Comments on: Tell Your Story Forward

By: Brenda Nichols

Brenda Nichols — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 20:28:16 +0000

This is such great advice and something I'd not really considered, or if I did, I never addressed it properly. It's akin to driving and hitting a tree that jumped into the middle of the road. You didn't see it coming despite all the 'Tree Crossing' signs posted along the way. Thanks for the eye opener. Love the Gorilla in the phone booth analogy, by the way.

By: Lori Freeland

Lori Freeland — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 03:07:59 +0000

In reply to dholcomb1. Thank you!

By: dholcomb1

dholcomb1 — Sat, 20 Jun 2020 21:56:13 +0000

great advice.

denise

By: Lori Ann Freeland

Lori Ann Freeland — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 23:20:59 +0000

In reply to barbdelong. Editing out backstory and filtering it back in is SO HARD! But also so worth it when you get it just right :)

By: Lori Ann Freeland

Lori Ann Freeland — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 23:20:06 +0000

In reply to Eldred Bird. That's a great idea!

By: Lori Ann Freeland

Lori Ann Freeland — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 23:19:26 +0000

In reply to Vanessa G. Foster. Thanks, Vanessa! I'm sure you're doing great. I love your writing :)

By: Lori Ann Freeland

Lori Ann Freeland — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 23:18:39 +0000

In reply to Terry Odell. I love that name! Thanks for sharing :)

By: Jenny Hansen

Jenny Hansen — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 23:07:37 +0000

In reply to barbdelong. Right, Barb? Laura Drake is so good at calling people on this. Backstory by any other name -- explanation, helping the reader, "oh but they NEED to know this because" -- is still backstory. How unfair is that???

By: barbdelong

barbdelong — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 22:43:55 +0000

Oh, backstory!!!! I have such a need to get it all in there up front so the reader knows where my character is coming from. Then afterwards it's edit, edit, edit. Filtering in backstory so it's barely noticeable is so darn hard! Thanks for the examples, Lori. Having an info dump in the middle of action is annoying. I'll check the action scene again I just edited to make sure I'm not guilty.

By: Jenny Hansen

Jenny Hansen — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 21:35:24 +0000

In reply to Vanessa G. Foster. Vanessa, it is a constant struggle for me. I can never figure out why it's so hard to just leave out the bulk of the backstory.