Random Writing Tip #9: Backstory

Backstory…some writers love sharing it all, others (like me) tend to be excessively stingy. Finding a balance can be tricky. One good way to share those key background details that readers need to know is through dialogue. However, if the information delivered is not something a character would realistically say under the circumstances, this technique can come across as forced and clunky. If readers get the feeling that your character is telling his/her friend things her friend ought to already know—talking for the benefit of his or her “audience,” as it were, those kinds of conversations get old fast.

While details of background, like where the character grew up, or what sports they enjoyed in school, or what their father did for a living, can be useful, I find it’s often good practice to keep a lot of those details in your head, rather than including them in the story, and instead ask yourself questions like, “How would somebody raised this way, or with this kind of personality, be likely to respond in this situation?”

Then, instead of just info-dumping a bunch of details, whether in the course of conversation or some other way, you are building a character who feels real, because you’re focused more on explaining who that person actually is now than on sharing bullet point bits of information about their past.