I have noticed a trend in my posts. I tend to do a lot of work on the backstory of my books. I was not aware of how much I had tucked away in my brain until I began trying to explain it all to you. Most of this will not appear in the actual novel itself, per se'.
It will make it into the novel as off-hand comments, things the characters take for granted. Possibly an important plot point. I know where all of this is going, and how it colors things.
Each of my books has had a ton of backstory like this. Might be why I want to write? Getting crowded up in the old noggin. Need to empty the trash every now and again I guess.
One good thing about writing down all of the backstory like I am is that it gives me a place to go back and check how things work later. If I know the boilers on the Valkyrie are oil fired, top of the line systems, then I can describe it from the view point of the characters that way. If they aren't so nice, say coal or wood fired, then I can reflect that too ...
But an 'info dump' is bad for a story or book. Takes the reader out of the action and leaves them flat. Don't do it!
Backstory, needed, just don't throw it up in your novel ...
It will make it into the novel as off-hand comments, things the characters take for granted. Possibly an important plot point. I know where all of this is going, and how it colors things.
Each of my books has had a ton of backstory like this. Might be why I want to write? Getting crowded up in the old noggin. Need to empty the trash every now and again I guess.
One good thing about writing down all of the backstory like I am is that it gives me a place to go back and check how things work later. If I know the boilers on the Valkyrie are oil fired, top of the line systems, then I can describe it from the view point of the characters that way. If they aren't so nice, say coal or wood fired, then I can reflect that too ...
But an 'info dump' is bad for a story or book. Takes the reader out of the action and leaves them flat. Don't do it!
Backstory, needed, just don't throw it up in your novel ...