Friday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

GET BACK TO THE STORY: TIPS FOR INCLUDING BACKSTORY IN YOUR WRITING

By: Belinda Williams

If you’ve been writing (or reading) for any length of time, chances are you’ll have come across the term ‘backstory.’

If you’re new to the term, basically it means ‘a history or background created for a fictional character.’

Backstory is one of those things that can get writers and readers pretty riled up, and for good reason. While it’s essential, backstory has the power to stop a good story in its tracks and cause monumental problems for a reader.

To understand why, let’s take a look at the concept of backstory from both a reader’s and a writer’s perspective:

Backstory for the reader

Why it’s important:

Without a solid and legitimate backstory, characters can become a bore. As in life, we are a product of our experiences and so it is in the fictional world. When characters say and do things in a book, readers must understand why, and backstory is a big part of this.

Why it’s a pain:

It slows the story down. Plain and simple. If a reader is subjected to paragraph after paragraph of backstory, chances are they’ll tune out and may even get frustrated and put the book down.

If the backstory stretches to pages and pages, you may lose them as a reader forever. It’s like being trapped in the corner with Great Aunt Wilma who is regaling you with stories of her childhood. It usually includes long diatribes about people you’ve never met (mostly likely because they’re dead), and by the end of it you’ll be diving for the drinks table or already thinking of ways to avoid the next family event altogether.

Backstory for the writer

Why it’s important:

. . .

Read the full article HERE!

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If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

1. Is it harder marketing your eBook? http://ow.ly/Nexka @PublishingPush
2. The value of cultural signposts for writers http://ow.ly/NexLr You need to know the cultural sign posts and make good use of them. 
3. 5 Things Authors Can Outsource to a Virtual Assistant - Katie McCoach Editorial http://ow.ly/NexUP
4. Get back to the story | Belinda Williams http://ow.ly/NexYQ  Tips for including backstory in your writing #writetip
5. Creative Constraints In Writing / R.S. Mollison-Read http://ow.ly/Neyu7
6. Author Websites, Blogs, and Book Sales Pages — The Book Designer http://ow.ly/NezhQ
7. Creating Unique Dialogue - Rae Elliott booksblog site http://ow.ly/NeALX
8. 10 Things Readers Should Do When They Like You! http://ow.ly/NeART
9. Fiction University: Creating an Author Business Plan: Our Product Plan http://ow.ly/NeAXy
10. You're Not Alone: 10 Perfectly Normal Struggles Writers Face | Live Write Thrive http://ow.ly/NeBma
11. Why You Need to be Using the Oxford Comma http://ow.ly/NeBBg
12. A Writer's Path | Sharing writing tips, information, and advice. http://ow.ly/NeDJ3
13. Mythcreants » Eight Compelling Themes for Dystopian Settings http://ow.ly/NeHu6
14. Six Comfortable Ways to Reach Readers Waiting on You - Where Writers Win http://ow.ly/NeLn8
15. More Marketing Ideas for Authors | Nessgraphica Blog http://ow.ly/NeMcR
16. Maximising Want-To-Know Value http://ow.ly/NeN5u When someone is reading a story they are assigning a value to what they are reading.
17. How to Make Your Book Permafree (and Why You Should) http://ow.ly/NePLC

Happy writing and running, Kathy