Yuffie's Writing How-To's

How to write BACKSTORIES -- pt. 2

Backstory is like a puzzle, and you're giving tiny clues throughout so your reader can build the full picture by analyzing the character's actions.

You don't need to explain all the backstory. The only important backstory to show is the one that's relevant to the story in the PRESENT. The histories that are still affecting the characters right now. I don't want to know this character used to be a salesman if it doesn't matter to the current plot. But if he uses his sales expertise to help him during a current obstacle, yeah, knowing he used to be a salesman would be helpful.

If the events of the past are affecting and challenging the characters right now, you're showing the backstories rather than explaining/telling them. Reveal their histories in small pieces as the characters take action and/or things happen to them in the present. Then you can bypass infodumps. Infodumps tend to happen when you're explaining things that aren't directly relevant to what's currently happening and can't be shown through taking action right now.

I'll give an example for my book Guardian Redemption (HUGE SPOILERS AHEAD!!!)

It's pretty obviously that Reks, Joren, and Xaan have pretty extensive backstories. But how did you figure that out without me extensively infodumping?

Xaan's been feeding his life energy into the two brothers over the years, slowly but surely making them stronger. Joren's magical ability is unparalleled, and the guy is only 20 years old. His older brother Reks isn't even a mage, yet he leads a world-wide criminal organization. How does he control so much power without magic? These questions are indirectly posed at the begining, leaving the readers wondering how these brothers gained the power they  have. The first piece of the puzzle is laid out.

Then you finally learned that Xaan's been feeding them energy by actually showing the spell in action and the results of it: Reks appeared noticeably more beefed up and a hell of a lot stronger--he could punch through solid rock and blow out a door by slamming it shut during his argument with his girlfriend.

We actually watch/experience the spell when Xaan transfers the last of his energy to Joren. After the spell is over, Xaan looks ancient, aged decades in just a few seconds, until he crumbles into dust. Xaan already looked impossibly old at the start of the story, so if he gets older each time he does this spell, it clues the reader in that it's been going on for a while.

Later, we found out Xaan wasn't being completely honest about what he was transferring to the brothers. It wasn't just his life energy. He was also secretly putting in an ancient power he'd stolen, splitting it between Reks and Joren in order to hide it from Xaan's enemies. How do we tell all this backstory without infodumping? Show one of the enemies come back looking for Xaan to take back the power. Show Reks getting the power sucked out of him, and his body and strength shrinks. He can't even sit up because he's so weak without Xaan's energy. That solidifies the conclusion that it was Xaan's power and that spell that made Reks so inhumanly strong.

Only the backstories that are directly relevant to the plot at hand should be shown. SHOWN. Not told. If you're telling and explaining, that backstory probably isn't relevant. Sometimes a little telling will be necessary, of course, but showing backstory by showing the characters dealing with it in the present is much more powerful and memorable. Relay the histories through action, rather than lengthy dialogue or exposition as much as possible.

That's one reason I'm not a fan of flashbacks, and I'd mentioned this in the previous chapter on backstories, so revisit that for a refresher. Showing the consequences of the backstories in the present is much more interesting than halting the forward momentum of the story to jump into the past. If you have to go that far, that backstory probably isn't important enough to be included in the book. Probably. Relaying backstories clearly and effectively is hard, and finding the right balance between showing and telling is tricky.

But the key thing to remember is gauge your backstories for what's relevant to the current plot. Hint at what happened to the characters in the past by showing how they're dealing with it in the present. If they're not dealing with it right now, you shouldn't need to mention/explain it in-story.