Many teen writers start their story the same way. With paragraphs of information telling the reader all about what happened to the character 20, 10, 5 years ago. It's important information, right? The reader has to know of they won't understand what's happening. Wrong!
Don't weigh your story down with the past. Backstory slows down the action of your story and instead of drawing the reader in, it pulls them out of the action. And a reader not engrossed in the present action is more likely to get bored and put down the book. Don't put paragraphs of the past in between the action.
One element of hooking a reader is to start the action and drop your reader right into the scene without explaining what is happening. Your reader wants to experience the characters for herself. Instead of telling the reader what's going on, show the reader through your character's actions and words.
Don't leave your protagonist and reader waiting for you to go on with the story while you tell the reader what happened to the main character when she was three. If it's important to know what happened in her past, DON'T stop the action to TELL it. Instead slip little bits and pieces of the past in the story so your reader can follow it like a clue! They'll have more fun discovering the past of your character than having it dumped on them all at once! And you can do this through dialogue and internal thought.
Want to improve your writing right now? Go to your WIP, find all the backstory, but before you delete it, open another document and cut and paste the backstory into that new document so you can refer to it later. You can name it "Backstory." Remember, nothing you write is wasted. Backstory might not make it into your book, but at least you'll know your character so you can figure out why she chooses to do the things she does.
Questions to ask to find the unnecessary backstory:
· How much time do you spend telling about your main character's past?
· Do you stop the action to tell a story or something about your main character?
· Is your protagonist thinking too much about her past? Just give enough info, a thought about her past, and keep the action flowing.
· Is her backstory dumped in one big section or does it trickle out like a leaky faucet?
Don't forget to post a comment and invite me to look at your story! :)