The Key to Characterization: B is for Backstory

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Every time a character just doesn’t feel right or isn’t developing or I just can’t figure out how to make him/her work, I always find the answer in developing the character’s backstory.

Backstory is the history of the character or everything that has happened to the character before the story begins.  Sometimes it is necessary to go back even further to the lives of the character’s parents, grandparents, etc.  For me this is the most crucial step in characterization.  If I don’t know where a character has been, I don’t know where that character is going.   I always find that if I don’t have a good handle on a character, I need more backstory.

I watched a documentary not too long ago, Nova's Mind of a Rampage Killer, which examined mass shootings and what could cause some individuals to go on these murdering rampages.  And while there is no easy answer, there certainly were some common experiences of neglect, abuse, exclusion, and extreme bullying.  None of these killers had a happy, carefree childhood.  There were some biological similarities as well shown by brain scans and genetics.  Ultimately the take home message I got, was that an individual’s personality is formed by a complex interaction between their genes (nature) and life experiences (nurture).   I think it’s about 50:50 on the nature vs. nurture debate.  But certainly their life experiences led them down that path.

Think about how you get to know a person.  I know that I tend to ask questions about a person’s past, where they grew up, how many siblings, birth order, high school experiences, etc.  I always seemed to delve into someone’s personal history if I really want to understand who they are.  Their favorite color and food doesn’t tell me as much as whether they were popular in high school or an only child.  On some level, I think we all can see patterns in these life experiences that make us who we are.  And characters will be more believable if readers can see similar patterns in them.

I know that I tend to create pretty extensive backstories for my main characters, but I only put enough on the page so the reader can understand the characters’ motives.  I believe that what is held back helps to create a depth to the characters.  The reader can sense that there is more to the character than what is on the page, and that makes the character more complex and more interesting.  What you don’t show but know is just as important as what you do show.

So delve a little deeper into your characters’ backstories.  Your characters will be richer for it.

Want more advice on creating backstories?  Here are some awesome links.

How to Create Your Main Character’s Backstory

5 Great Ways to Write an Interesting Backstory

Backstory:  The Importance of What Isn’t Told

The Importance of Backstory

Writing Wednesday:  The Importance of Backstory

~MaryAnn

P.S  Tune in tomorrow for our continuation of Blogging from A to Z.  Our fabulous Susan will be blogging about C.  I can’t wait to see what she does.

In Which I Go Back To High School

I just got home from a whirlwind trip across the country to attend my grandfather's funeral. On Tuesday, my niece was working on an English assignment, and she asked me for some help. Her class is reading Frankenstein, and this was the assignment:

Mary Shelly writes in her introduction, “Everything must have a beginning, to speak in Sanchean phrase; and that beginning must be linked to something that went before. The Hindus give the world an elephant to support it, but they make the elephant stand upon a tortoise. Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of a void, but out of chaos; the materials must, in the first place, be afforded: it can give form to dark, shapeless substances but cannot bring into being the substance itself. In all matters of discovery and invention, even of those that appertain to the imagination, we are continually reminded of the story of Columbus and his egg. Invention consists of the capacity of seizing on the capabilities of a subject and in the power of molding and fashioning ideas suggested by it.” Explain what she is saying. Do you agree or disagree with her? Support your thoughts with evidence and examples.

I found this quote and assignment so fascinating that I decided to turn my thoughts about it into my blog post this week.

The funny thing is, I'm pretty certain I'm not going to interpret this quote 100% correctly. I can think of at least one more likely interpretation than the one I'm going to use here. Part of me wonders if she is trying to explain where her own story ideas came from--that there is nothing truly new, but only things we pull out of chaos and make our own. When I try to backtrack and find out where my ideas came from, it does seem as though it is "turtles all the way down." Though fascinating to think about, this is not where I'm headed with this blog post.

