Ladies and Gentlemen... It's Back Story vs Character History!

Ding, ding!

Referee: “Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the first ever bout between Back Story and Character History.”

Wahhaaaaa. Cheerers!

Ref: “In this corner, from the New York City, wearing black shorts, weighing in at a hefty five hundred and eighty-two pounds is the champion of all novel prose, Baaaaack Storrrryyyyyy!”

Waahhhh…. crowd cheering.

“And in this corner, from Miami Beach, wearing blue shorts, weighing a sleek one hundred and seventy-eight pounds is the challenger, Chhhaaaarrracter Hhhiiiistorrrryyy.”

Wooooo…. Crowd booing.

Referee: “All right you twos, I want a clean fight. No hitting below the belt, no tripping, spitting, holding or biting. Touch gloves, go to your mutual corners and when the bell rings, come out fighting.”

Ding!

Character History leaps to the center, bouncing, dancing, he’s full of pip. From his corner, Back Story lumbers to the center of the ring. One cross from the herculean champ, Character History will be out, face down on the canvas.

Character History circles, jabbing at his opponent.

“He sure seems confident, Bill.”

“I’ll say he does, Sam.”

Smirking, Back Story takes a wide stance, raises his gloved fists and waits, his hawk-like gaze tracing the young fighter. He’ll not give up his championship belt without a fight. He know, this young whipper-snapper has no power over him.

Character History bobs and weaves. He taunts. “You’re going down, Back Story. You’re going down.”

“Take your best shot, wise guy.” Back Story strikes, a hard right jab.

Oh! Character History takes the hit on the chin. His head snaps back and he wobbles to stay up. He’s against the ropes. Back Story presses forward.

“This is it folks. Back Story will win in round one with a one-two punch.”

Just as he swings, Character History cuts low and lands a hard shot to Back Story’s ribs. The big man his stumbling, breathing heavily.

His arms slip low but he recovers, watching Character History circle. He strikes again with an uppercut…

“But mercy, Bill, Back Story misses by a mile.”

“And here comes Character History. With a jab, cross, uppercut. Ooo, Back Story is taking a beating. He’s teetering… he’s stumbling… he’s against the ropes. Sam, it’s not looking good for Back Story.”

Character History throws one final blow. A sharp cross. And Back Story falls! The whole arena quakes as he hits the canvas. It’s like watching Goliath being quelled with one of David’s stones.

The ref is on his knee, counting. “One, twos, three, four…. nine, ten. You’re out, Back Story. You’re out.”

It’s over. In Round One.

“Ladieeesssss and gentlemennnn, Chhhhaaarrracter Hissstory is the new prose Cham’peeean of the World.

***

Fun, uh? Okay, I can hear y’all now, “Rachel, what are you talking about?”

I’m talking about back story verses character history. What’s the difference? Strength, power, speed, agility and ability to sustain the long haul of a novel.

Back story is old fashioned writing. It’s large and encumbersome. Slow. Waddling. And most of the time, unnecessary.

But writers use it and readers endure it because it gives us some glimpse into the heart and soul of a character.

Character History is hot, lean and sleek, fast and quick, in and out, not weighing down the story.

Back story, we all know, slows down the action. We’ve heard the rule: No back story for the first 30-50 pages.

But wait, what if an author needs the reader to know something critical about the character for the opening scenes to make sense?

That, my lovelies, is character history.

For example, Billy Bob is about to go on his first police call -- a possible robbery -- since returning to the force after being shot in the gut while responding to a bank hold up. He’s nervous. He’s anxious. When he gets inside the establishment, he draws his gun a bit too early and almost shoots his partner.

What’s going on with him? I f we stick to the “no back story rule” we miss the importance of this moment. His jittery nerves just make us think he drank too much coffee. We don’t care.

What the reader needs a bit of history. A line or two of prose, or even better dialog, that gives the reader a hint of Billy Bob’s emotional state.

The scar on his shoulder from the bullet wound burned and twisted as Billy Bob entered the bank. It’d only been four weeks… and in a split moment, he couldn’t remember why he’d returned to this job.

Ah, the reader has learned there’s something more to the story. It ups the readers attachment to Billy Bob. This bit of history adds tension. What bullet in the gut? When? Who shot him? Why?

All of those question, left hanging, can be answered later in the story. Good stuff. If the writer wanted, s/he could add a line of dialog from his partner.

