“Unlock the Secrets: Why Revealing Your Past Could Cost You Everything”
Have you ever spent an ungodly amount of time creating an intricate backstory for your character, only to realize you’ve just written their life story instead of the captivating tale you intended? I know the feeling—trust me! As writers, we often feel the pressing need to lay all our groundwork out front, thinking readers need every detail to appreciate the unfolding drama. But what if I told you that holding back on backstory might actually ignite your fiction? It’s a tricky balance; how much info is too much? In this article, we’ll explore the art of strategically delaying backstory to keep your readers on the edge of their seats. Curious? Let’s dive into the narrative magic that comes from this unconventional approach! LEARN MORE.
The Short of It
How holding off on backstory helps your fiction
I get it. You spend hours, days, weeks preparing to write a story — outlining, worldbuilding, doing character profiles, or — if you’re more on the pantser side like me — daydreaming. This usually includes a great big backstory about who your characters are and how they got to be that way. Details core to the way and the why of how they tick. Essential stuff to your writerly endeavors. What you need to know before starting to write, so surely the reader must need it too. Right away!
Hold your horses.
The first problem
It is very common for beginning writers (and even not so beginning writers, myself included) to have the urge to frontload the backstory — character and worldbuilding — into the story’s beginning. Because, obviously, if it was essential knowledge for you to write the story, it must be essential for the readers to understand the story.
But not necessarily.
The first problem with frontloading backstory is that it can be boring, particularly without the context of knowing how it will affect the story at large. (Something you as the writer have in your head, but the reader wouldn’t know.) It can weigh down the…
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