 Drama: October 12, 2022 Issue [#11598] |
This week: What Are Backstories Good for? Edited by: Joy  
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“The most important things to remember about backstory are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn't very interesting. Stick to the parts that are, and don't get carried away with the rest.”
Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
“In the writers mind, even a backstory has a backstory.”
Terry a O'Neal
“Be careful of thinking you know a person so well. Like comic books, everyone has an origin story…and oftentimes it ain’t pretty.”
H.L. Sudler
“Backstory is like a flavour you can’t quite pick, lurking in the layers of a curry. You know it’s there and it enhances the flavour, but it’s intangible and fleeting. Use it sparingly!”
Sandy Vaile
Hello, I am Joy , this week's drama editor. This issue is about backstories and how they may aid us in creating fiction.
Thank you for reading our newsletters and for supplying the editors with feedback and encouragement.
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
Someone asked me if one can write a fictional piece without a backstory. Yes, you can. Flash fiction, for example, doesn’t necessarily go into the characters’ or the plot’s or the setting’s backstories simply because of length constrictions. Still, the backstory is implied and it is inside the writer’s mind during the writing. After all, nobody arrived into this world at a later age and in a grown body. Even our planet earth had to go through stages and eons of evolution to arrive at where it is today.
Although you may choose not to mention a backstory directly inside your writing, knowing the backstory of any element of your fiction is always useful. In fact, quite a few writers can build up whole stories and novels just by thinking about a backstory. Also, some experienced writers, once they get an idea, they start with a backstory, not only for their characters but also for the other elements of their story.
The story elements other than the main characters themselves are important because they have helped shape the characters and their backgrounds. Then, even a new setting and its backstory are important because your character will assess their value in comparison to his older experiences. Take the story of Jane Eyre, for example. Jane’s earlier experiences included being cared for relatives in a place where she didn’t belong and then, the Lowood School, which was a charitable institution meant to educate girls. Thus, when Jane first went inside the Thornfield Hall, her opinion was positive, although a tiny hint or two in the descriptions of the place signal what’s to come. This excerpt is from when the maid lets her inside the manor.
“I followed her across a square hall with high doors all round: she ushered me into a room whose double illumination of fire and candle at first dazzled me, contrasting as it did with the darkness to which my eyes had been for two hours inured; when I could see, however, a cosy and agreeable picture presented itself to my view.”
This positive impression will lead to a few happy scenes, only to clash with a most difficult situation much later. Jane Eyre’s story relies more heavily on empathy for dramatic effect and it’s only a given that the setting should reflect and reinforce that empathy. This is how a setting and its backstory makes the characters stand out.
Yet, the most important backstories belong with the characters and especially the main character. While drawing a character sheet, when you ask yourself what the character’s biggest flaw is, the answer may also point to a direction that the plot may take. The same would go for the characters’ earlier life-changing moments or what these characters are afraid of or their earlier goals.
At some point while writing that character sheet and thinking about your characters, if you hit upon a gray area that you are not sure of, do explore that gray area. You may very well find a hidden gem there. This is because a backstory of a person spontaneously and naturally becomes their behavior. This is also because inner life and outer action can be inseparable.
Not only the above, but the inner lives of the characters or the backstory’s repercussions, too, can complicate the main character’s motivation, thus affecting every other character and their situations.
A rule of thumb for the backstory to be mentioned inside the original story is: as delicately as possible. One way could be to show how the backstory is motivating the character either positively or negatively.
The method of entering the effect of a backstory into the original story is, of course, each writer’s own choice, but mostly, this is done through flashbacks, moments of reflection, interpretations of the past--accurate or not--and or other characters’ assessments and dialogues. Although these can add to the strength of the narrative and the plot, too much of any looking-back moments could annoy the readers. It is a good idea, therefore, to spread them out inside the story in thin layers of a few sentences or a paragraph, but not more than that. The real caveat emptor here is not letting the backstory crowd out the real story.
May all your backstories be influential and may they lead to powerful stories.
Until next time! 
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 This Issue's Tip: Your character either stands on what he knows and/or has experienced, or he’s running away from what he knows and has experienced. Either way, his backstory will work.
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