The first time I read that quote, I was certain I knew what she was talking about before I'd even finished the first sentence. "She's writing about backstory," I thought to myself, and it wasn't until I had finished reading the whole quote that I realized I might be wrong. Such is the joy of not really being in high school though. This blog post can meander wherever I want it to.

The Great Paradox

Everything must have a beginning...And the beginning is hard. As we've lamented many times here on The Prosers, finding the right place to start your story is a treacherous endeavor. A book has to begin somewhere, but wherever your story begins, it's still right in the middle. It makes me think about the beginning of David Copperfield, when he said, "To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born..." Even trying so desperately to begin at the beginning, David Copperfield comes to realize that he is still a product of everything that happened before.

Instead of lamenting this fact, authors should rejoice in it. Revel in it. Use it to write thousands of pages and loads of sequels, prequels and companion novels!

This morning, after I dropped my kids off at school, I went swimming, which is something one of my characters loves to do. I thought about her as I swam, and I found myself wondering if she was the kind of person who would get up early in the morning to swim, if it was her only chance. I found myself inventing a whole story around the answer to that question. That story probably won't make it into the book. But I'm certain it will make the book better, nonetheless.

Thanks, Kayla, for giving me such a fun topic to write about this morning!

Melanie

P.S. I'm the kind of person who can't stand not knowing something if I think I could find the answer on Google in 30 seconds or less. For your edification, this is what I googled today:

"To speak in Sanchean phrase" Sanchean phrase refers to Sancho Panza from Cervantes' Don Quixote, when he said "In this matter of government, everything depends upon the beginning." Apparently, Shelly was a big fan of Cervantes.

Columbus and the egg refers to a brilliant idea or discovery that seems simple or easy after the fact. There is a popular story about the time Christopher Columbus was told that discovering the Americas was no great accomplishment. The story is often alluded to when discussing creativity.

The Columbus story may have originated with Italian historian and traveler Girolamo Benzoni. In his book History of the New World,published in 1565,[2] he wrote:   

"Columbus was dining with many Spanish nobles when one of them said: 'Sir Christopher, even if your lordship had not discovered the Indies, there would have been, here in Spain which is a country abundant with great men knowledgeable in cosmography and literature, one who would have started a similar adventure with the same result.' Columbus did not respond to these words but asked for a whole egg to be brought to him. He placed it on the table and said:'My lords, I will lay a wager with any of you that you are unable to make this egg stand on its end like I will do without any kind of help or aid.' They all tried without success and when the egg returned to Columbus, he tapped it gently on the table breaking it slightly and, with this, the egg stood on its end. All those present were confounded and understood what he meant: that once the feat has been done, anyone knows how to do it."

The elephant and the tortoise: There are some very interesting modern-day discussions about the world being supported on the back of the elephant, who is standing on the back of a tortoise. Stephen Hawking, in A Brief History of Time, tells a story about a scientist wondering what the turtle is standing on. A little old woman tells him there are "turtles all the way down." Start looking this up on google, and you might be there all day, learning about infinite regress and Terry Pratchett's discworld. Fun, fun stuff.

Details, Details pt. 2 Revisiting

This past summer I tried my hand at refinishing furniture. After finding a pair of fabulous end tables at the local Habitat for Humanity Restore ($12.50 each), I set about sanding, stripping and painting them. For the finish I used a classic paste wax. One coat and the surface began to look shiny, two and there was some depth that I hadn’t noticed before. Three coats brought out a beautiful luster.

 

Last week I started talking about the small details that make a novel come to life. I mentioned the importance of creating history – the world and the characters didn’t just suddenly appear out of nowhere at the beginning of the story.

Today, I’d like to explore making a story richer by revisiting an earlier event multiple times throughout the novel. Just like a fine finish on furniture, coming back to an idea can add new layers of meaning and understanding. This helps give depth to our perception of what’s happening.  

Although some of my favorite books use this technique to great advantage, to be honest, I don’t often pick up on it during the first read. It’s only after closing the book with a contented sigh that I start to wonder why this book was so much more satisfying, so much more real, than the other books I’d recently read.

