From KMW: One of the juiciest tension points in a character’s arc is the question: What is your character’s greatest fear? This question isn’t (explicitly) about what characters say they want or what stands in their way externally. Rather, the answer we’re hunting for is the deeper fear lurking underneath. Very often, that fear is […]
February 19, 2024 by 28 Comments BackstoryA Writer’s Comprehensive Guide to Backstory
Hello, welcome to Everything You Need to Know About Backstory! I’m K.M. Weiland, and you are listening to the Helping Writers Become Authors podcast or watching it because this is also a video post. This video is in answer to a question from SW, who asked: “I’m interested in how you figure out how to […]
June 19, 2023 by 49 Comments CharactersWhat’s the Difference? Your Character’s Ghost vs. Wound vs. Lie vs. Weakness
One of the major keys to engineering characters who can create reader-favorite moments is understanding your characters’ weaknesses. But those weaknesses seem to be known, in writer terminology, by a dizzying array of names, including “ghost,” “wound,” and “lie.” What’s the difference? And which goes where in the story, and how do they each operate […]
February 18, 2019 by 54 Comments Characters7 Things Your Character Is Hiding
Being able to write realistic, consistent, multi-dimensional characters is vital to gaining reader interest. Doing so first requires we know a lot about who our characters are—you know, the obvious stuff: positive and negative traits, behavioral habits, desires, goals, and the like. But it’s not always the obvious parts of characterization that create the most […]
November 10, 2017 by 34 Comments BackstoryBrainstorming the Wound in Your Character’s Backstory
I’ve spent the better part of the last year digging into the topic of character wounds or “Ghosts.” If this topic sounds familiar, it might be because Angela Ackerman and I (among others) have been yammering about it to anyone who will listen. The wound is a fascinating and vital piece of your characters’ pasts, […]
October 31, 2016 by 43 Comments Outlining Your Novel4 Ways to Write Backstory That Matters (How to Outline for NaNoWriMo, Pt. 5)
There are two equally vital parts to any story: the part you see and the part you don’t. The context and subtext. The story and the backstory. Whether you’re trying to figure out how to outline for NaNoWriMo (only one day away!) or just needing a game plan for your next work-in-progress, one of the most […]
September 19, 2016 by 61 Comments CharactersThe Secret to Writing Dynamic Characters: It’s Always Their Fault
It’s a morbid joke among writers: we are so mean to our characters. And we love it. It’s the stuff of good stories. It’s the stuff of epic conflict. And yet, all this very important imaginative cruelty can sometimes trip us up on our way to writing dynamic characters who can, in turn, deal with this epic […]
September 2, 2016 by 88 Comments BackstoryThe #1 Key to Relatable Characters: Backstory
Part 10 of The Do’s and Don’ts of Storytelling According to Marvel Ever stop to think about why you enjoy backstory? I receive lots of questions from writers about backstory, most of it along the lines of: I love my backstory soooo much. How can I cram as much as possible of it into the main story? I […]
January 29, 2016 by 102 Comments BackstoryThe #1 Problem With Backstory (and Its Simple Fix)
There’s a problem with backstory? Among writers that’s a rhetorical question. We all know there are lots of potential problems with backstory—everything from where to put it in the story to how much of it we should even be sharing with readers in the first place. But before you can start worrying about any of […]
February 3, 2015 by 30 Comments BackstoryGive Me 3 Minutes and I’ll Give You a Better (and Darker) Backstory
This week’s video shows you how to approach a dark character backstory fearlessly—and make your story all the better for it. Video Transcript: Here’s something sad I’ve noticed about many writers—myself included: we talk a good talk about character backstory, but we don’t always back that up with a good walk. Mostly, what I mean […]
