Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Wednesday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts


By: Roz Morris

Back story is events that have happened before the narrative starts. Most stories have it—because they rarely start from the beginning of a character’s life. However, writers tend to misuse it or include too much.

There are two fundamental questions with back story. The first is how to present it (e.g., a vivid flashback), and the second is whether those back story events should be used as part of the main plot.

Here are 4 ways that back story might be sabotaging your novel’s effectiveness.

1. Your novel’s most engaging events are buried in a summary of back story.

I often see manuscripts where the writer has invented a detailed and dramatic back story for a character, but the main story events lack impact and substance. There is no meat left for the book’s real-time plot and so the novel seems empty and static. Of course, the story may be precisely that; the character might be coming to terms with past mistakes. The focus might be the finer detail of living with a burden, or leaving behind a golden period that is gone forever. But just as often, this approach is not deliberate and the writer is scrabbling around, trying to find stuff for the characters to do. They don’t realize they’ve already got fantastic ideas, but hidden them in the back story.

Could that back story be used as a fully fleshed flashback so the reader could participate? Or, more radically, could those same ideas be extracted from the past and reworked as a forward-moving plot? Consider whether your back story ideas should be front story.

2. Your novel relies on back story and secret wounds instead of character development.

. . .

Read the full article HERE
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If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:
  1. Author, Jody Hedlund: One Important Thing Many Writers Neglect To Do While Waiting http://ow.ly/IO0HA
  2. Twitter Experiencing Massive Growth: New Research | Social Media Examiner http://ow.ly/IO0MG
  3. How to Create a Deep Connection with Your Prospects and Customers - Copyblogger http://ow.ly/IO1KJ
  4. Fiction University: On Shifting Gears and Your Creativity http://ow.ly/IO24Z
  5. Reference For Writers, Best resources to improve your grammar and writing http://ow.ly/IO2cC
  6. Recommended Books For Writing, Self-Publishing, Book Marketing And Creative Entrepreneurship | The Creative Penn http://ow.ly/IO2Xu
  7. 4 reasons why your novel’s dialogue sounds awkward or stilted | Nail Your Novel http://ow.ly/IO37g
  8. The Truth About “Guaranteed” Followers And Fans - Writer's Relief, Inc. http://ow.ly/IO3f8
  9. Has Your eBook Been Pirated? What To Do: Step 2 | Molly Greene: Writer http://ow.ly/IO3Xp
  10. Writing Humor, Writing Quickly, Well-Rounded Characters and Other Reader Questions Answered | Lindsay Buroker http://ow.ly/IO4fI
  11. 9 Time Saving Writing Tools for Content Marketers - Jeffbullas's Blog http://ow.ly/IO4QU
  12. Marketing Strategy - Three Digital Marketing Tactics You Should Adopt in 2015 [Infographic] : MarketingProfs Article http://ow.ly/IO58q
  13. 12 Clever Ways to Use More Visuals on Social Media http://ow.ly/IO5ll
  14. Social Media - How to Use 'Alternative' Social Networks in Your Marketing Strategy : MarketingProfs Article http://ow.ly/IO5Q8
  15. Is it Time to Quit Your Day Job? - Books & Such Literary Management : Books & Such Literary Management http://ow.ly/IO6bv
  16. How to Tell if Back Story is Sabotaging Your Novel http://ow.ly/IO6pD
  17. Turning Amazon Reviews Into Celebrity Status -- and Free Stuff - ABC News http://ow.ly/IOdUe
Happy writing and running, Kathy 

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