And since I’m not particularly articulate in explaining these things, and since examples always make things clearer, I’m going to use The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold to illustrate my point. This book is wonderful, and so intricately plotted.

(Here is one problem with not using universally popular books like Hunger Games or Harry Potter – I’m not sure how familiar you, dear reader, are with this book.  So, here’s a quick run-down:)

Cazaril returns from war, broken in mind and body, to the palace where he once served as a page. He wants only a quiet place, no glory, certainly no danger or excitement. Hired as the tutor to the young Royese Iselle, Cazaril soon finds that there is no peace in the House of Chalion. A god - given curse hangs over the royal line, threatening his young charge and all he holds dear.

 And so, with that introduction, I’d like to focus in on just one thread of the story – that Cazaril has been a slave on a galley ship. It doesn’t seem terribly important. It’s an event that happened before the story even opens. But, throughout the novel, it is revisited again and again, and each time the reader gains a more profound understanding of the event's true meaning in the story context.

Here’s the breakdown, and remember, this is not the main gist of the story. These things are written almost in passing as the current action of the story is progressing:

• Page 1 - We find Cazaril, dirty, decrepit, in cast off clothes, hobbling down a path. 
• Page 4 – His back is covered with painful adhesions – we don’t know why. 
• Page 10 – We learn that he had walked from the port city of Ibra where he had been resident at the Temple Hospital of the Mother’s Mercy, “dedicated to the succor of men cast up, in all the various ways they could be cast up, by the sea.” 
• Page 12 – We read about “his back, the ropy red mess of scars piled one across another so thickly as to leave no untouched skin between, legacy of the last flogging the Roknari galley-masters had given him."
• Page 26 – At the palace he relates his story and we discover that he was a military man whose fortress was under siege. When a surrender was arranged, there was some mix-up. All the officers were ransomed – except him. He was sold to the galleys.

Can you see? Bujold is basically telling the story backwards. She could have just said on page one that Cazaril was going back to the palace after having been wrongly sold to the slave galleys. But by having the information come out a little at a time in between all the main action, she creates, not only building tension, but a subliminal feeling like there is substance and history to Cazaril’s life.

Spoiler alert: If you haven’t read this book yet, please, do yourself a favor and get it before you read on. 

So…the thread continues to build a little at a time as the main story continues (and sorry, I’m not going to dig for pages on the rest of this, but it's interspersed until nearly the end of the book).

• We learn that Cazaril’s missing ransom wasn’t a mistake. He was sold out by his superiors. 
• We learn how on the slave galley, he was sure he was dead from the last beating he had taken. 
• And how he had taken the beating because he was protecting a boy who had recently been captured. 
• And how that boy turned out to be integral to removing the curse on the House of Chalion. 
• And how that beating was also necessary to removing the curse.

The event of him getting beaten on a slave galley doesn’t even happen in the story. And yet, each retelling, each layer that is added, creates a depth, an immediacy that makes the world and the characters that much more real. And in the end, it ties back to the main plot in such a masterful way.

So, here’s my tip for the day: for a richer storyline, try revisiting key events in the novel and add new understanding or information each time. Even if it isn’t part of the main plotline, it will create a sense of history that will make a story come alive.*

HTH

~Susan

*Can you spot the ways JK Rowling used this technique in Harry Potter?

Romantic Subplots part 2

Welcome to Sizzling Saturday! (While I think that is a brilliant bit of alliteration, Sabrina, it still makes me blush to write it.)

To be honest, this piece of the romance puzzle takes work, and things are still light on the sizzle. That's next week. However, I have artfully added some sizzle to this post, just to keep you reading. :)

Last week, we talked about rule #1: An exciting story should drive your plot, not the romance.

Rule #2: For their love to be believable, your characters need a genuine history. In fact, your characters need memories with each other that the reader doesn't share.

