We are obviously losing writing knowledge. Influencer-writers cater to people writing their first novel, boiling down everything into step-by-step instructions. There’s little, actually, in fiction writing that’s step-by-step. At least if you want to be published, or keep readers.

Nora Roberts wrote on the value of reading and how it connects people. But to do that kind of book, many writers have to stop swimming in the shallow end of step-by-step instructions. So for 2025, I’m going to add topics about how to write, but these are for intermediate to advanced writer. We’ll see how it goes.

Onto today’s topic.

One of the first pieces of writing advice I received is “Delete your first 50 pages.” The writer assumed you would spend those pages mired in explaining the backstory of the characters.

The problem? Backstory is hard.

You have all these things you think the reader needs to know about the character. How do you add them? Where do you add them? How much? Summarize what the reader needs to know, then move onto the plot? Do a flashback to show a scene in the character’s past about that important relationship breakup? Try a dream sequence that’s like the flashback? Have two characters discuss what they should already know? (Known as “As you know, Bob.”) Write a prologue?

Yeah, backstory is hard.

Another issue is what Dean Wesley Smith calls “Being born on page one.” (1). There is no sense the character exists before the story starts. This is frustrating for readers; it makes it impossible for them to connect with the characters. Since readers read for characters and you have no story without characters, this is big problem.

My first novel was an amnesia story–the ultimate born on page one. I thought it would be easier to develop the character. Nope.

Check the box backstory doesn’t work very well, either. You’ve probably seen that in your reading. There’s a bit of backstory essential to the story, so we get a sentence or two…and that’s in, in an entire book.

Backstory is hard because it’s so important to the character and the story.

What is backstory?

Backstory is kind of complicated. Depending on your story, it can be many things. K.M Weiland has the basic definition of “whatever comes before the main story.” (2)

If you’re doing an epic fantasy, backstory might be a world-related event, such as a king ascending a throne. In science fiction, it might be a war that changed the political landscape to what it is in the story. A historical novel would feature the historical event.

However, most writers think of it has what happened in the character’s past. We’ll use that, since it applies to all genres.

Backstory makes the characters feel real to the reader.(3) It should be any of the following:

  • Memories. These don’t need to be over the top, or even related to the plot. A character goes to the beach and their feet sink into the sand, bringing up the memory of doing this as a child. That tells the reader the character may have grown up in an area with beaches.
  • Experiences. This is a wide area–literally can be anything. Character grew up in a divorced household and fears relationships; character was in the military and learned how to fire a gun; character was raised on California. Doesn’t have to be one event. Can be an accumulation of little events that affects who they are. Nor does it need to be a dramatic, big event. Depends on the writer, and the story.
  • Family, friends of the past. Never know when an old boyfriend or a long lost relative might come in handy. How many detective stories have been told with a character from the past coming for help?

These elements should form the character’s opinions and judgements of the world. These opinions are what makes the story unique and holds the reader. Writer’s Digest says backstory “It might well be the most important part of your characterization.” (4)

Backstory gives you a tapestry to work with throughout your entire book. It can also be applied to all characters, including sidekicks, supporting characters, and opposing characters.

Should you use character questionnaires, biographies, or interviews?

Sometimes it’s darn hard to come up with what you need for backstory. So many writers advise using their method, providing templates like this one from Reedsy.

First, these are tools. If it works for you, go for it. If it doesn’t work, pass on it. Too many writer-influencers state “This the only way to do X” so they can sell you something.

Avoid templates from someone else. Yes, they have the impression of ease. You copy the template, paste into Word, then fill it in. Except that those items in the template are what that other writer needed to write. You might not need those same things.

Example:

  • Writer A: High in context on the Clifton strengths. The writer needs a profile of some kind to work out the character.
  • Writer B: A discovery writer who does better discovering the character as the story progresses. A character biography might spoil the joy of discovery.
  • Writer C: One way works fine, and then on a new book project, the writer needs to try a different option.

There’s no one way to do this. Come up with your own method. How you do it can change as well. You’re not going to get it wrong because *it’s what you need.

I typically let first contact with story create backstory, then do moving edits as the story and characters develop. But after reading an article by Phyllis A. Whitney (5), I needed thinking time about one character. She said to create biographies for all the characters, including dead characters. I realized immediately there was one character who never appears in story but was the catalyst for the events that happened. And I didn’t know anything about him except his name (oops).

