The winner of the clear puzzle from yesterday's post is Riley!!! Email Jenn and jennmck at yahoo dot com and she'll mail your prize! Congrats!
“I need to care about what happened to the character before the book started and what’s going to happen after the book ends.”
Of course this comes on top of apparently conflicting advice from writing instructors: DO NOT load the front of the novel with back story. Or as I tell my students, "avoid the back story dump.”
To reconcile the two caveats, I’m constantly thinking about my character’s back story… even when I’m not revealing it to the reader. It's the key to understanding why a character reacts in surprising ways -- past experiences cast a potent shadow.
In a novel it often works best to wait until the reader is invested enough in the characters to care about their past. Then to reveal that back story gradually and strategically.
I'm struggling with that now.
A character I’m writing is based on a real person. She was a writer (call her Suzanne) whose husband died of cancer shortly before she gave birth to their second child (a daughter, call her Thea).
Soon after Thea’s birth, Suzanne was at home and a friend dropped by. Suzanne invited her in and offered her some tea and cookies. Suzanne seemed fine until the friend asked if she could take a peek at the baby.
Suzanne gave her a blank look. What baby?
Fortunately, the friend heard baby Thea crying. It turned out she was one the floor in the attic, swaddled in a blanket. Who knew how long she’d been there.
Somehow, Suzanne’s friend got help for Suzaqnne and baby Thea.
I'm struggling with that now.
A character I’m writing is based on a real person. She was a writer (call her Suzanne) whose husband died of cancer shortly before she gave birth to their second child (a daughter, call her Thea).
Soon after Thea’s birth, Suzanne was at home and a friend dropped by. Suzanne invited her in and offered her some tea and cookies. Suzanne seemed fine until the friend asked if she could take a peek at the baby.
Suzanne gave her a blank look. What baby?
Fortunately, the friend heard baby Thea crying. It turned out she was one the floor in the attic, swaddled in a blanket. Who knew how long she’d been there.
Somehow, Suzanne’s friend got help for Suzaqnne and baby Thea.
By the time I knew Thea, she was in high school. Living with her mother and older brother and her grandparents. I don’t know how she knew about that early abandonment, but she did. I can only imagine how it must have hovered over her relationship with her mother.
So the story I have in mind has a fictional Thea as the main character.
So the story I have in mind has a fictional Thea as the main character.
Though I was never abandoned, her experience speaks to me because I had a complicated relationship with my mother. My mother never physically tucked me in the attic and tried to forget about me, but still I can relate to the scars that would leave. It's something I'm interested in exploring through my writing.
I think that as fiction writers, we often work our own past traumas and experiences into the back stories of our characters. Even my villains have parts of me, experiences that echo my own, that shape who they are. Experiences that (I hope) make them believable.
Isn’t that the essence of, WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW?
Today’s question: When you read a novel, do you sometimes wonder what experiences the author may have had that fed the development of a character?
And in case anyone is looking for more (hopefully not contradictory) advice for their own writing… I’ll be teaching a week-long, 2-hour morning class in Key West: HOW TO CREATE A COMPELLING PROTAGONIST. REGISTER, class size is limited. C’mon down! https://tskw.org/create-a-compelling-protagonist-with-hallie-ephron/
I think that as fiction writers, we often work our own past traumas and experiences into the back stories of our characters. Even my villains have parts of me, experiences that echo my own, that shape who they are. Experiences that (I hope) make them believable.
Isn’t that the essence of, WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW?
Today’s question: When you read a novel, do you sometimes wonder what experiences the author may have had that fed the development of a character?
And in case anyone is looking for more (hopefully not contradictory) advice for their own writing… I’ll be teaching a week-long, 2-hour morning class in Key West: HOW TO CREATE A COMPELLING PROTAGONIST. REGISTER, class size is limited. C’mon down! https://tskw.org/create-a-compelling-protagonist-with-hallie-ephron/
What an interesting . . . and sad . . . situation with Suzanne and Thea. Possibly postpartum depression played a role?
ReplyDeleteI’ve often heard that “write what you know” statement but I can’t say that I've ever considered that the development of a character in the story might be reflecting the author’s personal experiences . . . .
I think it makes the storytelling easier and more genuine if, as the writer, you understand what your character is experiencing, even if the context is totally different. The good news is, it's inescapable. We all leach out into our characters, whether we like it or not!
DeleteYes, sometimes when I read a book, I do like to know what brought the character to the stage we are reading about and my main feature on my blog came after I wanted to know what happens with the characters when the story ends. I do know the concept of write what you know, but I would be scared if what domestic thriller authors wrote came from what they know.
