow delivery' method. This takes more planning on the part of the author because you are slowly giving away the information that you withheld from the reader. This method is continuous throughout the story. For a great example look at Steven Erikson's 'Malazan Book of the Fallen' series and take notes on all of the history that is scattered both in his world-building but also in his character-building.
Back-story works. The question for you is . . . why do you need it?
- Prepare your reader for the story
- Provide an answer to a question for the reader
Do you see the common theme in the answer? It is the reader. Your audience is the driving factor in whether or not you need to relate information from the past. This is because the reader wants a story and not an encyclopedia.
You already know that back-story works and works well. The question that you have to answer for yourself is how you are going to introduce your reader to those pieces of information or scenes from the past.
Article Links
- BackStory – How Best To Include It
- Bog of Back-Story
- Hold Back the Back Story
- How to add backstory without the dreaded info dump
- How to Weave Backstory Into Your Novel Seamlessly
- How To Write Backstory Without Putting Your Reader To Sleep
- How to Write Compelling and Balanced Backstory
- I Wasn't Born Yesterday: The Beauty of Backstory
- Tipsfor blending in the backstory