Writing Backstory

I think one advantage of being a “discovery writer” is learning of my characters like I learn details of a new acquaintance. With each new person I encounter, I am patient, and I’m also thrilled at the adventure in the interpersonal. It’s so enchanting, peeling back layers of a new friend, getting to know them little by little.

Imagine if everyone you met came with a character sketch, a notebook entry, a tab or post-it or chart…how boring would that be? I go to a coffee with a new acquaintance at a conference, say, and we just swap profile folders before we really even make much small talk.

For me, that’s what too much backstory is.

Sometimes I’ll crack open a novel and get an info dump that’s really off-putting. (I think I lean away from dense pages of description, history, character…but when it’s a first encounter with a character, I am particularly off-put.

To meet audiences where they are, I’ve done some fun character interviews in my newsletter. I think that’s an okay way to get to know my characters, if a reader just has to hit the ground running. At least that feels more like a dialogue, like the character can have an unpredictable interaction, a more realistic encounter, with the reader (artificial as it is).

I know I am probably unusual in this. I am willing to take a chance on a person I’m just meeting. Maybe they’re a drip. Maybe they’re a serial killer (yet to meet one to my knowledge.) Chances are, however, that everyone has something special to offer. I’ve found that to be true with the characters I get to know by writing them out.

Here’s a somewhat dated character interview resurrected from a newsletter issue:

This is the cover of the book most prominently featuring the character of Rory Reed, interviewed on July 6, 2053.

Now, an Interview with Rory Reed...

Q: Is it true that you have insomnia?

A: I sleep when I need to, then I sleep like a bear.

Q: You seem confident, unshakeable. What keeps a man like you up at night?

A: When my daughter's late getting home.

Q: Calissa. Teenagers! (ha ha) Teens are always a handful. Tell us more about her.

A: No.

Q: O-kay...Says here you've been in Corrections your whole life?

A: That's a joke. Get it?

Q: ...

A: I've spent my life trying to do the right thing and fixing it when I don't. "A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them." That's John Maxwell.

Q: Yes. Right. You like quotations, don't you? Why?

A: Wise words help me focus. I need a lot of focus.

Q: Tell us about the women in your life.

A: I love my daughter. I love Astar Amin--she's like my godmother.

Q: Uh-huh. What about the other women? What do you look for in a woman?

A: Spitfire.

Q: Spitfire? like a dragon?

A: Yeah. A fire in her belly. A woman with some spice to her. I like a good tussle.

Q: Have you "tussled" with Ashley Elizabeth Winston?

A: I have a working relationship with Miss Winston.

Q: You've been seen, "after hours" let's say, with the Millionaire Minx.

A: Call her that again and we can have a live demo on Extraction, friend.