ReplyDeletegood point Dru!
DeleteOh, gosh, me too! I would not want to run into Amy Dunne from Gone Girl, especially NOT in the mirror!!
DeleteThat's a fascinating backstory, Hallie, and what a blessing the friend showed up. I'm writing a first draft right now and realized I needed to know more about a particular character's backstory, which is my task for this morning.
ReplyDeleteI think lots of readers assume authors have experienced what their characters have. For me it's also it's more in the characters' reactions and thoughts than life experiences, I've certainly never owned a bike shop or a restaurant, for example, although I was involved in the home birth community and ran a small organic farm.
Edith, wondering if my understanding of your linguistics back ground (it may be totally imaginary) is why Lauren Rousseau is my favorite of all your characters. Elisabeth
DeleteI think it's one of the ways, as an author, we come face to face with our own limitations. There are certain characters I know I couldn't write because in my wildest imagination I couldn't relate to their experience.
DeleteWhen I was pregnant with our son, I had a recurring nightmare: I'd absentmindedly put "the baby" in a drawer, close it, and then forget about him until several weeks later. (Since this was a dream, he never made a sound.) I always woke up from this horrible nightmare just as I was about to open the drawer. Luckily, I never came close to doing anything like this after he was born. But I'd say there must have been a piece of Suzanne in me. In any case, what a disturbing story, Hallie! And, to answer your question, I generally assume that a writer has used a piece of him/herself or of a friend or family member in developing characters. But I never assume that a character is actually based on someone who is recognizable. I figure most writers are too smart and too creative just to reproduce themselves or someone they know in a book. Still, like you, I examine bits and pieces of my own psyche to help me understand what my characters, good ones and bad ones, would do in different situations. I guess I think most writers must do this. But I could be wrong.
ReplyDeleteDisturbing dreams involving a baby are very common during pregnancy, Kim. Dads-to-be get them, too.
DeleteKim, I dream that still from time to time. I suddenly remember that I have a baby and haven’t fed it for days. Utter panic. In my case the baby is a symbol for my writing project, I think! ( this is Rhys)
DeleteI frequently revisit a moment I had when my daughter was an infant where, due to inattention, I nearly lost her. SO scary. Like looking into the abyss. Useful, too, in retrospect, to channel that feeling into a character. But I hpe I never have an experience like that again.
DeleteThat is a deeply disturbing story, Hallie. Because it is true, I hope that Thea and Suzanne were able to get the help they needed.
ReplyDeleteAs a reader, I know that authors' ideas must come from somewhere, whether a personal experience or a news clipping or a painting in Italy. I assume that throughout the writing process, an author is constantly making decisions about what her character will be in every way; tall, short, athletic, clumsy, quiet, brash, etc. Where was the character born? What are his/her life experiences? Will the character have a sense of humor? Who is telling the story? After the first couple of pages, I will know pretty much whether I want to know more. It doesn't matter how popular this book has been or who has loved it and praised it. That character must be someone whose tale I want to follow.
Interestingly, I might love a series for several books and then find that the character I loved at first is exasperating me. Like several other readers here have said, it just is time for her to choose between the two guys. Or, enough rolling into a small town by bus and seeing or stopping a crime. Some readers will follow a character anywhere. Some need to be won over in every story. I wish I could audit your class.
Such an interesting point Judy, about whether readers need to be won over by a character once, or with every book. For me, I won't keep reading a series if the main character doesn't evolve based on events in the previous books.
DeleteIt really is the challenge of writing a series. You see it in TV shows, the writers trying to throw new personal traumas at their repeating characters. Mothers get introduced in order to be bumped off. Kids to be put in danger. It can make the reader feel manipulated... not in a good way... when you realize what the writers are doing.
Deleteps I read a fascinating book last year called EMOTIONAL INHERITANCE, by a psychologist named Galit Atlas. She is a psychotherapist who studies how trauma gets carried forward through generations without people even realizing that it's happening. That was the kind of therapy I practiced as well, though she writes about it with astonishing and poignant clarity.
ReplyDeleteSounds fascinating, Lucy!
DeleteYears ago I was a trained volunteer in a child abuse prevention unit at our Children's Hospital. The research they did showed how child abuse is generational and our director's philosophy (based on research study) was to break that cycle through mentors who could intervene and help with advice and role modeling. This training was something I used again years later when I was a teacher in a middle school. I mentored a young pregnant student from a dysfunctional family who is now a successful parent, with two successful children.