So I wrote out random thoughts about who he was. I had a difficult time deciding anything about him. His role was political, but I found that he was getting polluted by the real life politics. So I decided to take him out and made him an unknown adversary (I suppose that’s another variation of born on page one). That exposed I was missing another event. But without a real person behind it, there was no motivation for the main character.

So I went back to more thinking. Gave the character a mentor who had poisoned him…and the mentor became the character mentioned in the story. I won’t refer to anything in my thinking notes because now I don’t need to.

Use the tools; don’t let the tools use you.

How much backstory goes into the first chapter?

Much of the advice about backstory is maddeningly vague. How much do you put in? How much is too much? How do you write it?

The problem is that it depends. This is why backstory is so hard.

But it’s clear that dumping it all into a prologue to “get it out of the way” or starting with a flashback in your opening chapter is not the answer.

This method was recommended by J. Scott Savage in an online writing class. If you have a chance to attend one, do it. His classes are very good and not wedded to specific tools or writing processes.

He proposes you ask ten questions about your beginning that the reader needs to know. Our tendency for backstory is that the reader needs to know all the backstory as it affects the entire book. Ten questions puts a magnifying glass on identifying exactly what you need for the beginning of the story.

Some of the questions will go to setting, as well as the story.

Example:

How do I show my character is a criminal defense lawyer?

From Michael Connelly’s book Gods of Guilt: Mickey, the main character, is in a court room actively defending a client who is a criminal.

Or take NCIS, which has an incredibly rich backstory for Gibbs that emerges over the first 6 seasons.

The fun of backstory is the reader discovering new pieces and wondering about them. You can see that across NCIS’s first six seasons. We find out:

  • He has rules her follows, known as Gibbs’ Rules–and no one knows where they came from (the viewer finds out and the characters never do).
  • He was a sniper in the Marines (that was part of a storyline)
  • His first wife and daughter were murdered by a drug dealer (an overarching season storyline)
  • And a friendship was jeopardized because he lied to Ducky about having one more wife.

Yet–and this is for series writers–even after the 6th season wrapped, that backstory still came back in different ways.

This takes some thinking on your part. How do you involve it directly in a scene? How much do you include? Think of adding it how you would see it on TV. TV is limited to dialogue and what you see on the screen. You don’t have the ability to drop a paragraph of summary.

Ideally, you want backstory pieces that do double duty. They are both the history of the character, but they are part of the what is happening directly in the scene.

With each scene following, look for other opportunities to add a bit more backstory. In a shapeshifting romance I read, the lead female character was terrified of all relationships. That’s all we were told. Nothing in the narrative when it was her POV, where the reader could get hints even if the other characters. I found it maddening because there was no explanation, no intriguing hints. The author likely kept it a secret as a poor method of suspense. She sprang it fully about halfway. I stopped reading at that point.

Readers want to enjoy your characters and discover who they are as they go along. Use backstory to give them every opportunity.

(1) Smith, Dean Wesley. “Editing and Reading Observations… Part 10…,” Dean Wesley Smith Writings and Opinions. https://deanwesleysmith.com/editing-and-reading-observations-part-10/ February 6, 2024

(2) Weiland, K.M. “A Writer’s Comprehensive Guide to Backstory,” Helping Writers Become Authors https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/guide-to-backstory/ February 19, 2024

(3) Smith, Dean Wesley. Pop-Up #33 The “Born on Page One” Problem. https://wmg-publishing-workshops-and-lectures.teachable.com/courses/ Costs $150, but is worth watching if this is a problem area for you. This also has a small discussion of his signature Depth course.

(4) Kernan, Joanna. “12 Dos and Don’ts of Revealing Critical Backstory in a Novel,” Writer’s Digest https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/12-dos-and-donts-of-revealing-critical-backstory-in-a-novel May 14, 2022

(5) Whitney, Phyllis A. “Writing the Gothic Mystery,” Writer’s Handbook, edited by S.A. Burack. https://archive.org/details/writershandbooke0000bura Published 1973. (This is an easy article to pass by because the genre no longer exists. But the article has surprisingly still relevant information.)