The people who populate your stories have a past, and that past dictates, or at the very least, informs their actions. Sharing that backstory is tricky, though, because if you share too much information, or if you share it before readers care about your characters, they’re likely to lose interest. To write a page-turner, every sentence must propel the story forward via incident or character interactions, and backstory takes us out of the action, slowing the pace. To reveal backstory effectively, you need to first assess which aspects should be revealed. Then you need to determine how best to share that information.
How Much Backstory Should You Include?
Neil Nyren, former executive vice president, associate publisher, and editor-in-chief of G.P. Putnam’s Sons, explains, “Just because you may have thought up an exhaustive backstory for each character doesn’t mean you have to tell it all to us. It’s enough that you know it and can inform their actions accordingly.” The Don’t answer us! Make us wait! Dole out the backstory sparingly, a tiny bit at a time. Make getting to know him or her a part of the suspense. Make it a part of the reason to keep on reading. If she’s got a scar, make us wait to find out how. If she’s single, make us wait to find out why. Make the reader speculate. Less is more.”
