Backstory: the Pain in My Backside

My goal with July's Camp NaNo was to write more in my WiP. I wanted to pick up where I was - about Chapter Eleven or so - and keep going, chronologically, smoothly, moving forward, solidly laying down words and sentences like tracks heading off into the horizon.

Yeah, well, I don't know what I was thinking.

I have no idea where this novels ends. All I have are a few later scenes sketched out in my mind and on paper. I'm pretty sure of where the novel starts, but the story starts years before what happens on that first page. Does the reader need to know everything that happened in the past? No. Do I, as the writer? I don't know. The word "everything" is kind of vague.  

Now, the organized, list-loving part of my brain loves the concept of those Character Background Sheets. You know, the ones that ask you to list the traits and habits and secrets of your characters. I have tried using those things again and again, and every time, I get frustrated and rip up the pages and toss them about the room like confetti. I don't know her favorite ice cream flavor. I don't know his first puppy's name. 

So, instead of making myself even crazier and having to clean confetti off the tortoises' shells, I decided to stop forcing my writing process into one that's "acceptable." I didn't write Chapter Twelve for Camp NaNo, but I wrote scene after scene of backstory. I wrote them as if they were actual chapters, even though the chances of me using them whole and complete are slim to none. I wrote them from the POV of whatever character's backstory I was recording. I listened and I learned. So, that's why the Antagonist is as insane as she is! Ah, the Antagonist's sidekick has a few secrets of her own! Oh, I didn't see that possible plot line connecting a good guy and a bad guy before! 

I might not know who loves chocolate ice cream or whose dog was named Floppy, but I do know, or at least I'm learning, what's important to this story and to the people in it. 

As a writer, how do you handle backstory? Do you use those Character Background Sheets? How do you make them work for you? As a reader, how do you like to come across backstory - in big flashback scenes or chapters? In threads woven here and there into the main story?

A Study in Character

My 4 1/2 year old niece - we call her Little T - recently reminded me of an important writing lesson.

While at her pre-school, she wanted me to pick out which crayoned self-portrait hanging on the wall was hers. So, like a good aunt, I studied the information on each page and focused on all the girls who had this on their paper:

My hair is: BLACK

My eyes are: BROWN 

It still took me three tries to guess the right one. But when I did, I couldn't help but smile at the rest of what was written there:

My favorite color is: PINK

My favorite activity is: WRESTLING

It's those unexpected and unique aspects that we need to develop in our characters and also, hopefully, in ourselves. 

So, whenever I'm concerned that my characters - or I! - might be flat or boring, I'll think back to my niece - perky pigtails, sparkly t-shirt, cute little face scrunched up in a one-eyed squint and a sneer full of baby teeth that would make even the meanest pirate shudder. 

Little T is already a character in her own right. 

Character Traits

When my husband and I were first dating, we saw a comedian who, in his act, would answer his wife or his friend or whoever with what he was supposed to say, and then the tag line would be "But on the inside..." (It was funnier in person.)

So, you know those scenarios or quizzes where you're asked to describe yourself? The usual answers are along the lines of "I'm funny," "I'm kind," "I'm smart," or "I'm an excellent baker." And some, or all, of those things might be true. But every once in awhile, I'm tempted to say out loud what's on the inside:

I am prickly. I am private. I am more shy than social. I am selfish. I am suspicious, but if I come to trust you and the feeling is mutual, I'll be in your corner until the zombies come lurching home. If I feel betrayed, I might forgive but I won't forget. I struggle to stay positive and don't always emerge victorious.

Some of my best characters have those traits or something similar. (Notice I didn't say my most loved or well-liked characters. It's not easy to love someone with so much angst. Just ask my poor husband.) Those are the characters I am most drawn to in my writing - the ones seeking revenge, redemption, their places in the world. The ones who are mean and weak and selfish and confused, who are threaded with dark thoughts and fears they can't get rid of no matter how hard they try. I get in there with them and roll around in the muck. I bring it to the surface and put it on the page. I shine a light on it in the hope that maybe, just maybe, I can give those characters what I strive for - strength, confidence, friends, faith, hope. I can write their story so there will be, if not a happily-ever-after ending, then at least a positive one with a little light peeking around the corner.

How easy is it for you to write those dark characters? How do you put them on the page/screen and still make them at least relatable, if not likable? It's often the dark characters, the "bad guys," who stay with us the longest - why do you think that is? What makes them so compelling on paper/screen and not so much in real life?

    

Living, Breathing Characters . . . in a World of the Undead

If I can learn about character development, then I am there. Even if there are zombies. (Okay, especially if there are zombies.) I am a huge fan of the TV show, "The Walking Dead." Partly because I love a good zombie show/movie/book, but mostly because I'm intrigued by how these complex characters survive in a world where right and wrong is no longer black and white.

Take the character of Daryl Dixon (played by Norman Reedus.) Daryl is a cranky, racist redneck who struggles between being a loner and being a part of the group. In one scene, he's wearing a necklace of zombie ears. In another, he's risking his life to save an African-American member of their group. In a recent online article, Reedus says, "Daryl is this guy who needs a hug, but if you try to hug him, he'll try to stab you. He doesn't want to talk about his feelings, but you can tell there's a lot of feelings bottled up."

Former small town sheriff, Rick Grimes (played by Andrew Lincoln,) is the "everyman" who struggles with doing the "right" thing in this new world where doing the right thing could get himself, and everyone he cares about, killed. How do you justify that? How do you choose? His best friend and former partner, Shane Walsh (played by Jon Bernthal,) believes there is no longer a choice: you do what you need to do to survive and you take care of your own. That's it. And yet, you can see the struggle, see a little bit of who Shane used to be die each time he goes down that road.

Look at the "walkers" (zombies) themselves. They were once people - neighbors, friends, family. Early in the first season, a man points a gun at what used to be his wife. He knows he should pull the trigger, put her - and himself - out of their misery. But he can't. He still sees his wife in the zombie lurching in front of him. 

Excellent characters can be found anywhere and everywhere. In this case, it's a testament to the writers and the actors: they've created living, breathing people in a made-up world full of the undead.

Are you a fan of the show? Who's your favorite character and why? Who are some of your favorite characters from books/TV/movies? What makes them so vivid, so real to you?