Taylor Swift's music video You Belong With Me is a perfect example of the way backstory, exposition and scenes from your story can work together to create a swoonworthy romance, and she does it in 3 minutes and 48 seconds. Pure genius.

• Backstory

Perhaps your characters have known each other since they were tiny. Or perhaps they've interacted a few times before the story starts. If you are lucky enough to be in this situation, you need to make sure the reader knows about it. You might choose to share whole pieces of their backstory, or you might just hint at them.

From Linnet by Sally Watson:

Linnet began using stories as a bribe. Not until everyone had made enough progress to suit her would she curl up with Persephone purring raucously in her lap and begin a tale of ancient Greece-or of her own home and family, and Giles, which to the flock was just as fabulous and unreal as any myth. They took a particular fancy to the mischievous Hermes-and to Giles!

 "Well, they aren't a bit alike!" Linnet informed them rather tartly. "Giles doesn't approve of mischief, and he's always trying to prevent me from having adventures."

 "Mayhap 'e just don't want yeh ter 'ave all the fun wiv-out 'im," suggested Peg shrewdly. "'E usually goes along wiv yeh if 'e's around, don't 'e?"

From this short exchange, you realize that Linnet and Giles already know each other very well, and that Lark might have some misconceptions about Giles to overcome if they are ever going to get together.

• Exposition

By exposition, I mean giving information that helps the story to move along. It helps if there is something your characters have to do with each other repetitively.  Developments in their relationship can be easily hinted at.

"As they travelled, the nights got longer and cooler, and she grew accustomed to sitting on a horse for long stretches of time. Jasper smiled the first time she managed to stay in the saddle when the horse decided to jump over a stream, but he didn't offer to buy her drinks until the decision of whether or not to jump became her own--not the horse's."

Or an example from a real book (It's A Mall World After All, by Janette Rallison. I know it's a funky title, but she's a drop dead hilarious author):

"Colton is the only person in our study group who remembers I like diet soda, but not Diet Coke."

• Scenes from the story

Love should transform your characters.
(Chuck and Sarah, I'll miss you!)

Backstory and exposition can only get you so far. In the end, your characters have to get to know each other, and to change each other, right in the middle of your story. Creating actual scenes that give them a history can be challenging and fun-and hopefully your plot will give you some great ways for them to spend time together. If not, bad things must happen to your characters. It's the only way.

It helps if your characters both have strong value systems. For some reason, the moments when these value systems clash are the times that make their future love seem more believable.

The television show Felicity is about a girl who has such a huge crush on a boy who barely knows her that she follows him across the country to college. Her reasons for romance are extremely believable. She's been watching Ben from a distance for years. Ben's reasons for romance seem non-existent. He is attracted to a friend of hers, and you can't overlook the creep factor-Felicity is way too up front and honest about why she is there.

If they want us to believe that these two characters could ever fall in love, the writers of the show have a tough job in front of them. How do they begin? First of all, Felicity gets her own life. She pulls away from Ben as she realizes how unlikely their relationship ever is. They get some friends in common.

And then they are victims of a home invasion. Suddenly they have this shared memory. One of the few things Ben knew about Felicity was that the necklace she always wore had belonged to her grandmother. So when one of the thieves grabs it off her neck, Ben tries and fails to stop him. For days afterward, he can't sleep, and he starts calling her and visiting her in the middle of the night. She's angry because he won't go to the police station to identify the men who did it. He buys her a new necklace to replace her grandmother's. This shared experience changes the whole dynamic of their relationship.

Felicity was not one of my favorite TV shows, but I had such an a-ha moment when I watched this part. Every love story needs at least one Home Invasion crisis, when the characters learn to see each other in different ways. Ben finally stops seeing Felicity as a stalker, but as someone vulnerable, who cares about things other than just him. Felicity learns that Ben is fallible, and is perhaps not the super-hero she'd built him up to be in her head. From that point in the story on, they have a history that includes both of them.