There is nothing more boring than reading a ton of backstory crammed into scene after scene in a book. At least for me, now don’t get me wrong, I’m interested in the character’s motives, why she might hate men in general. Or why he hates women, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to do the backstory.
Here’s the brutal truth, your readers don’t care why your main character Matilda hates polka dot dresses or doesn’t eat banana splits. And they don’t want to hear about it, ever. The just want to know when the action is going to start. And they want you to keep it going. If in the middle of the action you put these boring facts, you are quickly going to lose readers and book sales.
So, what do you do about the backstory, especially since every character has one? Here are three ideas for what to do about backstory.
That’s right!
Don’t add in any backstory and instead keep the action going. Resist the urge to write up long character bios before you begin writing your book. While it is important to keep track of important facts such …
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