“You okay?”

“I’m here aren’t I?”

“Just wondering.”

“You do your job, I’ll do mine.”

Why was his partner asking Billy Bob if he was okay? Hmm? The reader wants to find out more so s/he turns the page.

Back story is another matter. Back Story stops the forward action and talks about things unrelated to the current scene and emotion. Sure, it’s about Billy Bob and it’s all true, but the reader doesn’t need to know he wanted to be a cop since he was ten while our hero is stalking a burglar.

Here’s a back story blob:

“Since taking a bullet in the gut, Billy Bob wondered if he could still be a cop on the beat. But his dad had been a cop and his father before him. Every Martin man wore the badge. Billy Bob remembered the first time he held his father’s badge, feeling the cool metal in his palm, stroking his finger over the shiny brass. He knew then, at then, he’d be a cop just like his father. Mother didn’t want him to be. She worried about Dad, but if a man put on blue and a gold badge, wasn’t he invincible?”

Wow! All that while checking on a robbery call? By now, the reader’s forgotten what was going on. The burglar has escaped while our hero mused over his past. Or worse, shot Billy Bob’s partner.

The reader doesn’t need that much information. Especially in the midst of a tense scene. Save it for later. Perhaps in a conversation with his Dad when our hero, Billy Bob, is facing a voice-of-truth moment.

Do I still want to be a police office?

Why did I become a police officer?

Back Story is more for the author than the reader. Character History is for the reader, and the power of the story.

So, what’s Character History and how do we use it?

1.                    Character History applies to the current action on the stage. If your heroine cannot stand the hero, don’t let her behave irrationally, leaving the reader in the dark. Don’t give us a snippy rude girl without giving us motivation.
Drop in a line of history. “Ever since seventh grade when he stole her PE clothes from her locker and she got detention, Jen couldn’t stand Colby Witherspoon.”

2.                    Drop in history and exit quickly. Leave the reader a bit curious. In writing Love Starts With Elle, I had a paragraph or so of history about Elle so the reader could understand the significant emotion of the scene and what action was about to take place – a proposal. Elle had set up Operation Wedding Day for herself in the book, Sweet Caroline. She wanted to find a man. But her plan didn’t work. When she let it go, THEN she met the handsome Jeremiah Franklin. When Elle got her own book, I needed to add that bit of Operation Wedding Day “history” to help the reader “get” and care about Elle.

3.                    Character History sets up tension. Drop in a line about how your character is afraid of…. snakes or heights. Don’t you love how Indiana Jones hates snakes, then gets dumped in a pit of them? We first see his fear when he’s escaping in a prop plane after taking the artifact from the cave. We don’t get a bunch of lines about why and how he’s afraid of snakes, we just see his reaction. Then when he’s dumped in the pit, our skin tingles. It’s Indy’s worst nightmare. Most of ours too! Can you imagine how boring the scene would’ve been if Indy went on for six or seven more lines about how his big brother used to toss snakes on him when they played in his grandma’s creek? Who cares at that point? We just need to know his history with snakes. Period. He hates them.

4.                    Character History is part of the prose painting. It’s a nice clutch on forward action. It helps the reader take a breath and get into the heart and mind of the protagonist. But be careful. Just a bit of history is all we need. If your character is passionate about ending injustice of some kind, show us that passion on the page, then through dialog or a fast line or prose, hint at why this injustice bothers your heroine so much. But don’t give the reader a montage that begins when our heroine is ten and ends when she’s sixteen, then brings us back to the current moment. Give just enough to fill the reader in.

5.                    Character History sheds light on the protagonist motivations. Let the history pertain to what’s happening on stage, in the current scene. If your character is dealing with, oh, say, an errant child, don’t stop and give a dissertation on the protagonist own childhood and upbringing. Not necessary. Boring. But, do tell us how her mother was so kind and patient, and it frustrates her how she is so impatient and sharp. That’s all the reader needs to get what’s going on with the protagonist motivation.

Watch out for phrases like, “a sound brought her back into the present.” Ooo, where did she go? On a back story rabbit trail? 

We all love to sit and reminisce, but a novel is about tension, conflict and moving forward. Most of us don’t stop to muse or reflect while arguing with our friend or trying to save the world. Right?

Now, these are guidelines. Once in awhile, we do have a character drift off in thought for a moment, but be guarded. Ask yourself if there is a better, more emotionally impacting way to present the information. If not, then go for the reflect and keep it brief.

