I finished a very nice interview with Madi Preda of Author’s Promotion which you can read HERE. One of the questions asked about advice for other writers. I responded: The most important thing about pursuing writing goals is to write. Yes, some planning should be done, but I find most writers who get stuck tend to over think their writing. I don’t know of any writer who has written something they are totally pleased with the first time. It takes a lot of practice to turn out a finished product. My GRL has over 10,000 words I cut before publication. There were scenes overwritten and did not move the story ahead. Those words are not lost, since they were part of the finished product through the learning they gave me. If I had stopped while writing to make sure everything was perfect, I never would have finished. The second most important thing is to be brave enough to be criticized for what is written. Trying to avoid criticism is another killer of writing productivity.
This lead me to also think of some of the back story of My GRL which was part of those words cut. I did a little weaving of the back story back into the novel so the reader had the information necessary to understand the character, but the bulk of the narrative is in a file. The important part is the useful pieces of the back story are there. The boring pieces are part of the character portfolio which has come in handy on the sequel and when people ask questions about the character. (Uh. . . no he is not commitment adverse, he just has not found the right person.)
I attended a seminar this weekend where one of the authors suggested taking your character out of your story context and placing the person in a different situation. The example given was to put your character in a Star Trek scene. If your character is well-developed you should be able to predict how he or she will behave in this or any other situation. I know my character would want to get actively involved with crew in trying to figure out a solution to the problem that Scotty can’t give any more power to solve.(“I’m givin’ her all I can Captain. She’s at warp speed now and any more an I won’t be responsible for what happens.”
So I guess the long and short of the back story is it will serve you well on a number of occasions. You do not necessarily need to write it all in the book.
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nice post john. i like this sentence ” The most important thing about pursuing writing goals is to write.”
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Thank you. Seems simplistic and intuitive, but so true.
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The feedback on your interview was great John.We’ve done a good one 🙂
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Yes you have. 🙂
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That’s a great idea to test a character. With character back story, I’ve come up with a lot of tidbits for characters that never made it into the final draft. Do you think some facts about a character’s past are more interesting to the author than the reader? Kind of like we know secrets about these people that the reader might never learn because they aren’t story relevant?
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Yes I do. For example my protagonist used to ask for a Tanqueray martini dry on the rocks. Now he orders Tanqueray on the rocks. Who cares to hear that? Well. . . me.
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Amazing how one or two descriptive terms can be author only.
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Great advice, John. I appreciate you’re sharing that you cut 10K words from My GRL. So often we’re afraid to cut. Isn’t every single word precious? As a NaNo writer, I can safely say, “Hell, no!” 🙂 I also love the idea of putting a character into a completely different situation.
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The cuts were painful, don’t get me wrong. They were necessary though. Thanks Marie.
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I can see how having the back story filed away could seriously help with writing sequels. I have said before how I would have done some things differently had I known then what I know now regarding the book I have out, and that is one. I sincerely appreciate when authors do interviews and talk about their writing process. I have learned so much and have so much more to learn. Thanks John!
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Thank you Susan. I bled 10,000 words for the gipper.
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Excellent post John and valuable thoughts. Thank you. I am in the process of working some of the back story for my main character into my book because I have been told that there is not enough for the reader to understand her actions and motivations. But…you need to careful as you say, that you are still moving the story forward and not putting in extra mileage for the sake of it. I love the exercise about putting the character somewhere else. I am going to try that from now on. 🙂
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Jade,
Thank you. I think the trick in enriching a character is to take a scene, write and explain and then cut it back where you see molasses.
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I guess it’s kind of like an iceberg, eh? More is under the surface than above it…
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Great comparison and so true.
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