DeleteSome years ago my then-sister-in-law was in therapy and her counselor probed whether she had any history of sexual abuse, as many of her thought patterns seemed constitute that. This ultimately led to her learning that her MOTHER had survived early sexual abuse, and unconsciously instilled in her the coping mechanisms she had developed.
Delete*consistent with that.
DeleteBased on personal observations, I understand how this can be true.
DeleteDebRo
I am fairly certain that there have been studies of Holocaust survivors and their offspring.
DeleteSo thought provoking... thanks for sharing.
DeleteWow Susan, that's exactly what this writer was talking about! Judy, she wrote a lot about families with the Holocaust in the background and how that trauma carried over. I think you would love the book!
DeleteI know I am so late--but how can that be, Lucy?
DeleteSuch an interesting topic, Hallie. Since I'm in the process of devouring Barbara Nickless's Sydney Parnell series, I immediately thought of Sydney's backstory, which is such an important part of her life. The backstory is part of why I'm rooting so hard for Sydney--both her past and future are important to me. I'm certain the author never went through the trauma that Sydney experienced, but I am also certain that she did an amazing amount of research, which I completely appreciate.
ReplyDeleteOne of the disadvantages of knowing too much about how authors put together fiction is you become aware of what the author is doing and that can take you off the page.
DeleteI never thought about the back story much, but assumed that the author must have some experience in some things. eg, Julia got the miscarriage so right in her book, and Debs the sorrow of the loss of a child - two things that unfortunately I experienced. I can't imagine writing these topics only from 2nd hand knowledge. Killing people - maybe not!
ReplyDelete... but perhaps the jealousy or rage or unhappiness or paranoia ... that lead to killing.
DeleteEnjoy teaching in Key West. So tempting! I use snibs and snabs of my experiences to create characters and plots, but it's never how it really happened. I wrote a short memoir piece about something that happened to one of my kids and I realized how much my perceptions about the incident have changed, from what happened to why: why did the teacher act as she did? previous experience? pressure from the administration? parents giving her non-stop grief? was she vindictive or just didn't care?
ReplyDeleteYeah, it turns out most of what most of us experience isn't really interesting enough for memoir... and yet we can stitch bits and pieces into fiction to make it more compelling and believable.
DeleteHallie, a workshop in Key West sounds like a wonderful event for you and the lucky participants! When I care about a character, the revelation of backstory feels intimate in a way--like the character is revealing personal information to someone they trust. I know some writers (looking at the pantsers especially) may have those revelations come as a surprise to them also as they write, so the whole process feels organic, comes naturally. When you meet a real person, they don't usually sit down and give you a run through of their life up to that point--if you become friends, you learn bits and pieces as the friendship evolves.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely back story can *reveal itself* to the AUTHOR! when a character does something unexpected and then somehow they need to reconcile that action with who the character is ... by giving that character more/different pas experience so it makes sense.
DeleteHow scary for Suzanne and Thea.
ReplyDeleteI don't always assume the author must have felt a trauma or something similar to the characters. But I do wonder what thought process brought them to that story.
HALLIE: I usually read more for character than plot, so I am definitely invested in the character. Some telling reveals about his/her past is great but I don't want a backstory dump to bog down the book.
ReplyDeleteI hope most mystery/thriller writers do not experience what they write about! Rather, I would prefer they heard/saw a situation or story that sparked an idea...
Grace, I think that's usually how it works. Otherwise we'd all be pretty traumatized!
DeleteExactly!
DeleteThat's an excellent quote from that editor. And I do think our own life traumas feed into our stories in unexpected ways. Sometimes I don't realize I'm working through my own stuff until I'm reading the page proofs and I think, "Oh." Lucky are the attendees going to your workshop, Hallie!
ReplyDeleteMe too! I sit there scratching my head and wondering, Now what was that all about?!
DeleteHallie, I often think about the author when I am reading their book. Sometimes I am thinking 'how on earth could they come up with that?' and other times I am sure that they are writing from first-hand knowledge. I am sure that writing books can be a form of therapy. As for me, the reader, I am always looking for insights that could help me. This is true when reading even the lightest and most frivolous of novels. You just never know what might speak to someone.
ReplyDeleteSo interesting, Judi! I don't actually think of writing books, even when I'm channeling my own experiences, as therapy. But maybe that's because I don't really understand what therapy is. Maybe that's its essence.
