Why Starting with Backstory (Emotion) Helps Create Instant Reader Engagement
I Have an Idea for a Novel. Now What???
Quick: tell me which scene starter makes you lean in just a little more?
Scene Starter 1: Julia’s car shudders to a sudden stop two miles from the office. Broken down again. She just paid rent, and her cards are maxed out. So there’s no calling a tow truck. She glances at the phone in the passenger seat, knowing she needs to call her boyfriend to come pick her up.
Scene Starter 2: Julia’s car shudders to a sudden stop two miles from the office. Broken down again. She glances at the phone in the passenger seat. She’s just paid rent, and her cards are maxed out. So there’s no calling a tow truck. She really should call Brian. But they’ve only been dating a couple of weeks. And if there’s one thing Julia’s past relationships have taught her, it’s that people bail as soon as you need them. For anything. Her last best friend, her ex-fiance, even her father. She wants this thing with Brian to last. So she steps out of her car, slides the phone into her back pocket, and starts walking. She’ll make it…if that pickup truck suddenly following her will just let her go her way…
I mean, sure, Scene 2 has more details, and that might make for something of an unfair advantage, but the point I want to make is that the second scene has Julia’s backstory and her self-protective lie in it. And let me tell you, as soon as I thought of it, that paragraph just flowed…
Starting your book with backstory means everything is emotionally charged.
The main plot problem, the theme, even that little scene up there. Every single thing that happens is infused with emotion. Knowing where your character is coming from means that you as the writer can absolutely make every single sentence drip with emotion.
Remember the FEELS Method for Writing Scenes?
Let’s apply it to our little car breakdown scene, showing how it blends with backstory:
F = Focus. Your character needs a goal. In our scene, Julia needs to get to work. That’s it. Just get to work.
E = Emotion. It’s dripping here with emotion, because we know how much she needs to get to work (she’s broke and her cars are maxed out).
E = Escalation or stakes. In addition to needing money, we also know Julia’s backstory here. We know what’s on the line. Or what Julia believes is on the line. Her relationship with Brian, in its infancy. She’s not willing to risk letting him abandon her, as she expects all people to abandon her. So she puts herself in a dangerous situation, walking with a pickup truck following her.
L = Lens. Look, Julia’s not making a very good decision here. She has someone she knows she can call and still she starts walking. (If this were a horror novel or thriller, it would surely also be dark and rainy…) But because we get her reasoning here, we’re willing to go along with her. That perspective of hers, based on her backstory, makes all the difference.
S = Shift. We haven’t made it to the end of this scene here, so we don’t know exactly what Julia will gain (or lose, if the truck gets too close). But we’re primed for something to change at the end of this scene.
Here’s the real magic: books are a series of scenes that all build toward a final confrontation with the main plot problem. And as we’ve just seen, we can easily infuse every single scene with emotion because we know what our character’s wound and lie are. We’re also primed, with nothing more than a paragraph here, for the theme. Clearly, this is building toward a theme regarding relationships and how we have to be vulnerable and learn to trust or our relationships will remain forever surface-level. Julia is not allowing Brian to prove that he’s the kind of guy who can show up for her. She’s refusing to trust him. Refusing to trust means that she’s not deepening the relationship.
All from one little paragraph.
By starting with backstory and using it to find the main story problem (which in turn trickles down to finding the right scene problem or goal) as well as the theme, you are ensuring that every single scene becomes personal. Readers will understand the stakes. You also make sure each scene is rich with conflict. And the readers will also understand why your character makes the choices they do (even dumb ones like getting out an walking to work when you’re being followed by a stranger). Reader investment is easily triggered. As a reader, didn’t you get to the end of that second paragraph and wonder if Julia would ever be able to heal and feel love in her life?
Trust me. Don’t develop backstory and character arcs alongside the plot. Use backstory as the soil from which your plot point and theme grow. You’ll get a richer novel right from the first draft, far fewer rewrites needed.