The what, when and how of character backstory

Backstory is critical to a reader’s understanding of our characters. But there are ways to do it without bogging the reader down.

My novel Keepers starts with a young mother, Raine, hanging out washing in the teeth of a fierce wind. We gather she lives at the top of a hill, somewhat isolated. She is upset, thinking about a person called Teddy and how, a month ago, she received news about him.

The reader has no idea who Raine is, why she is at the top of the hill or who Teddy is and what’s happened...