Backstory . . . how we got from there to here
Remember that first pages exercise Julie Cohen suggested? Remember all those hints and details that set up the story in the first umpteen paragraphs?
Well, most of that didn't really happen in the first few pages. Most of it happened before the book even began.
Martha, if you will recall, had made a decision about her relationship with Julian -- in the backstory. She'd come rushing back to New York to act upon her decision -- in the backstory. And she'd discovered Julian wasn't the man she'd thought he was -- in the backstory. She'd even spent her last hard-earned dollar and flown to Greece -- in the backstory.
So all that stuff that she was thinking as she trudged up the hill (here and now) was detail that set the stage, but it had all happened before page one.
Of course books don't have to start like that. They can start with an immediate confrontation in the present -- but even if they start with lots of action right now, the characters interacting are bringing something to the table. Their lives didn't begin on page one.
So it's important -- even if you're plot-driven -- to know the backstory. This informs who the people are. We -- and our characters -- are products of where we were born and to whom, how we were raised, who our friends were, what our experiences have been.
Those of you who read the saga of Spence and Sadie on this blog know that what I ended up revising in the book was the backstory -- only one element of the backstory, too -- but it colored everything in the book! Even though I managed to keep the characters as I wanted them and the arc of discovery the way I wanted it -- and even the opening chapter as I'd planned it, the reason that this incident happened in the first place changed. And as a result, virtually everything else had to be fiddled with, too.
What I'm doing in the first scenes of Flynn and Sara is setting a new scene. And it's filled to bursting with backstory. These people -- as those who read The Great Montana Cowboy Auction know -- have a history. They haven't seen each other in six years. But they haven't forgotten each other either. And what they bring to this first encounter has an impact on everything that happens.
There is power in backstory. There is force and dynamism and energy. The history these people share is what give meaning to the action on the page. It makes the characters come alive.
And so far I'm only a day's word count behind if I'm going to make 50000 words by the end of the month. Of course I've only been writing two days, which is not exactly promising.
But I am on a "team" now. Anne Gracie, Trish Morey, Bronwyn Jameson, and Marion Lennox have adopted me and are allowing me to be an Aussie for the month of November (does this make me closer to Hugh, perchance?) while we encourage each other to slog our way through another 48500 words or so to December 1st.
Oh, and Trish says she is the dot in Adelaide and is trying to find me an Invercargillite (Invercargiller?) to dot my ClustrMap at the tip on NZ. Pat, who was my "minder" in NZ at the conference and brought me wonderful sustaining cups of tea lives not that far north of Invercargill. Pat??? Where are you? Come visit.
Are there any Batakises in Invercargill, I wonder? And if so, are they Greeks or Lithuanians?
Well, most of that didn't really happen in the first few pages. Most of it happened before the book even began.
Martha, if you will recall, had made a decision about her relationship with Julian -- in the backstory. She'd come rushing back to New York to act upon her decision -- in the backstory. And she'd discovered Julian wasn't the man she'd thought he was -- in the backstory. She'd even spent her last hard-earned dollar and flown to Greece -- in the backstory.
So all that stuff that she was thinking as she trudged up the hill (here and now) was detail that set the stage, but it had all happened before page one.
Of course books don't have to start like that. They can start with an immediate confrontation in the present -- but even if they start with lots of action right now, the characters interacting are bringing something to the table. Their lives didn't begin on page one.
So it's important -- even if you're plot-driven -- to know the backstory. This informs who the people are. We -- and our characters -- are products of where we were born and to whom, how we were raised, who our friends were, what our experiences have been.
Those of you who read the saga of Spence and Sadie on this blog know that what I ended up revising in the book was the backstory -- only one element of the backstory, too -- but it colored everything in the book! Even though I managed to keep the characters as I wanted them and the arc of discovery the way I wanted it -- and even the opening chapter as I'd planned it, the reason that this incident happened in the first place changed. And as a result, virtually everything else had to be fiddled with, too.
What I'm doing in the first scenes of Flynn and Sara is setting a new scene. And it's filled to bursting with backstory. These people -- as those who read The Great Montana Cowboy Auction know -- have a history. They haven't seen each other in six years. But they haven't forgotten each other either. And what they bring to this first encounter has an impact on everything that happens.
There is power in backstory. There is force and dynamism and energy. The history these people share is what give meaning to the action on the page. It makes the characters come alive.
And so far I'm only a day's word count behind if I'm going to make 50000 words by the end of the month. Of course I've only been writing two days, which is not exactly promising.
But I am on a "team" now. Anne Gracie, Trish Morey, Bronwyn Jameson, and Marion Lennox have adopted me and are allowing me to be an Aussie for the month of November (does this make me closer to Hugh, perchance?) while we encourage each other to slog our way through another 48500 words or so to December 1st.
Oh, and Trish says she is the dot in Adelaide and is trying to find me an Invercargillite (Invercargiller?) to dot my ClustrMap at the tip on NZ. Pat, who was my "minder" in NZ at the conference and brought me wonderful sustaining cups of tea lives not that far north of Invercargill. Pat??? Where are you? Come visit.
Are there any Batakises in Invercargill, I wonder? And if so, are they Greeks or Lithuanians?
posted by Anne McAllister at 10:21 PM
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