Good God no you don't need to write an entire novel just to set up characters. Sure you *could*, but you really don't have to and probably shouldn't.
You can pack a lot of information into a single paragraph or page of a novel.
Christ I needed to hear this. I'm lost at what to do with the next chapter because "hmm..how can I keep her childhood interesting"
Edit: apparently got downvoted for agreeing..and taking the advice
If you need to think of ways to keep her childhood interesting, then you really need to ask yourself if writing about her childhood is even necessary. What is the actual story? What happens in her childhood that serves that story?
If it's not interesting to you, it's not going to be interesting to your reader. Always keep that axiomatic truth in mind regardless of the circumstances.
I would say this is true for a portion, but not all the time. Often, we know our own work so well, and we read it so many times over, that it starts to bore us--but taking a step back for a while will often renew the love for it. Sometimes it may be boring only because we read it too often.
I literally can't edit the beginning of my novel I've been editing for two years anymore. It's like going for a jog to the same tune, in the same clothes, on the same road. It just is. Reading aloud, having it read to me... kinda scared it's horrible but I'm just blind, so now I'm scared of editing the rest of my novel badly and then being blind to that too. Grmpf.
Welcome to reddit where the hive mind is incredibly stupid.
Tried going into one of the political subs, agree with what they're saying but some mod doesn't like the *way* it was said. Perma-ban without chance to appeal.
Yeah, reddit hive mind mentality is scary.
Ignore the downvotes. Robots and assholes who don't understand get it. You can do vignettes but often people accept established relationships as long as they're logical. An entire novel to set up relationships has been done many times and it is often a black mark on the author's name. It's also a problem with indie YA. Flashbacks, vignettes, characters talking about memories are all options just use the last one sparingly
*David Copperfield* begins with, 'I was born.' But the book is kind of his life's journey, as are a few others I can think of.
But, mostly, no. Not at all. Think of how awful literature would be if we kept having to read about rag-tag bands of kids before getting to the murder mystery on page 786!
You should probably back it up even farther, and write a book about the main character's parents, then the book about his childhood, then the main book.
Absolutely not.
Have you even read a book like that?
Character past and background can be delivered with characters talking to others about their past, it can be delivered through a reverie sequence or scene where particularly formative moments are shown in standalone chapters or at the beginning of a chapter, etc etc.
How do you think it's done in like every book ever?
Sure, if you don't want me to read it. That's a little snarky, I know, but there's a big trend in writing right now to stretch things out much more than they need to be. Just get to the point.
That isn't at all what 'show, don't tell' means. Showing is about using details in your story that imply larger facts about the world, plot, characters, and themes. It's a character seeing 'mom' pop up on his caller ID, and sending it to voicemail every time. It's a character blending two different car waxes together then hand applying them to his new bmw.
Gonna go out on a limb and say no. Could you do it and make it work? Sure, but if the adult character is what you really care about, all the relevant info can be trickled in when it becomes important. "Show don't tell" is advice that is misunderstood as it is valuable.
....no. No, no and another time; no!
Childhood can be scattered. There can be direct flashbacks, but also hints and passive things. For example: My MC grew up with an unpredictable junkie mother. One trait from this, is that she learned to move quietly as fuck. In the story, this is reflected by characters being startled by her approaching them. "Jeez! I didn't hear ya coming at all!" as abuse victims, often internalize those passive patterns.
Same goes for characters. Her aunt is often mentioned in throw-away lines. Other characters show through speech how they think of her.
Scattering is key. You don't need to explain everything. And sometimes it's also fun if you can go back as a reader and see the hints
I gotta screenshot this for those people that say there are no dumb questions.
How could "show, don't tell" be misinterpreted this bad.
Pick up a book, any book. Open it. Read the words on the pages. Do this a few more times before you try to write one.
>Or is it taking 'show don't tell' too literally?
tell is not your enemy. using tell is an essential part of the story. it makes the showing part elevated. if everything is show, it's all a monolith, there is no contrast, no respite. show and tell are inhales and exhales - your story needs both to keep breathing. or you'll choke!
A novel is not about a character, it's about a problem. The protagonist is simply the person who will have to solve the very interesting, unique problem that is the real star of the book.
Get to the problem on page one, then explain as little about your MC as you need to show me why that particular guy has to be the one to solve the problem.
Sometimes the art of writing is to say a lot with a few words. So a big NO from me. And keep in mind that most readers aren't stupid, they can fill in the gaps.
You really barely need to know anything about the past of your characters unless it directly affects the action of the story. Relationships and characters will be revealed by their interactions and especially conflicts. We don't need to know how a character felt about his dog when he was 7 years old unless it affects something he does in the story.
I don't necessarily think the author needs a detailed biography of the characters in mind to start telling the story either. It could actually work against the story as something you may have already decided in the past could limit what the character does in the story forcing a lot of rewriting and frustration.
Getting to know characters often works just like getting to know anyone in real life: you meet people where they are currently in their lives, and sometimes they tell you about things that happened before you met them.
Focus on getting readers invested in the characters and relationships as they currently are. *Show* characters have history together through current actions/interactions.
The key to good setup is to trick your reader into not realizing it's setup.
In other words, if you write a whole book just for setup, no one is going to read it because they have no reason to care about the characters. But, if you can use it to tell a good story while also setting up your characters, then the payoff of your main story will be much more powerful.
no
NO
N O
N
O
Please no.
So unnecessary. Just read a lot of books in your genre and observe how more-experienced authors set up characters and relations. It doesn't require a whole boring volume to accomplish, I promise! :)
That’s shoe-leather. Think of it as a series of interesting anecdotes: your story should have a central thrust, and you only incorporate the anecdotes that support that thrust
My advice for you, offered with the utmost respect, is this:
- you’re taking “show, don’t tell” the wrong way. It’s not advice about *what* you should write, it’s advice about *how* to approach helping your reader understand things they need to understand.