DeleteJudi, I think I get what you are saying. I have read about a character, admired her and thought, "I want to be more like that!" (kinder, or more assertive or more patient. )
DeleteIt’s always interesting to me that when I write stand alones I get so many letters wanting a sequel. What happens to them next? I suppose that’s why it’s such fun to write a series. We get to share these characters’ lives ! Have a fabulous time in Key West! Rhys
ReplyDeleteI think that's the best compliment a reader can give you... to ask: And what happened next! And that's just how I feel when I read your standalones, Rhys!
DeleteHallie, I sure wish the timing was better. I'd love to join you in Key West.
ReplyDeleteIt is kind of a miracle that so many authors DO create characters that we want to know more about, enough to invest the kind of time that a short story, a novella, a book, or a series take to explore them. We humans are inherently curious about one another's lives, even fictional ones. It's a driving force that ought to be added to Maslow's Hierarchy of needs, I think. Breathe, eat, have sex, nose around in your neighbors' lives.
That is too funny, Karen. But you are right -- We want to understand the people we share this world with, and in seeking to know about others we may come to understand ourselves a bit better.
DeleteKaren, so funny!! But then people are so incredibly different in what information they want and whose information they want to pursue. Some people study other cultures, some people are fearful of "the other." Some people walk down their streets and engage neighbors in conversation, others just nod their heads, at best, as they go by.
DeleteMaslow's Hierarchy!! I knew that would work its way into this discussion somehow. Thanks, Karen!!
DeleteI always like to think that the nice and good things come from the author's own life in some way or other, and always presume the horrid stuff -- including murders -- is spun from their imagination and research.
ReplyDeleteI hate to tell you, Amanda, but just the opposite might be true.
DeleteOh dear, Hallie. Oh dear. If that's the case, then I wish for every author a loving partner and a good life outside of the pages they write.
DeleteI definitely understand the pregnancy nightmares. When I was pregnant with my first child (now age 44), I had a recurring nightmare that I put her on top of the car in her baby seat and drove off. I can still "see" that nightmare and it gives me the creeps. Poor mothers, what a burden they bear! But thanks for the backstory information. I'll send it to a client of mine (I'm a book coach) whose first three chapters include 27 pages of backstory. It's a dump that totally takes the reader out of the main story. With backstory, less is more.
ReplyDeleteLESS IS MORE! And then there's the tricky bit about WHERE in the narrative to reveal bits of the back story to the reader. I once heard an editor talk about "feathering it in" as the main plot moves forward. And it's often fodder for a great big flashback at some key moment.
DeleteI think that many authors give emotions they have experienced to some of their characters, although the experiences themselves may be very different. In the case of books written in the first person by serial killers, I don’t want to think about how the author created the character! (And I no longer read books that feature serial killers, whether written in first or third person!)
ReplyDeleteDebRo
Your post resonated with me today, Hallie, because I am currently taking an online writing a cozy mystery novel. We have been taking about creating backstory for our characters. Since my novel is set 100 years ago, I try to imagine what my character's backstory could be. And I was thinking about my grandmother "Nana" and what her life was like. In the USA, she was a "flapper". If she lived in England, I wonder if she would have been a "bright young thing"?
ReplyDeleteWonder if the grief from losing her husband caused Suzanne to blank out and forget that there was a baby? Grief? Early onset Alzheimers? Short attention span? Lots of questions here...it will be interesting to see how you approach this in your characters...
Great Question! I often think about the backstory of the characters when I read novels. One of my favorite novels has a main character who is a psychologist AND an enquiry agent. She often investigates a variety of cases for her clients. She was a nurse on the front lines during the First World War. One of her first cases was looking into the possibility of infidelity and she asked her client this question "What if there was no lover?" Her mentor encouraged her to go to University when few women were going to University. She was an apprentice working for her mentor learning the business. Her backstory is really interesting. In the first book, we know about her parents and a little about her grandparents. The reader learns a little more about her backstory in each novel. I love how these little kernels from the past influenced her current cases.
Wow! I cannot believe I wrote so much here!
Diana
*Online writing a cozy mystery novel courses.
DeleteBack story back story! It's what preoccupies us as writers. And readers wonder what's the fuss about?
DeleteI don't often think about back story unless it is teased. And I don't think about how an author's own history might shape their characters. Until now. Now it is all I will think about, and I will wonder just how twisted you all are. :)
ReplyDeleteMark, don't worry! We TRIANGULATE... there's nothing literal about my character's back story and my own. Just a level of understanding that I have about what the character experiences because of something I experienced.
