The reasons for this blog: 1. To provide basic author information for students, teachers, librarians, etc. (Please see sidebar) 2. I think out loud a lot as I work through writing projects, and I'm trying to dump most of those thoughts here rather than on my friends.

Saturday, February 28, 2009

note to self re. backstory

ways to tell backstory:

1. narration (just outright tell it)
2. have characters bring it out in dialog
3. in scene, as flashback
3. in scene, but go back and make it part of the regular story in real-time order (no longer a flashback).

How to tell which one? This is a problem because sometimes the past info is presented properly, it's just not in the right place in the story. Maybe look at how clunky it feels? Also look at how much emotional engagement it requires from the reader? How much space does it need--how much story interruption is too much?

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