So, there you have it. The bout between Back Story and Character History. Go out writing and have a clean fight with your words.

Ding, ding!

*** 

New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Rachel Hauck lives in sunny central Florida.

A graduate of Ohio State University with a degree in Journalism, she worked in the corporate software world before planting her backside in uncomfortable chair to write full time eight years ago.

Her book The Wedding Dress hit the top bestsellers list the first half of 2016.

Rachel serves on the Executive Board for American Christian Fiction Writers. She is a mentor and book therapist at My Book Therapy, a conference speaker and worship leader.

Rachel writes from her two-story tower in an exceedingly more comfy chair. She is a huge Buckeyes football fan.

Here latest novel, The Wedding Chapel landed on Booklist's Top Ten Inspirationals for 2015.

Visit her web site: www.rachelhauck.com.

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Game of Love

Peter Leavell

Peter Leavell, a 2007 graduate of Boise State University with a degree in history, was the 2011 winner of Christian Writers Guild's Operation First Novel contest, and 2013 Christian Retailing's Best award for First-Time Author. Peter and his family live in Boise, Idaho. For entertainment, he reads historical books, where he finds ideas for new novels. For relaxation, he writes westerns. Whenever he has a chance, he takes his wife and two homeschooled children on crazy but fun research trips. Learn more about Peter's books, research, and family adventures at www.peterleavell.com.

If God has told you to write, and writing wants you, then you have no choice. You must write.

Coaxing someone to pay money for your work—to become a published author—is brutal. An impossible dream. Your writing must be quality. But it’s worth it. How do snatch the public's disposable income with your story?

The game of publishing is like the game of romance. You have to learn the language.

My goal was to marry this girl. But first things first. I had to ask her on a date.

I marched across the college cafeteria straight for her. She was so cute, it made me sweat. As I approached, her cheeks reddened and she smiled.

Oh please, let this work. “Are you going skating tonight?”

Her brow rose as her large eyes enveloped my world. “I wasn’t planning on it. But…” She let the word drift between us.

I clutched my stomach and stumbled away. How could she reject my date proposal, despite the obvious attraction? At the exit, I spun and saw a look of hurt and confusion in her eyes. Why would she feel pain? I was the one she turned down. 

I grew up with two brothers and no sisters. To say I didn’t understand the dance between men and women is, well, an understatement. I didn't get the language. 

This girl was too cute to let go. I learned a little more about what I did wrong. Form the words differently. Will you go skating with me? She was my audience. I wanted her to buy me, aka spend her life with me. After a year of talking with her, I learned her language.

Writing is similar. You can’t use feminine grunts and strength or masculine looks and wiles to publish a book. It takes practice to learn the art. Yes, there are hurt feelings and bitterness along the way. Yes, you cry and shout. At times, moments are sweet and precious. But don’t forget the end goal—a well-written book someone is willing to pay money to read.

At the end of the year, the cute girl was cornered in the botanical gardens in Des Moines, Iowa. I dropped to a knee and opened a box. Inside was a Precious Memories figurine, an Eskimo giving his girl a block of ice. I Only Have Ice For You. Attached to the block was an engagement ring. And I knew the words my audience would respond to. Will you marry me?

She said yes.

The amount of work to become a great writer can be discouraging. The dance between readers and authors is difficult to understand. You must learn the language. Study the craft of writing, though, because becoming a published author—much like getting married—is the thrill of a lifetime.

April 2015

Philip Anderson keeps his past close to the vest. Haunted by the murder of his parents as they traveled West in their covered wagon, his many unanswered questions about that night still torment him. 

His only desire is to live quietly on his homestead and raise horses. He meets Anna, a beautiful young woman with secrets of her own. Falling in love was not part of his plan. Can Philip tell her how he feels before it’s too late?
With Anna a pawn in the corrupt schemes brewing in the nearby Dakota town, Philip is forced to become a reluctant gunslinger. Will Philip’s uncannily trained horses and unsurpassed sharpshooting skills help him free Anna and find out what really happened to his family out there in the wilderness? April 2015

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The Relatable Antagonist - Guest Post by Patty Smith Hall

Patty Smith Hall has been making up stories since her parents forced her on Sunday drives into the Georgia countryside when she was kid. Now she's happy to share her wild imagination and love of history with others, including her husband of 30 years, Danny, two smart and gorgeous daughters, and a Yorkie that she spoils like a grandbaby. She resides in North Georgia. 

