In writing the story before you write the story we’re going to discuss a method that some writers use to workout their back story and characters.
Back story is, in a sense, the character’s driving force, the motive for why he/she wants something so badly. Back story should be cleverly injected into the story. No one wants to sit and read pages and pages of back story. For this reason, you should give the reader just enough back story throughout the main story to keep them wondering. Sometimes it will spark the readers imagination and sometimes it will be one of those “ah-ha” moments for the reader when something finally clicks in the reader’s mind.
Good back story will build momentum up to the “ah-ha” moment. We do this with subtle little remarks throughout a section of dialog or a chapter that doesn’t seem to quite fit—a quirk of the character maybe, and it should lead up to a grand finale’; the “ah-ha” moment.
To have good back story and to inject it properly into the story you must know your character as well as you know yourself. The character must have a past, just like we all do, the character is no different. The character did not just appear.
Some writers like to use timelines to lay out their character’s life in a linear fashion. Other writers will spend quite a bit of time simply writing back story about their character. If you follow that route, it is likely that none of the material will end up in your story. It’s simply for your use of getting to know your character. However, some small bits or portions of it may be added to the story in subtle ways.
No matter which method you choose to get to know your character, it’s important to know what events brought the character to where he/she is at this moment in time. What drives this character? What trauma has scarred this character? What motivates this character?
There are many events the character has gone through in life; some good, some bad, some horrific. Whatever it is, you, the writer, must know about it, regardless of whether or not the reader does.
Some writers use character journals. They simply keep a journal and write it from the characters point of view. The majority of this material is never written into the main story. It’s simply a way to create and get to know a character.
Other writers do interviews with their characters. They simply sit and write out interview questions to get to know who their character is.
In a way, all of this work with characterization and back story is simply “writing the story before you write the story.”
Our readers would love to hear your opinion or what method you use. Feel free to share in the comments section.
Happy Writing!
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