By:
C. S. Lakin
So
many new writers start their books with pages — even chapters — of backstory.
They
want to tell the reader all about the creation of their fantasy world. Or they
want to make sure readers understand every nuance of Mexican politics in 1956
because it will be critical to the plot on page 103. Or they want to make sure
the reader understands every feature of time travel or cloning in the year
2133.
Then
their writing coaches or editors suggest that instead of including all this
material in the opening chapters of their book, they should just reveal the backstory through dialogue.
Aha,
the author thinks. Dialogue — of course! But instead of jettisoning their
precious descriptions and explanations, they essentially put quotation marks
around the same ponderous material.
Problem
solved, right? Wrong.
Your
backstory can slow down the plot.
None
of your characters should talk like the narrator.
. .
.
To
read the rest of the post, click here:
~*~
If
you missed my latest writing & marketing tweets, here they are again:
- Reid,
Literary Agent: Italicize
this ! http://ow.ly/Wzb9N - Is Backstory Killing Your Book’s Plot? Here’s How to Fix It http://ow.ly/WzbbZ
- 8 Tips for Punctuating Dialogue Tags | My Book Cave - content-rated book deals to your inbox http://ow.ly/WzbtE
StoryPort | Briannada Silva http://ow.ly/WzbCE 4 Ways to Write Faster- PROLOGUES – To Use or Not To Use! | Prescription For Murder http://ow.ly/WzbIS
- Best Practices for Ebook Back Matter: Footnotes and Endnotes | Digital Book World http://ow.ly/WzbRp
- Fiction University: Why We Should Do Bad Things to Our Characters http://ow.ly/WzbUH
- Will Amazon.com Inc. Be the Only Retailer Having a Merry Christmas? (AMZN) http://ow.ly/Wzc4J
- How to Use Lyrics Without Paying a Fortune or a Lawyer - The Book Designer http://ow.ly/Wzcbs
- Writing Sad Scenes – Why And How | You Write Fiction http://ow.ly/WzchY
- Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make When Self-Publishing an eBook - Training Authors for Success http://ow.ly/WzckF
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