Greetings from the Hermit WRiter.
Nancy
Kress in Write Great
Fiction says the following about backstory:
"Like
a TV commercial, it lacks immediacy and interrupts the story line. What it does
do…"
- Supply history
- Foreshadow
- Characterize
- Tantalize
- Brief detail inserted into current scene
- Inserted paragraph
- Flashback
- Expository lump
Use it
judiciously. Best to let it trickle into your exposition when the information
is necessary.
The
best place NOT to use backstory … first
pages of your story. Start with immediacy.
Leave me a note. What would you like discussed?
Aaah I've read this article by Nancy Kress. I used to subscribe to Writer's Digest in the last decade. I even won a place and honorable mention in a WD competition with 19000 contestants. This always reads well in my portfolio! I'd like to read about "voice". Thanks for this blog. Greetings Jo
ReplyDeleteIt's something I quite often have to bring up when I'm critiquing work. People often dump histories into their stories at the worst possible times.
ReplyDeleteI agree with tricklng in the backstory where needed, rather than trying to explain everyting at once.
ReplyDeleteIf you have any brilliant marketting techniques, I'd be interested to hear them. I'm rubbish at that.