DeleteHallie, your writing class sounds wonderful. Your students will be so fortunate! I don't assume that authors have experienced the things they write about, only that they're good at extrapolating their emotional experiences into their characters. We've all felt rage, grief, jealousy, love, contentment, anxiety, but the circumstances can be very different from the fictional characters. And I do always want to know the characters' backstories, just not in a lump, thank you very much. This seems to be one of the most difficult balances for beginning writers.
ReplyDeleteOh, so I picked the wrong time to move from Florida! Dang, it would be so much fun to attend the class.
ReplyDeleteYour story gave me chills. My mother used to speak of hearing her neighbor's newborn baby screaming. My mother was also a first-time new mother and she recognized the screams as sheer terror. The neighbor was trussing and buttering her child ready to put him in the heated oven. The woman was suffering from post-partum depression. Something that wasn't well known in the 1940s.
If there's a moment of raw reality in the writing, I often wonder if it's teased from the author's past.
OMG that image gave me chills...
DeleteI knew (but not well) a young mother who tried to harm her newborn and was arrested and sent to a pysch prison. She was only in her early 20's and left her young college age husband to care for their 4 year old and newborn infant. So sad, that pediatric doctors/nurses don't seem to make this a priority to examine when parents bring their newborns in for first visits.
DeleteOMG, indeed. Shuddering at the narrowly averted horror.
DeleteIf I remember the story correctly, the woman was committed and had electroshock treatments - ugh. I know she was reunited with her family, but they had no more children.
DeleteOne fascinating character is the protagonist in the mystery Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. She isn't referred to by her name ever throughout the book yet she is the most important narrator in the story. Nothing is said about her family, her previous life prior to meeting Mr. DeWinter (Rebecca's former husband) but she is so compelling. I've often wondered why this story, the plot and the characters aren't studied more in college literature classes.
ReplyDeleteI need a backstory on the characters because I get so invested in their stories! So often it explains why they react as they do in certain situations. Dropping bits and pieces of their backstory keeps me reading almost as much as the main plot does.
ReplyDeleteKnowing the backstory (while also NOT info-dumping it into the main story) is hugely important. Along with the other reading recommendations, I suggest STORY GENIUS: How To Use Brain Science To Go Beyond Outlining And Write A Riveting Novel by Lisa Cron. It's my current audio book, and I found the first two thirds, about story construction, so interesting that I've gone back for a re-listen before finishing the book. She suggests pre-writing various events/moments in the protagonists life in order to find the most compelling character needs and pain points. I'm finding it quite interesting, and may incorporate some of her suggestions when planning my next novel.
ReplyDeleteI do enjoy the back stories of characters, but I think it would be easier for an author to manage in a series rather than a stand-alone book. In a series, and one of the reasons I love them so much, we learn this back story over time and often in relation to something in the current story. In a stand-alone, you have one shot at getting the back story in and deciding how much is needed. I think that would be tricky and apt to getting wrong.
ReplyDeleteAnd, something I wonder about is if back story has become more a part of a character in books than it used to be, say 20, 30 years ago. Of course, I know in the way back of Golden Age and on into the 50s that the plot was the focus and not the character's background. Last Seen Wearing by Hillary Waugh from 195 is credited with being the first critically acclaimed and successful in the sub-genre of police procedurals, and this from my review addresses its character development and lack of any back story. "One of the challenges for me in reading this early police procedural or many of the classics is the lack of character development. I’m usually a reader and reviewer who is passionate about characters, their many layers and continuing development, especially when in a series. However, the early police procedural isn’t about character development. It’s about the story, the resolution of the crime." (https://www.readingroom-readmore.com/search?q=last+seen+wearing) I was so surprised that I really enjoyed this book with no character development. Of course, I prefer to have fully fleshed out characters in whom I become ardently invested. But, back to my question here, do you think there is much more emphasis on character development, including back story these days? The popularity of the psychological thriller seems to indicate readers want to know what makes the characters tick and then some.
As far as wondering how the author's life and experiences affect a character's development or the story, I rarely think that a fiction story is based on the author's life, but I think there are often bits and pieces. After all, it is that particular person writing the story, not someone with another mind set. I hear authors say that they like to listen to and observe other people, and these observations are certainly conducive to appearing in a character's profile. I do, however, think that the authors I read most have amazing imaginations that don't rely on working through their own angst or traumas.
SO late, and I m=am crazed with work. But oh, that is SO true! I wrote one of my books, and all good. And then one day, mid book tour--I realized. OH! That happened to me. I had not consciously put it into the book or consciously written about it. I still think about that. Was I burying it? Or excavating it? SO brilliant, Hallie. I wish I could be in your class.
ReplyDelete