Backstories
We’ve all got them. What’s yours? Mine’s long and complicated and is raided extensively for my characters and for settings too.
I set 'Immortality: This is Probably a Novel' in New Zealand because I used to live there and it is beautiful. It’s got bits of the best of other countries: the mountains of Switzerland, the Fjords of Norway, the beaches of a tropical island – oh blast, I’ve gone off topic. No, no, I haven’t. I stayed with friends in their holiday cabin in the North Island of New Zealand and it became the intrepid Chester’s hidey hole (with their permission, of course). What a gift of a setting for a writer. Chester’s backstory - his reason for hiding off-grid - is revealed later in the book. He finds his unfolding life as hard to believe as I would. As one reviewer said, it "packed such a punch... you’ll love watching Chester’s world slowly unravel.” Fortunately, the girl he loves recognizes he’s one in a million.
What I’m working up to is that I’ve been reflecting (I do a lot of that) on how our backstories shape our present and our future. Think of something in your past, good or bad. How has it shaped your present and how will it continue to shape your future? Or will you not allow it?
Sage Saying: Words break no bones but they do break hearts.
Handy Hint: To protect pond fish from herons, seagulls, etc, cut off both ends of large plastic bottles and drop the remaining tubes into the pond to serve as hiding places. Or find something similar!
Stress Reducer: Relax your standards. The world will not end if the grass doesn’t get mowed this week and the bees and other creatures will love you for it. Come on now, haven’t you always wanted to be loved?
★ August’s book bargains? They’re in the previous post.
I set 'Immortality: This is Probably a Novel' in New Zealand because I used to live there and it is beautiful. It’s got bits of the best of other countries: the mountains of Switzerland, the Fjords of Norway, the beaches of a tropical island – oh blast, I’ve gone off topic. No, no, I haven’t. I stayed with friends in their holiday cabin in the North Island of New Zealand and it became the intrepid Chester’s hidey hole (with their permission, of course). What a gift of a setting for a writer. Chester’s backstory - his reason for hiding off-grid - is revealed later in the book. He finds his unfolding life as hard to believe as I would. As one reviewer said, it "packed such a punch... you’ll love watching Chester’s world slowly unravel.” Fortunately, the girl he loves recognizes he’s one in a million.
What I’m working up to is that I’ve been reflecting (I do a lot of that) on how our backstories shape our present and our future. Think of something in your past, good or bad. How has it shaped your present and how will it continue to shape your future? Or will you not allow it?
Sage Saying: Words break no bones but they do break hearts.
Handy Hint: To protect pond fish from herons, seagulls, etc, cut off both ends of large plastic bottles and drop the remaining tubes into the pond to serve as hiding places. Or find something similar!
Stress Reducer: Relax your standards. The world will not end if the grass doesn’t get mowed this week and the bees and other creatures will love you for it. Come on now, haven’t you always wanted to be loved?
★ August’s book bargains? They’re in the previous post.
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