Weaving Background.

In a recent post, Gail Carson Levine discusses how to get background material into a story without the use of a flashback scene,
along with tips for when you do use a flashback.
Weaving in Backstory
Poem. She points out that in her story, The Two Princesses of Bamarre, she uses an epic poem: everyone knows the [...]

character development

4 Stages of Character Development
When you write a first draft, there are really two novels at that point. There’s the one on the paper and there’s the one in your head and they are not the same.
I know this. But I’m experiencing it again as I’m working through this revision. In order to put on [...]

Fatal Backstory

“She stopped and remembered her home town and how it felt to be ten years old when she moved. . .”
I checked out two books-on-tape yesterday and tried to listen to them. The first one started at a certain point, then immediately went into a flashback, within the first page. Ditto for the second.
Yes, these [...]

Opening Chapters

When you write or revise a novel, you must pay careful attention to the first chapter.
Opening Chapters of Novels MUST Accomplish These Goals

Grab your readers attention. Something must grab the reader’s attention immediately. This can be an unusual use of language, a unique voice, a startling action, a bit of dialogue, an active description [...]

Backstory’s Emotional Weight

When we invent characters, we need to know all about them, including where they grew up, childhood fears & dreams and more. Where does this information go? Where do you put all this backstory?
Backstory’s Emotional Weight
Two friends, writing vastly different stories, are struggling with backstory. One is adding backstory to enrich [...]

Writing Flashbacks

Flashbacks Effective in Deepening Novel
When you are writing or revising a novel, you want to be sure your story is believable and the characters motivated. Often, this means you must tell something that happened before the novel began. In other words, a flashback is a bit of back story that is presented out of chronological [...]