How Much Backstory in the Beginning is Too Much and How Little is Too Little?

Question from a writer on Facebook:
You and most writing gurus suggest not weighing down the beginning with Backstory. I agree. I usually start in action/dialogue in the present, but lately I have a friend who thinks I don't explain enough about my characters to get the reader interested.

She said to look up successful romance writers and how they present characters. I went on Amazon and read several previews. For example, Bella Andre From This Moment On is entirely backstory in Chapter 1. She even has a flashback for the second scene. I'm confused because she's definitely successful and I wonder if readers or at least her readers like the backstory in Chapter 1.

What are your thoughts? I have all your books and am using the Writing Prompts one. Obviously I want to write a scene to show my character's motivation and current state, but I wonder if readers really mind.

Answer from me:
Yours is a universal question. How much backstory is too much and is little-to-none not enough?

First, I have to admit that my rather firm suggestion to not weigh down the beginning of a story with Backstory comes from two sources.

1) I developed a deep empathy for the dyslexic children I worked with back in the day I owned and operated a speech, language, learning clinic for children.

Struggling readers demonstrate the complexity of the entire reading experience. Understanding that words are made up of consonants and vowels that translate into letter symbols and decoding the words and understanding the meaning of those words and memorizing sight words and then grasping that a group of words followed by punctuation make sentences that make paragraphs and chapters and reading quickly enough to remember the meaning behind the words leads finally, when lucky, to comprehension.

Throw in all sorts of time jumps with prologues and flashbacks, flash forwards and memories and an already challenging task becomes a source of frustration rather than pleasure.

2) Working with writers, I've heard every different way you can think of to insert backstory information and most of them slow down the story. That is not to say that successful writers don't insert backstory up front. They do. All the time. You can, too.

That said... I continue to suggest not weighing down the beginning with backstory.

Supporting the beginning by offering just enough backstory with clear and engaging writing is fine. Giving more emphasis to the backstory than the front story gives me pause and I wonder, why not tell that story instead?

What I resist is inserting an actual flashback too early. A flashback is told in moment-by-moment action in real time in the past which is different from the front story time. It is the flipping back and forth in time early-on in a story that can cause confusion. Your goal in the first quarter of the book is to hook and ground the reader. A flashback often interferes with the successful completion of that goal.

P.S. I love knowing the little brown PW book is by your side! Thank you.

*****SPECIALS*******

1) Track Your Plot at the Scene Level Webinar
Learn to Maximize the 7 essential plot elements in every scene (one of 7 essential plot elements in every scene is CONFLICT) from the comfort of your own home.

*****

Knowing what to write where in a story with a plot reinforces daily writing practice and allows for more productivity in your writing. Whether writing a first draft or revising, if you falter wondering what comes next in a story with a plot, follow the prompts inThe Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing.

Today, I write.

To familiarize yourself with the basic plot terms used here and in the PW Book of Prompts:
1) Watch the plot playlists on the Plot Whisperer Youtube channel.
2) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
3) Fill out the exercises in The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories
4) Visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter
Plot Whisperer on Pinterest

What Happens After the Crisis (not to be confused with Climax) of Your Novel, Memoir, Screenplay?

The drama at the Crisis of her coming-of-age historical novel is exciting, life-or-death and edge-of-your-seat external action.
Check.
The action fits thematically with the character emotional development.
Check.
The character suffers at the Crisis.
Check.
In the simultaneous release of energy at the Crisis, the character sees herself and the world around her in a new and transformed way.
Check.

Trouble with the plot begins seconds after the Crisis. Immediately the character acts in a transformed way.
Why is that a plot problem?
Flipping the protagonist from the character she's been throughout the story in one scene to mature and a master over her fear in the next scene dilutes the moment of greatest intensity in the entire story so far.
Facing her fear and winning is her Climax.
She still has another quarter of her story to reach the true Climax of the story.

Plot Tips:
Rather than speed up the effects of the Crisis on the protagonist, allow the energy to subside a bit (the downward line on the Plot Planner).
Give the protagonist time.
Allowing her the time she needs to reflect on what she learns at the Crisis about herself (character emotional development plot) and about the dramatic action plot, too, gives more emphasis and reinforces the impact of the Crisis.
Show what she looks like and what she viscerally experiences as she practices and explores and ponders the deeper meaning of her life and all life in this unusual and unpredictable and capricious time as she stands between who she has always been and who she is becoming.

(Excerpt from The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories.)

*****SPECIALS*******

1) Track Your Plot at the Scene Level Webinar
Learn to Maximize the 7 essential plot elements in every scene (one of 7 essential plot elements in every scene is CONFLICT) from the comfort of your own home.

*****

Knowing what to write where in a story with a plot reinforces daily writing practice and allows for more productivity in your writing. Whether writing a first draft or revising, if you falter wondering what comes next in a story with a plot, follow the prompts inThe Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing.

Today, I write.

To familiarize yourself with the basic plot terms used here and in the PW Book of Prompts:
1) Watch the plot playlists on the Plot Whisperer Youtube channel.
2) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
3) Fill out the exercises in The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories
4) Visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter
Plot Whisperer on Pinterest

Difference between Crisis and Every Other Scene in the Middle of Your Story

The middle of your story is the territory of the antagonists, which means that the antagonists control the new and unusual world. In this world, antagonists—internal and external—interfere with the protagonist’s forward progress, creating tension and excitement. This back-and-forth between protagonist and antagonist forms the essential dynamic yin and yang of stories.