Visit Patty

 * * * * * * * * * *

I have a problem with ‘a person.’ Sounds terrible, I know, but it’s true. When I was growing up, this kid always caused me grief--locking me up in the makeshift hut he and my other male cousins had built on the edge of my grandparents’ backyard; threatening to punch me if I didn’t do his homework. As we hit adulthood, our views on life were so far apart, the chasm between us was as wide as the Grand Canyon.

But recently, I saw this person in a different light. Almost a month ago, my sweet, sassy grandma went home to be with her Jesus so for the last week or two, we’ve been going through her things, getting her house ready to go on the market. Family and friends have chipped in with the work, doing everything from repainting rooms to holding an estate sale. It was doing one of these work days that I found myself working alongside my nemesis. For most of the day, we worked quietly--probably in fear that we’d say something to set the other off--then one of us would start with some story about Grandma that would have us laughing despite ourselves.

It was in those few moments as the laughter waned, that I noticed it, this pensive expression that would cross his face. Then he’d turn away and quietly go back to work. In that brief moment, he had shared my grief of losing Grandma and I found my heart softening toward him just a bit.

Which got me to thinking about characterization. For the most part, writers make heroes and heroines truly heroic and villains, less than desirable, but how much deeper would our stories become if we gave our antagonist traits that make our readers(albeit grudgingly) feel for them, maybe even identify with them?

No character is all good or totally rotten. They’re a mixed bag of personality quirks or mixed-up beliefs that sway the reader’s opinion of them. Take Scrooge for example. Here’s a character that, on the surface, is unlikeable in every way--he’s greedy, stingy, treats the two people who share his life (his nephew and Bob Cratchit) horribly and self-centered.

Only when we dig deeper do we discover Scrooge’s demons--he was abandoned by his father, sent away to school where he lived without family for most of his childhood, then lost his beloved sister in childbirth. With a knack for making money, he placed his faith in the one certainty that hadn’t abandoned him--gold--when what he wanted most in life was security and love. Doesn’t everyone desire to be loved? Is it any wonder we’re cheering Scrooge on by the time the third ghost shows up?

So how can we make our antagonist more relatable? Knowing their motivation. What makes them the person they are? How does their life experience effect the actions they take? Like our hero/heroine, knowing the motivations behind our antagonist’s actions could give us the key to opening someone’s eyes to the blind spots in their own relationships which will affect the readers long after they’ve turned the last page.

* * * * * * * * * * 

The Doctor’s Bride  

Dr. Joshua McClain is headed west

First stop: Hillsdale, Michigan, to break the marriage contract his late mother arranged between him and Katie Clark. Years ago, Katie left him behind in Charleston. But after a train crash, he comes face-to-face with Dr. Kathleen Clark, his childhood friend all grown up. When Josh shows up in town, claiming they're betrothed, Katie refuses to consider an arranged marriage. She'll marry for love or not at all. Besides, he's headed for Kansas Territory; her practice is here in Hillsdale. So why are they both finding it hard to break their betrothal and say goodbye?

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Write a Hard-to-Put-Down Novel

Naomi Musch writes from the pristine north woods of Wisconsin. She spent five years on the editorial board of the EPA award-winning Midwestern Christian newspaper, Living Stones News, writing true accounts of changed lives. While pursuing her fiction-writing endeavors, she spent a year as an editor with Port Yonder Press. She continues to enjoy writing for magazines and other non-fiction venues that encourage homeschooling families and young writers, and loves connecting with new friends via: Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and her website. 

The Quest to Write a Hard-to-Put-Down Novel

Writers and readers link together in a classic chess match. For the writer, it's a game of posturing and outwitting our reader, just to keep him guessing. For the reader, it's a game of clue searching and trying to recognize a ruse. And frankly, a reader enjoys being led on a chase. As long as it's fair, the guessing game will hold him happily in the pages of our books.

To do that, we have to be able to keep our readers curiously and emotionally suspended in our story. If we can't keep them wondering and emotionally entangled, then there's a good chance they'll put the book down.

