on Writers in the Storm:

Backstory – how much of what’s happened before our stories take place, do readers really need to understand our characters? Many newer writers fall into the trap of using too much backstory, with the author voice summarizing and explaining. Those with more experience, understanding the pitfalls of too much telling, can find their writing too sparse and leave readers stumbling through the narrative trying to piece together why a character is thinking and feeling as they do.

If you’ve been around WITS for very long, you know that I talk about deep point of view exclusively. So, how do we take backstory and apply it to deep point of view?

Deep POV wants to remove the author voice entirely. There’s no outside voice to explain or summarize the past or what’s motivating a character. Rather, deep POV wants readers limited to what the POV character can see, hear, know, feel, understand, learn, etc. And that can feel pretty limiting, but if we can stretch our creativity to remain in deep POV, the backstory can enhance the story experience without boring or losing readers.