Establishing The Backstory

We’re anxious to tell our readers all the facts and figures of our story beforehand so that they’re able to get a real grasp of what’s happening. Except that often enough, we ending up listing all the facts- who’s related to who, who hates who, why is it that particular time of the year. The problem is that by the time we get to the juicy part of the story, the readers are worn out. Here are a few mistakes and how you can avoid them:

1. The Documentary Feel

Please don’t get paragraphs of National Geographic narratives. Nothing tires out the reader more than, “Harry was Sam’s brother and worked as a bartender. His wife had divorced him last summer and now he got to see his three kids on the weekends only…”

At the start, there’ll be only one or two facts about Harry that the reader has to know. If you have to list them out, then do so as briefly as possible.

Solution:

The golden rule of writing is “show, don’t tell.” If your protagonist has anger issues, don’t go for a sentence stating the same. Why not get him into a small fight? Shameful that I always take movie references for advice on writing, but here it is. In Supernatural, they never make Sam state, “Dean you’re so aggressive. You are clearly the dominant personality.” But how do we know he is? He always drives the car, he chooses the songs during the car drive, he tends to whack Sam on the head if he’s annoyed.

2. Explanatory Dialogue

If you find your characters explaining your plot, it is a sign for a thorough rewrite. Dorian Gray is my favorite book and some of Sir Henry's speeches put me to sleep. So avoid at all costs as there are more subtle ways to convey your plot essentials than through dialogue. Moreover, dialogue will just sound stilted if it goes like, “Harry, my older brother, I have not you see since you took off in a rage five years ago.”

Solution:

Listen to how people talk. They give away clues of their personality through everyday speech. For example, I had a story where a girl is talking to her stepbrother and at first I resorted to explanatory dialogue. Except is slowed down my story. Then, I thought about the two characters and how they would perceive their parents. So I made the girl call her mother “mum,” while the stepbrother referred to her as “your mother.”

I would say think of your story as a bit of a mystery. You should give enough clues which the reader can piece together to finish the puzzle. Nothing is worse than making a reader feel like they’re in a college lecture with all the facts written out for them. Then again, The Alchemist does nothing but state facts, so I’m not sure if backstory rules hold true anymore.

Well, for those of us who aren’t Paulo Coelho, I guess we can travel the more conventional route.