Hello all, I'm quite new here and have already found it to be a fantastic source of information and discussion and I'm enjoying reading everyone's various submissions and questions. I'm sure I'll put something up for critical review once I reach the writing stage, but that seems a long way off at the moment.
I'm currently working through various plans and character portraits and I've just tripped myself up with a question over what to include and what not to include in the sub-stories. The narrator plays a role in the main story and I've spent a few days sketching out her past in order to give me a sense of her personality and voice. Her past has almost no impact on the main story, it serves only to describe who and why she is the person she is. But I quite like her back story, it's quite funny and unusual and definitely defines her quite well. I guess the question I'm asking is how much should I include, given how little it impacts on the main story? Her history doesn't have any consequence or impact on the lives of the other characters, except that she becomes a part of their life at the point where the story picks up (she will be the protagonist's wife). How do you handle back stories and how do you find it when a book contains things that don't directly drive the plot forward? I can't decide if it would be good or bad.
Sorry to go on... it is a bad habit that I need to cut out of my writing in general!
Thanks, Mark.
Thanks both. That's pretty much what I thought, I think I was just persuading myself that I should include it as I liked her story. It definitely helps define her and the main purpose of writing the back story was to get to know her character so I could find her voice to tell the story.
I have a fair bit of reading to do; I have a lot to learn!
Mark,
I think the answer is none. The back story is you understanding where your character is coming from, what her motivation is. This will enable you to convey her feelings better in the various scenes. There is no need to reveal any of this to the reader unless it is crucial to the plot.
I've gone through the same research into how much back story to include and found the Harry Bingham book How to Write valuable.
He says that unless the back story plays a big part in the main plot, don't divert the reader's focus. Tell it as part of the main storyline.