All the rules, customs, expectations, and punishments of this new setting reflect the antagonist’s world. To be successful, the protagonist must master them.

The new world performs the primary function of the middle: to induce change. As such, it is a place of struggle and resistance.

As long as the protagonist resists and until she accepts what is, she suffers. He feels unlovable and pursues wealth and power and success no matter the cost. In her fear of failure, she keeps busy, busy, busy. To avoid criticism, he avoids taking risks and always pleases others. To bury anxious or empty feelings, she drinks too much, fights too much, eats too much, hides too much.

In each of these scenes in the middle, she continues using techniques that used to always work and never fail her in her old world and in the exotic world of the middle prove useless. Her backstory wound oozes betrayal. Not unusual for scenes in the middle to deal with betrayal as she copes and complains, resists and controls, hides and suffers.

Finally, a crisis jolts her awake -- a betrayal or a death where everything changes, all her illusions shatter and nothing will ever be the same again. A crisis often is exacerbated because the protagonist trusts the wrong people, others, and not herself. With a backstory wound that deals with betrayal, the crisis may turn around a major betrayal.

The difference between the crisis and every other scene in the middle of your story is the level of intensity in the scene. In every other scene in the middle, as the protagonist continues trying and failing, dread and anxiety and self-doubt grow. She turns even more tense and restless.

The intensity of the crisis, however, changes her forever.

Think of the protagonist’s crisis as the antagonist’s climax where the antagonist(s) prevails and the protagonist fails. The protagonist is only as good as the antagonists. Throughout the entire beginning and middle of a story, antagonists are always more powerful than the protagonist and seem always to find just the right buttons to push to bring out the worst in the protagonist. After the threshold following the crisis, all that changes. For now . . . the antagonist(s) rule. The height of the antagonist’s power comes at the crisis when the protagonist is confronted by a moment of truth; thereafter, nothing is ever the same.
(Excerpt from The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories.)

*****SPECIALS*******

1) Track Your Plot at the Scene Level Webinar
Learn to Maximize the 7 essential plot elements in every scene (one of 7 essential plot elements in every scene is CONFLICT) from the comfort of your own home.

*****

Knowing what to write where in a story with a plot reinforces daily writing practice and allows for more productivity in your writing. Whether writing a first draft or revising, if you falter wondering what comes next in a story with a plot, follow the prompts inThe Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing.

Today, I write.

To familiarize yourself with the basic plot terms used here and in the PW Book of Prompts:
1) Watch the plot playlists on the Plot Whisperer Youtube channel.
2) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
3) Fill out the exercises in The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories
4) Visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter
Plot Whisperer on Pinterest

Plot Planner Examples

Magic happens yet again.

A writer with a very successful first book needs help with her second. Her problem? Not uncommon ~ years and years of working on the first book, layer upon layer, input, changes, rewrites, drafts and drafts, enough to make a writer wonder:

"How did I do it? And how will I ever be able to do it again? Only faster this time?"

With a Plot Planner in front of me, I start asking questions and encourage the ideas rolling around in her head to tumble out.

Characters emerge, flaws and all. Setting is established. Some of the middle of the middle "new world" ideas provide stimulus for scenes. Anatgonists appear. The Crisis comes into view. The Climax is a bit murkier. By the end of a couple of hours, the Plot Planner reveals enough scenes for the writer to get started and, with luck, end the Beginning with a bang. Even enough to trot into the MIddle and perhaps to finish a rough, rough first draft, providing she does not fall prey to the monsterous going-back-to-the-beginning syndrome.

In anticipation of writing this post and my desire to share Plot Planner examples of classic stories and other random examples, I set up a Plot Planner board on Pinterest. Hope you'll take a look and a follow along as I attempt to offer more visual plot support for writers.

The Plot Planner provides form and structure enough to tame chaos and bring meaning to all the ideas rolling around in a writer's head. I'll be curious to learn how far she gets with what we were able to do in a couple of hours.

*****SPECIALS*******

1) Track Your Plot at the Scene Level Webinar
Learn to Maximize the 7 essential plot elements in every scene (one of 7 essential plot elements in every scene is CONFLICT) from the comfort of your own home.

*****

Knowing what to write where in a story with a plot reinforces daily writing practice and allows for more productivity in your writing. Whether writing a first draft or revising, if you falter wondering what comes next in a story with a plot, follow the prompts inThe Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing

Today, I write.

To familiarize yourself with the basic plot terms used here and in the PW Book of Prompts:

1) Watch the plot playlists on the Plot Whisperer Youtube channel.
2) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
3) Fill out the exercises in The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories
4) Visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter

Historical Fiction and Research

Authentic historical facts and details serve to ground the reader in another place and time. To find those just-right details, one must research. In researching, we uncover lots and lots of fascinating tidbits. One nugget leads to another which leads to the next. The more we find, the more tempted we are to add and weave all that gold into the story.

A plot consultation reveals a historical novel with an exciting external dramatic action plot that was bogged down in historical facts and details.

Rule of Thumb 
Use only the historical facts and details that serve to deepen and inform the story itself ~ meaning:

• Dramatic action plot 
• Character emotional development 
• Thematic significance

and best, all three at once. (For help with any of these three major plot lines, follow the exercises in The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories.)

However, if you find yourself wanting to add those titillating tidbits because they are fascinating to you and thus, you reason, the reader will find them fascinating, too ~ wrong.

Whether a novel, short story, or screenplay, the story itself is all that matters. Even one unrelated or distantly related historical fact can dilute the story overall and will often confuse the reader.

Don't use historical facts because you can. Use what will enhance the story.