Saturday, June 11, 2011

Back Story & Feeling Overwhelmed

So, here's something I didn't know. Writing a novel with 1,200 years worth of back story is hard. I have different versions of how everything happened. I really need to get all this stuff straight, both in my head and printed out in my binder. Right now, it's all in my binder... but it's ALL there. I need to decide what did happen and what didn't. And I still don't have a name for my villain. Actually, I have 8 names, but in my draft I just call him General General, cause I haven't decided which of those 8 names I for sure want to use yet.

Also, my writing process is driving me crazy. When I sit down to write, I write from the place I left off, but sometimes when I'm at work I get a sudden inspiration, or my characters start talking in my head and I have to write it down. The problem with this is that it has left me with thousands and thousands of words in scenes I haven't gotten to yet. Some of it is just snippets and some of it is entire scenes. For instance, my last two chapters are 90% done. When I sit down to work, having all these random bits and pieces floating around is starting to overwhelm me a little. 

Also, last night I dreamt I found a baby dinosaur, it was really cuddly but it had these super creepy teeth, then it grew up into a 1/2 person 1/2 lizard little girl... but it still had those super creepy teeth. I strongly suspect that this dream was my brain's response to my husband telling me yesterday that he wants a baby.

8 comments:

Court Ellyn said...

I sympathize. Writing first drafts is hard. In fact, it's often downright no fun at all. Keep plugging away. You'll make it through!

And what is up with the nightmares that come with contemplating having babies? I hate those nightmares most of all.

Jimmie Hammel said...

I had an even worse one about five years ago. In the dream I was pregnant and the baby came out of my belly button. I knew this was a bad thing in the dream and that babies shouldn't do that. So, I bundled the baby up and put it in my SUV. I suddenly remembered that I'd left my keys in the house so I go back in for them. When I get back to the car my baby has turned into three yellow rubber balls that have been stacked on top of each other. It looks like a little yellow rubber snowman with a face drawn on the top ball. I started crying because I knew that my baby had become yellow rubber balls because I was a terrible mother...

My brain really doesn't like the idea of motherhood.

TirzahLaughs said...

Truth? Most backstory is just annoying. LOL. My opinion only. However if you are writing a sci-fi or an epic fantasy, you are almost required to do it.

But you know it's one of the reasons I read so little in those genres.

Write the scenes that flow easily and pop up as they come. You can piece it all together and make it fit later.

And remember the best backstory is backstory you don't notice you are reading. Seamless backstory.

It shouldn't be work for the reader.

Tirz

Steven W said...

Baby dinosaur with bad teeth ... does that mean you want a baby right now, or ...? LOL. Thanks for the laugh.

Quirky Writes said...

I really don't have any idea how it feels when you create a story for your own book as I am not a writer and I'm an amateur blogger and just publishing a few articles here and there, which I started after passing out from school last year. But it is quite obvious that it is not an easy task.

You will surely make a great story.

And BTW your dream was funny. Scared of babies?? LOL.

Nicholas La Salla said...

Cool post. Backstory is tricky, but keep in mind that your reader doesn't necessarily have to know all of and sometimes ANY of the backstory. The backstory is there so you know the specifics of why things are the way they are. Your readers can be given hints, you can imply the backstory rather than have chapters and chapters of stuff that happened in the past.

Flashbacks and backstory have a nasty way of bringing the pacing of your novel to a grinding halt. If I already know that Joe Smith is afraid of water because he was dunked in the pool when he was a kid, I don't necessarily need to know he was dunked by Sherman, the nine year old brother of Joe's best friend at the birthday party of Sherman's cousin twice removed.

The important thing is that we know he's afraid of water, and that someone dunked him. The rest of it is fine for the author to know, but while the author explains all that out, the story is slowed considerably and suddenly the readers don't care about whether Joe learns to swim or not.

I hope that helps! I know that thinking about backstory from that perspective has helped jumpstart my own writing.

Best,

Nick

Nicholas La Salla said...

Oh by the way, babies rock.

Just sayin'.

- Nick

Jimmie Hammel said...

Unless it directly relates to the plot, none of the backstory is in the book. But I still need to know what happened, even if the readers never see it.
I need to know how the characters met, what sort of relationships they've been in, who they have drama with, where they've lived, etc. My two main characters are kind of immortal. So, that's a lot of drama, relationships, and moving to keep straight.