Wednesday's Writer's Tip - Writing ABC - B is for Back Story #MFRWauthor #writing

Last week I garnered a lot of friends bringing their comments so here we go with another letter.

B is for Back Story - Like Topsy characters aren't just born. The back story gives a lot of information about the main characters in the story. A writer wants to know the life story of the characters they create. Where were they born? When were they born? What social standing did they have or lack? How much education have they had? There are so many little facts that may or may not mean anything when the character takes stage front in a story. Still this info is needed.

Some writers have long bios of each character in their book. This can become unwieldy. Some writers develop the back story as they rough draft the story. The many details creep into the writer's mind and suddenly the character becomes more alive.

Back story does a number of things in the story. Often the reason for the character's goals in written in his or her back story. Even the goal can be there. A poor man wants to become rich. His back story would be different from the rich man who wants to become richer.

There is one thing that the writer needs to remember is though her or she needs to know the character's back story there is no need to write pages and pages about the character's back story. Feeding in the important facts bit by bit gives the character depth.

So what's your take on B is for back story or do you have another B you would like to share?