 Short Stories: August 11, 2010 Issue [#3905] |
  Short Stories
This week: Too Much Backstory in the Front Edited by: Ben Langhinrichs  
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Greetings! I am one of the editors for the Short Stories Newsletter, and I hope to share some of my thoughts on writing short stories, and perhaps about writing in general. I suggest you treat these not as pearls of wisdom dropped from on high, but rather musings of a fellow writer, written to inspire, provoke or stimulate your personal muse. I welcome your thoughts, feedback and suggestions.
~ Ben Langhinrichs
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Too Much Backstory in the Front
You're ready to start your short story, but first you have to let the reader know who your characters are, what obstacles they face, what their limitations are, what their motivations are, where they are, when they are...
Whoa, there!
You lost that reader. Bye bye. He or she is off to read another story where something happens. Let's look back at your story to see how you can avoid losing the next reader.
There are a few things to remember when writing a story:
1) The reader is likely not an idiot. The idiots are busy out causing trouble or falling asleep in front of the boob tube, so your reader can probably figure some things out as you go without having to have it all spelled out.
2) The reader wants to care. Really. Unless they are real grouches, they want your story to captivate them, or they'd skip it entirely and go do something more constructive, like updating their Facebook page.Your main jobs at the beginning of a short story (or novel) are to help the reader care about the characters, and to interest the reader in what happens next. Instead of five paragraphs describing the world your character lives in, put your character in there and make something happen.
3) A short story is short. Yup, it's right there in the name. Short story. So, your reader expects that the story will not be longer than necessary. (Of course, novels suffer equally from too much backstory shoved in the beginning, but I am not writing the Novel Newsletter, so I'll let somebody else worry about them.)
4) Generally known facts can be presumed to be... generally known. (See #3 about names.) If you are writing a vampire story called "Love with a Bite", don't bother to tell us that your vampires are sexy, or that your vampires drink blood. Your reader probably gets that. (See #1 about idiots.)
So, go back to your story and pare down that backstory. Weave the most important bits back in with subtlety and dexterity, but even then make sure you start by helping the reader to care. Some people find the best place to start is in the middle of action, while some people find it better to start with reaction, and a few start with dictinct foreboding. Just don't start boring, or you may lose another reader.
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Feedback from readers
Free_Rip  Very interesting newsletter. It's a valid point that is easy to forget when you get caught up writing the 'big bad whatever'. Another thing to consider is that you can make one type of being - some alien, say - an embodiment of one vital human characteristic without making it human all around. This leaves the reader feeling that they, or another human, could do what the being has done without the being seeming human.
Daleks, in Doctor Who, for instance - they are our tendency to hate what is not the same and want to make the universe uniform in our view of perfection. 'Everyone born equal' taken to a new level - that doesn't end when you're born.
Suspension of disbelief is especially hard when you bring in elements outside of our world (eg fantasy, sci-fi, horror), but these often, ironically, provide the clearest mirror of our own society - perhaps because it is easier for us to critique our behavior if it is presented through dragons and werewolves than if it is simply us.
NickiD89  A character's believability is crucial to the overall success of the story. Thanks for this thoughtful discussion on the topic. Your newsletters rock, Ben!
Doug Rainbow I would like to hear some thoughts on timing events in stories. Life unfolds along a linear chronology. Authors can (and usually do) tinker with that chronology to get maximum literary impact. I would like to have knowledgeable discussion on techniques for moving off strictly ordered sequencing of events.
I'll think about that for another issue. Thanks!
Zeke  Sometimes human characteristics can include serious mental problems. In these cases I think the writer must still make the human connection. Zeke
DePayne I love this newsletter!! I am thrilled that "The Dog Around the Corner" by Endless Enigma was an Editor's Pick as I had read it previously and loved it!!!
JTown offers Ghost Train without comment.
A.T.B: It'sWhatWeDo Wonderful topic for a NL, Ben! I've been a student, you could say, of the "willing" suspension of disbelief since an in-depth research paper on Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' in college. It's so important to keep in mind just how far the audience is willing to go along with an author for the sake of story, when they draw that line, or when an author's deus ex machina just falls flat on the page or stage. Loved your comments and picks - thanks so much!
Lorien Good newsletter, Ben. I think this anecdote from Gary Larson, who drew The Far Side cartoons, explains the delicate balance of suspension of disbelief. He said that he once received a letter regarding a cartoon in which a male mosquito came home to complain to his family about how his job "sucks." The reader wrote that she could not believe the cartoon, since it is female mosquitos, not male, that suck animals' blood. Larson said he found it odd that the reader could not get past that error -- yet could believe that the mosquitos wore overcoats and spoke English.
👼intuey  Good advice, Ben! I always find myself more absorbed in a story, when I can relate at some level, with what I am reading! 
Thanks for a great NL!
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