8.1: What is Backstory?
When you write a novel you choose a specific time period over which the story occurs. The events and actions which take place during this time period are exciting and interesting enough to warrant a story being written about them. However, there are usually many past events that occurred prior to the story starting that lead to the events of the novel or influence them. It's the same for your characters. They have a whole history of things that happened to them that made them the people that they have become. The reader doesn't know anything about what happened to them before the novel started.
Introducing information to the reader about past events involving your new world, your characters, your creatures and your magic systems is done through the use of backstory. If you don't use backstory at all you will have a very one-dimensional book where the reader will be frustrated about not getting the information they want and need about the characters and past events. However if you give them too much backstory they will get bored and wonder when the actual story will start. So backstory is basically the set of events you have invented which precede and lead up to the start of your plot. The history of your characters and other elements that trigger the situation that exists at the start of the novel is all backstory.
As the author you will have planned the backgrounds of all your characters, you will know everything that happened to them, their dreams, motives, desires, etc. You will know about the history of your world, who lived there first, how it developed, etc. The trick is to know exactly how much information to give to your readers and at which points during your novel. If you inundate them with long histories of each of your characters before they are even fully aware of whom they are they will get bored straight away. However, if you withhold too much information your readers will get frustrated.
Using backstory effectively is a notion that many authors find difficult. Getting that balance right so that you neither bore nor frustrate your readers takes time and experience. Backstory is a tool that if known how to use well, can transform your novel. However, used sloppily it can cause more harm than good.
8.2: When it comes to Backstory, Less is More
An important point for writers to remember is that not all of the history you have created for your characters and new world and magic system and whatever else, is actually relevant to the current story. You might know what your main character's favourite food was when she was a child, who her first kiss was with and that she has to sleep with the light on after watching horror movies. However, do your readers need to know all of this? Unless any of the things mentioned have an impact on her actions in your novel, then the answer is no. Backstory does not encompass every single event that happened before the start of your novel. It purely relates to events which are significant to the story that is happening now. It is not a load of irrelevant facts and figures to show off how much you've thought about the history of all your characters.
Resisting the temptation to give the readers more than they need is especially difficult for fantasy writers, as usually a lot more effort has gone into creating and inventing elements of the story. For instance, Imagine you have created an entirely new planet with different laws of physics, different people and animals, different plants, trees, vegetables and fruits, etc. You've put so much thought into all of this that you are aching to tell your readers all about it as soon as possible. But stop. Simply being told there is no gravity is very different (and much more boring) than experiencing it through the characters as they have to strap on their antigravity boots each morning.
8.3: Don't Give Away Too Much Too Soon
A trap that many authors fall into is giving their readers too much backstory too soon. It's easy to get excited as a writer and believe that your readers are going to want to know everything there is to know about your amazing wonderful characters and new world. This is when you need to take a little perspective. You have created your characters and you are proud of them, you love them, you think they are the best. When you start writing your novel it's understandable that you want to share as much as possible of this to the readers. You want to say, 'Look at my characters, aren't they great. They have such rich histories and complex personalities!'
Put yourself in your readers' shoes and imagine you have just started a novel, barely know the characters, and are suddenly faced with long histories about each one. Do you care at this point to know anything about the characters' pasts? And is all this information relevant to the story anyway? You need to think about how to first pique the readers interest, giving action scenes along with a few hints, so that they are longing for the information by the time you give it to them.
8.4: Other Backstory Pitfalls to be Aware of
We've already covered how less is more when it comes to backstory but what other potential pitfalls are there for the aspiring fantasy writer?
Less is more
First of all it's important to acknowledge that every time you introduce a chunk of backstory, you are tearing your readers away from the actual story. You are slowing the momentum of the novel and bringing your readers backwards. You might think that you are telling them a rich and interesting story from the past, but in actual fact they would rather know about what is happening right now. It's reiterating the same point that less is more, but when you understand what is happening to the reader when they get interrupted it may make you more diligent in keeping your backstory to a minimum.
Timing
The timing of inserting backstory is also crucial. As pointed out previously, you may be tempted to give away too much too soon. It can seem appealing to think about getting all of the backstory out of the way early in the book so that you can concentrate on the real story. But this will not work at all. You need to pique interest before giving information. You want the readers to want the information, not for them to get bored as they don't know the characters well enough to care about their pasts yet. Timing is everything when it comes to backstory and you'll probably find a great deal of editing time will be dedicated to rearranging and deleting backstory when you have finished your novel.
Writing a backstory is not necessarily storytelling
Another trap that authors fall into is to be mistaken that writing backstory is storytelling. In fact you are just regurgitating past facts about your characters and setting. The real story is the action that is occurring in the present, and the way the characters cope with what is going on and interact with each other. Don't be fooled into thinking that your backstory is different. Show your readers as much as possible and only when you absolutely need to, introduce a few bare bones of backstory. You just need to provide the skeleton of need-to-know facts, and the readers will fill in the rest from what they are learning about the personality of the characters through the actual storytelling.
8.5: How to Use Backstory in Different Ways
One of the ways to keep backstory interesting for the reader is to introduce it to them in different ways. If you always go into the author's voice, narrator style, the reader might start thinking, oh great here we go the boring bit again. You certainly do not want to have this effect on your readers! Following are some different methods of inserting backstory which you might like to try:
Flashbacks –
It may seem a bit cheesy, but carefully done, flashbacks can provide a great way of introducing past events that have heavily affected your characters. For instance, maybe one of your characters awakes sweating from a recurring nightmare and recalls it briefly as they rouse themselves from sleep.
Discussion about past occurrences –
When talking about past events in dialogue it's important to keep it very brief. Characters recalling past events to each other can come across rather wooden. However, if you use it as part of a fast- paced action scene it can be well disguised. For instance, imagine an explorer discovers a new land, only to find that it is already inhabited. He is captured and tortured for information about where he has come from and who he is with. As well as the torturer finding out valuable information, so do the readers.
Summary of past action –
This is where the narrative voice comes in so be careful not to go on too long as it takes the reader away from the story. It can be triggered by something your main character sees or experiences in the present, and then relate it back to something that happened in the past.
Module Summary
Lessons Learned
Backstory refers to the series of events that happened before your story starts. It should be relevant to your story and only dished out to the reader in manageable need-to-know chunks. Be careful not to tell the reader too much information, and also not to tell them about past events before the information is relevant to them, as otherwise they will simply become bored.Use flashbacks and dialogue as well as the author's voice as alternative means of communicating backstory to the readers to make it more interesting. The aim is to wait until the reader desires the information after what they have learnt about the characters and events so far. Only then should you tease them with a little information at a time.
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