Monday, September 8, 2014

The backstory on backstory

Not everyone favors “backstory.” I don’t know why.

Backstory is a literary device that writers often use to illuminate storylines that occurred prior to the main narrative timeframe. I am an unabashed fan of backstory – both as a writer and a reader. Many of my favorites novels are wholly dependent on backstory in some fashion.

I once got into a testy online debate with another writer who declared in her forum that backstory was de passé. She argued if something was necessary to the telling, then get on with it, and tell it directly. I replied that I thought she was premature in declaring backstory a literary relic. What about Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson; or People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks; or Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner – the last two both having won the Pulitzer Prize. Stegner said of his book “it is as much about time as anything.”  

Two of my top five favorite novels seamlessly weave backstory into the narrative. The two favorites are In the Fall, by Jeffry Lent; and Dalva, by Jim Harrison. A third favorite is The Illusion of Separateness, by Simon Van Booy, who dispenses with chronology almost entirely in his book.

Almost every novel that I’ve written employs backstory. When I write – as with when I read, I want to plumb the depths of the characters’ psyches. I’m a great believer that all present action – in fiction as well as in life – has deep roots in experiences of the past. I am drawn to explore the context – the origins – from which behavior arises. I want to know why? Plot is critical, for it is what moves the action forward. But backstory provides a means to reveal the cut of the rudder that steers the course.

This is my first blog post. I titled my blog “backstory” because it is something that I’m fascinated with in the writing – and reading – of fiction. I intend to explore “the story behind stories” – whether it is within a book, a writer’s life, in the arts, or something out of the general news. Backstory enriches all stories, and aids in our understanding of the complexities in the world. Backstory is the deep topography of the terrain, and understanding it helps illuminate the way forward.




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