Writing backstory into a novel or delivering information in an effective way can be challenging. Backstory refers to events that happened in the past, and information is anything the reader needs to know in order to understand the story. If you don’t study how best to include information and backstories into your novel, you’re likely to fall into one of the following mistakes.
1. Too much information
Generally, the reader needs less information than you think they do. So go through the information you have about characters, events and the world in which the events take place and cut out anything that doesn’t directly impact on the present story. You’d be surprised at how much information will come out simply as part of writing scenes. Writing backstory in may not be necessary at all.
If no event is linked to a piece of information, then you don’t need to include that information. In terms of the story, it’s irrelevant.
Character backstory
The author needs to know all the details of a character’s background, but the reader only needs to know what is relevant to the story. For example, they don’t need to know what kind of school a character went to unless something happened during their time there that directly influences their actions in the story. Readers are quite capable of making assumptions about characters’ pasts from what they do or say now. There is no reason to lay out all the details for them.
Events backstory
Sometimes something has happened in the past that sets the scene for the present story, and you want to include it as a scene from the past set into the present story. In general, avoid doing this, because backstory delivered this way can break the flow of the present story and slow the pace. Ask yourself if the information is really necessary, and it if is, does it need to be delivered as a complete scene? Pertinent points could be included as a memory at a point where a character has time for reflection.
Some novels are structured around one story thread set in the past and one set in the present told consecutively. In such books the story shifts from the past to the future and back, but this is not backstory, it is two different but related story arcs.
2. Information (info) dumps
The term information dump refers to any long segment of information, particularly if it is excessive, unnecessary or unrelated to the action. It feels to the reader as if the author has dumped all the information in there in one undigestible chunk. A good guideline for information delivery is no more than 2 paragraphs – at the most.
Information dumps usually include too much information or information that’s unnecessary or unrelated to the present events. The problem with information dumps is that they slow the story down and can even obscure the plot rather than illuminate it. On top of that, readers tend to skip them because they just want to know what comes next in the story, and that makes them pointless.
3. Poor timing
Some beginning authors think that they need to tell the reader everything about a character or place when they first introduce the reader to them. This is not only unnecessary but also tends to come across as an info dump, with all the issues that entails. Only tell the reader the pertinent points about a character or place at the time when they need to know.
If you decide that writing backstory into a scene is necessary, then be careful where you put it in the book structure. Don’t place it where readers will find it an annoying distraction from the main thrust of the story. Placing backstory after a pause in the action works. Placing it in the middle of building tension does not.
4. Telling not showing
How a character acts in a scene reveals their characteristics. There’s no need to tell the reader that Joe is an avid sports fan, for instance, when you can show him teaching his child to play baseball or start a scene with him cheering on his favourite team—be it live or on TV. Character characteristics should be shown through description of events as they unfold, not told to the reader.
For example, I often see this kind of writing when introducing a character: Joe studied mechanical engineering and was a slob with no organisational skills.
A more skilful way of expressing the same information is as part of a description of his room: A pile of mechanical engineering books covered the chair, papers were strewn across the unmade bed, and a closed laptop sat on a desk crowded amongst a game controller, several empty chip packets, a half-empty cup of coffee and a tablet.
See how much more engaging that it?
And if you want a reader to know about the cultural beliefs of a tribe, you don’t need to tell the reader all about their religion, you simply show it in action. Instead of saying that a tribe ‘worshipped the moon with blood sacrifices’, you write a scene where their high priestess cuts the head off a chicken, while the rest of the group chants with their arms raised to the full moon.
5. Unrealistic dialogue
No matter how you deliver it, an info dump is always an info dump, and having a character tell another character all the information will not disguise that fact unless you break it up and set it in a realistic conversation.
The first question you need to ask yourself is whether the character being told the information needs to know it or might already know it. The worst mistake is to have a character tell another character things that the reader doesn’t know yet, but the character on the receiving end of the info dump would logically already know.
The second major mistake here is to make a character suddenly sound like something out of a non-fiction book. Whatever information they deliver must be told in the character’s voice, and for sure, they’ll not give the same level of detail as you’d find in a history book.
The third major mistake is delivering all the information in one monologue. Instead of having one character simply tell the other all the information, have one ask questions of the other, or have them interrupt occasionally or ask for clarification, which then leads the person expounding to go deeper into their topic. This will make it much more natural.
One character could disagree with the other. The resulting tension as they argue their points is more interesting than a straight exposition. You could also have the first character give incorrect information that the second character could correct.
Adding these kinds of elements to dialogue that delivers information will make it much more interesting.
The key point on writing backstory
Writing backstory should only be done if you can’t find a better way to deliver the information.
In my first book, Lethal Inheritance, I struggled with all of this. I eventually decided that I didn’t need any backstory written as a separate scene, and the information I couldn’t get across any other way became something read in a book – one paragraph at a time.
Do you have any tips or stories about writing backstory?
Thanks Tahlia – that’s really helpful information for writers who are only getting their first/early works written. I know I needed to cut out a lot of “information dumps” from the early drafts of my book, “Beyond the Reef”. As you’ve said, weaving APPROPRIATE information into conversations make it more engaging. I’m glad to say that numerous folk who’ve read my book now say that they feel like they’re sitting in the room engaging in the conversations taking place rather than wading through “dumps”!
All that work was worth it then. That’s exactly what shifting something from telling to showing does. It invites the reader right into the room.