Helping Writers become Authors:

Backstory techniques are crucial to the success of any type of story. Whether you share all of your characters’ pertinent backstories or none, backstory still informs the entire story. What, when, and how to share backstory are important decisions for any writer. Making the right choices will determine not just whether or not your backstory works, but possibly even whether your entire story works.

Today’s post is the second in a three-part series discussing five important techniques for sharing backstory. Last week, we talked about the advantages and disadvantages of using flashbacks and prologues to dramatize segments of your characters’ histories. This week, we’re going to talk about two possible approaches to your story’s timeline—and how to identify which might be best for your story, based on the depth and importance of its backstory.