There are ways to keep readers threaded along:

Avoid stock characters. These are stereotypes, which by their nature are predictable. They'll look typical (the brawny hero) and behave typically (who has a tender heart) and their next move will easily be foreseen (fights the conflicting battle over his love for the heroine and his angst from the past). While none of those parenthetical archetypes is wrong and might even be expected in a romance, there should be some deep, compelling layers in a character that will cause a reader never to forget this particular hero or heroine. They must have personality that exudes off the page -- even if they're the antagonist. Readers should find them relatable in some way.

Plan for plot twists. Think about the word "twist" for a moment, like twisting a dish rag. It gets tighter, tighter, wringing out every drop of liquid. A plot twist should squeeze out more and more tension, wringing out every possible emotional stress on the character -- and by proxy, the reader. Plot twists can be startling, but they also should have satisfying resolutions. Nobody likes the "it was all a dream" routine. To follow a story for hundreds of pages only to have it all become untrue in a moment when the main character suddenly wakes up in a sweat is nothing less than cheating. Some readers find it a good reason to throw a book against the wall. Don't do that..

Introduce engaging minor characters. These characters should be just as fully fleshed and inspiring

(towards love or revulsion) as the main characters. Also, new characters shouldn't just pop out of the mist without a reason to be there. It's always fun to introduce characters that will mess with the main characters goals, but new characters that are introduced should have a very compelling reason to become involved and should be woven in to the story fabric carefully, not just taped in place to solve a problem or to add a false dimension to a flat storyline.

Early in the story hint at the possibility of some disasters and/or personal growth a character might have to face. Foreshadow with scenes that imply the calamity or struggle a character might endure if certain things were to happen... which they won't, right? (Insert evil laugh.) Whether you are a seat of the pants writer who follows new twists as they spring onboard, or if you're a plotter who knows from the very beginning that a certain event is going to turn the story's direction, either way, you can foreshadow these events early on to build in story tension and keep the guessing game going. Remember if you create a shocking twist be sure you have enough compelling evidence in the earlier parts of the story to make it plausible.

Continually mount story conflicts so peril for the main character grows worse and worse, until the black moment seems almost insurmountable. In other words, even if it's a given in chapter one that hero and heroine will end up together, it's your job to keep the odds so stacked against them with angles and obstacles that the reader wants to keep reading just to find out how they manage it. This is the crux of all romance novels. I'm reading Ryan Phillips's cleverly written women's contemporary Ciao Bella right now.

I'm sure the heroine is going to end up with her lifelong best friend Oliver, but Phillips is doing a bang up job of ramping up the tension to get there. She uses great language, unexpected kisses, horrifying discoveries (for anyone with self-image issues) interloping characters, horribly timed disasters -- she really pulls out all the stops in the heroine's headlong crash toward catastrophe on her way to final bliss with Oliver. The path isn't at all obvious, and the characters make my heart bleed with empathy. Stories like this are just what any author intends -- hard to put down! So when you set your protagonist on course, make sure his or her pathway is strewn with mounting conflict.

Read your story drafts with objectivity. That's hard for authors to do, but it's a learned art. You can train yourself to step back and read your story while asking brutal questions such as these: Sure I like it, but will readers find it lagging? Where will they find it lagging? Is the path to conclusion too direct, to obvious? Are dilemmas too easily solved? Better yet, how can I give my main character an even worse time? Have I examined every avenue of conflict and made it as rich as possible? Are there scenes that could be expanded or should be cut? Do I live inside my character's psyche, so that readers will sympathize, or do I just "tell" a lot?  Like I said, this takes practice. Stepping away from the manuscript for days or even weeks is a recommended before giving it a cold read with the scales peeled off your eyes.

The quest to write a hard to put down novel takes well-planned moves, like a chess player always staying a step ahead of check mate. So it is with the intricate moves of writing a great story. It's a game of allowing the reader to think he has the solution solved, only to deftly place him along with your hero and heroine in check. Character dynamics that capitalize on reader empathy, plausibility within the scope of great plot turns, heightened conflicts and well introduced secondary characters, all add up to a page-turner, and a dance-like board match between author and reader that ends with a flourish.

Paint Me Althena

When still life artist Ethan Day discovers a fantasy painting by Althena Bell in a consignment shop, he's sure he's found Ava, his wife who abandoned him and their two little girls three years ago. Finding and rescuing her are one thing, but forgiveness and second chances are impeded by outsiders, and conflict between Ava's search for identity and Ethan's new faith might break the safety net she's fallen into. 

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