Current Project: Shadows Inc.
Status: Workin' on it!
My apologies for posting so late today. I had my post all typed up last night, but thought I'd just go ahead and post it manually this morning. What happened? My internet has been down all day and I just got it back! On the one hand, I couldn't do much work at the day job. On the other hand, it allowed me a strange kind of freedom to write. I took advantage of that and wrote almost 1000 words! Now on to my regularly scheduled post. :-)
How much do you know about your characters and when do you want to know it? Yep, this post's all about backstory.
Everything I write becomes a learning experience. Some things I learn easily, others take me longer. Knowing how much backstory I want to know about my characters before I start writing them is one of those things that I'm still learning about myself.
I think one of the reasons so many of my early efforts have fizzled and not gone the distance to a full novel is because I didn't really know my characters. I've made charts like nobody's business--give them goals and motivation and figure out conflict--but I usually stopped there, thinking that was good enough. And what did I end up with? Cardboard (and sometimes not even that strong). I hadn't asked myself the deeper Why? behind the words on those charts.
Sure, I've written plenty of words of what I thought was backstory. A character was born here and went to that school and did this and had that happen to him. But I've rarely thought beyond those superficial descriptions. How would those experiences shape him? Why does he make the decisions he makes? I've asked what my character really wants. I haven't asked and answered why does he want it--why does this mean so much to him?
I still want to be surprised by my characters as I write their story. But somehow I need to balance that with also knowing, fundamentally, who my characters are before I start writing. I'm learning that means more than knowing their name and a few sentences about their story "goal." ;-)
I've read blog posts and interviews with other writers who have said they know next to nothing about their characters, that they learn who they are as they write the story. At this point I can't even imagine doing that, but maybe it's because I'm still so new at all this. What about you? How much do you know, or want to know, about your characters before you start to write?
7 comments:
Great post, Deb!
You've probably heard me say I like to "Stew and Brew" my stories before I start writing. This is my "backstory" or getting to really know my characters. I don't chart like mad woman Genene. {hugs to Genene} I do one conflict graph(from story magic- thank you Karen), a page that covers most of the questions you're told to answer about your characters before you start, then I just kind of let them play out scenes in my head- whether they are scenes from them growing up or scenes I see them in in the book or just scenes between characters that never make the book but show me more about them.
This process starts anytime after I've had the first initial story idea.
Like this weekend as I was cutting down weeds (going around and around on a tractor) my WIP didn't come to me but two scenes/scenarios for the characters in a contemporary I've been thinking about played through my head. Getting me closer to them and giving me some more things I need to research before I can even think of tackling their story. Which most likely won't get written for at least a year. But it is already becoming clear in my head along with the characters who I will know almost as well as my friends by the time I write the book. That's quirky me!
I like Paty's "Stew & Brew" description. That's what I do too. I mull a book over in my head for weeks before I sit to write, and most of that time is spent figuring out who the characters are - what their backstories are, where they come from, how their experiences shaped them.
That doesn't mean I know them fully when I sit to write chapter one. Case in point, when I started the wip, I thought my hero was my "warrior". But by the time I got into chapter three I realized he's not my "warrior" at all. He's my "lost soul". How did I not see that before? his backstory didn't change, but my understanding of him did. And I stopped fighting the direction of the story because obviously, subconsciously, I must have known some of this when I started or else I never would have been able to write a word. (Or so I like to think. LOL)
So bottom line...I, too, learn about my characters as I go. But generally that "stew and brew" Paty mentioned gives me enough info to at least get started.
Debbie, I can't believe you posted about this today. I'm writing a workshop I hope to deliver in Redmond Thursday night, health permitting. It's on writing a synopsis, but frankly, most of it is about backstory.
Backstory is the main issue in everything I write nowadays. I don't believe too many published writers are going to say they sit down without giving a thought to backstory -- it means everything.
The man needing money takes a bribe. He overlooks the starting of a fire at his factory. His daughter knows her mother is dying and her father needed the money; she takes the blame. The hero is the investigating officer ... he doesn't know it's his boss who paid the bribe... it's all backstory.
You are way ahead of my pathetic curve to realize early on how important it is to understand the arc of your characters and your plot. I don't know about the blog posts you are reading that claim they don't know their characters before writing -- like you, I can hardly imagine such a thing and honey, I am no novice. Don't second guess yourself. I may not do charts or fill out forms before I write, but I do the work in my head, and I am glad you are doing it, too.
Great post.
Oh, I like the description "mad woman"! Sounds more literary than lunatic. LOL!
Yes, I do some charts, but I also interview my characters about a specific situation, especially if I get stuck and the story just doesn't seem to be moving. I've also interviewed my characters about their dreams, which can be really interesting!
I love coming up with the backstory for my characters, and like many of you, I have to percolate all this stuff for weeks before I can set a word to the page. I call it story dreaming, because their backstories and the current story are intertwined.
The thing about backstory is I love to read it, too. That's a huge criticism so many writers get while working on their WIPs, that they need to cut back on the backstory, or leave it out, yet I LOVE to read that stuff! LOL! He did what? To who? OMG, no wonder that's why he's doing such and such, and that's why she's reacting like that! It's so clear now. Is it the gossip hound in me? Scary thought. :) This is one of the things I like about a lot of literary fiction. There's not much scrimping on backstory going on. The book I'm reading now, HERE ON EARTH by Alice Hoffman, is written in present tense, but half of it is past tense because of all the backstory. She's excused because she's one hell of a writer (she brings tears to my eyes she's so good), and I even forgive all the head hopping (lots more than Nora, if you can believe it), but I'm so caught up in these characters' lives it almost frightens me, but it reminds me why I wanted to be a writer. So yeah, backstory is muy importante to me.
Great blog, Deb!
And Alice, I plan on coming to Redmond on Thursday to hear you. I hope you get better so you can give your talk. It's a great topic. :)
What a coincidence that yesterday's blog topic on Kristin Nelson's blog was also about backstory. Small world!
http://pubrants.blogspot.com/2009/05/black-sheep-of-fiction-writingguest.html
Loved Caroline's post. She's super sweet. Today she posted the book trailer for that book she talks about in her post if anyone's interested. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ryiNztfzJ4
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