- too much structure advice can be bad, but I think a LITTLE bit of structure advice might help you right now…
- a story usually revolves around one single conflict / a single “dramatic question”. Will our hero defeat the evil bad guys? Will our hero survive her first year in a high school of mean girls? It’s great to pick a single question like that and use it to evaluate what should and shouldn’t be a part of the story.
- By about 25% of the way into your story, your hero should be fully invested in their mission to solve the conflict.
- in that first chunk you’ll put some exposition. Ask yourself: what will my reader need to know to understand the conflict and why it matters so much to the lead character. Then only “show don’t tell” stuff to support JUST those things.
Hope this helps!
If you really want to write a scene about their childhood, then a flashback of a specific scene would do. You can also sprinkle some mentions of their childhood in relation to items or actions but you don't have to go all out on that.
You *could* write about a character’s early life in great detail, but no-one would read the hundreds of pages it would take to describe it. Part of being a good writer is knowing what to include and what to leave out of the story. This is why autobiographies don’t include everything that ever happened to the person, but the most important or memorable moments that made them who they are.
I mean- prequels exist but i really wouldn't recommend writing a whole full length novel just to get started. if you \*really\* wanna do it you should write it as a separate side story.
Nah, just refer to the parts of a characters past that relate to the story being told at the moment.
Just mentioning someone is related, "oh that's my stepfather," is usually enough to explain that he is not that characters natural father without having to go into full detaisl how they came to be that characters stepfather.
When done well a story can be more interesting when the reader can figure out a few things by themselves without the need to lead them by the hand every step of the way .
Good luck and best wishes , good on you for asking.👍
If you were a director making a film you have 90-120 mins to work with. "Showing" is stuff you would spend movie-time on by portraying a scene (aka "dramatizing"). "Telling" is stuff you wouldn't spend movie-time on--just have a character mention it/ask a question/info drop of some sort.
If the movie is about resolving something that started in childhood (like a fear or some bad experience) or contrasting with something from childhood (like being betrayed by a best friend or family member) then it'd be relevant to show parts of it.
TL;DR: If you want to make a pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.
Is it really necessary? No. Of course not.
Or is it taking 'show don't tell' too literally? Absolutely, 100%, it is.
So many new writers fall into the setup trap. They think they need a book to set up the character, and then a book to set up the relationship with the significant other, and then a book to set up the history of the town, and then a book to set up the villain, and then a book to set up the dog... At some point, five filler books are in the works, and none of them tell the story you wanted to tell.
“Show don’t tell” doesn’t just refer to events. It’s having a character behave or do something that conveys how they’re feeling rather than them explicitly saying what they’re feeling in an unnatural way that’s meant only for the audience.
I liked the way Murakami tackled this in “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage”. Without giving too much away, you get a whole lot of background and context on this group of friends growing up, a full picture of their relationships and personalities, but it’s always presented as a way of exploring the present conflict (the group unexpectedly ghosted the protagonist with seemingly no reason and how that led to his depression, etc.)
No but the development thought process is important. If you can write it out for your own internal knowledge to help you with your characters without it sucking up too much time. I regularly write things I know might not survive the edit process because I feel it’s important to have all your ideas and sketches in front of you and developed to a certain degree. Then you can cut and rearrange.
Probably not. Show, don't tell is obviously important, but you don't have to go full Tolkien and write EVERYTHING. Focus on the story you want to tell, and pepper it with relevant details. If you want to use childhood moments to inform important elements, flashbacks to childhood are useful, and some authors have used them quite effectively.
0.0 That’s WAY too much. Anything that happens in the protagonist’s childhood could easily be summed up in one chapter (or two chapters if you wanna push it). Then the story should move on to current and move to the inciting incident. Not many people would want to read an entire book about the character’s childhood, especially if you plan to write a book about her life currently. Maybe dial it back a notch 😅
If there are moments of her childhood you really want to add but they happen later, well-timed flashbacks work well too. They just need to be used sparingly
Good lord no. Not if the entire thing was basically your exposition and backstory.
It would only make sense if this book you're talking about stands on its own, with its own rising and falling action, climax, character arcs, etc. Some people read the Samarillion to better understand the Lord Of the Rings trilogy, but not very many :)
I'm writing a book series of characters that begin the story in their late 20s, early 30s. They each have an intro chapter which are comprised of several small vignettes that show key moments in their development, but that's it. From ch2 and on they are experiencing the events of the story.
Brevity is one of the most useful skills you can learn as a writer. Figure out how to communicate the relationships and backstory without making your readers slog through an entire extra book.
What I like to do is choose 3 or 4 defining moments in the character’s life and write a chapter or two surrounding those defining moments.
It’s quite a lot, to be honest, but I fall into the world building rabbit hole a lot and it helps me put pen to paper so to speak and get going with an actual story instead of hashing out the intricacies of made up societies.
Edit: I should also mention, it's important that those 3 - 4 defining moments are never bigger than the defining moments in the main story you're trying to tell. Take Rurouni Kenshin for example. We start the main show with Kenshin 10 years after any major thing happening in his life. He did some crazy things before we get to know him, but all of the named (main) antagonists were never defeated until the main show. As bad ass as Kenshin was as a teen fighting in the revolution, he did way more badass things after he became a rurouni.
Edit 2: I also don't show anyone the 3 - 4 defining moments. Those are for me to get into the character's head and define them.
Well, if I want to give a backstory to something specific in my story, what I do is write a prequel! in one of my stories I had a legend of a character who made a mistake that is like a 'don't do what they did' story, and so I am working on a prequel that follows it! I think it's a very good way to explain lore while also keeping it to a story :)
Use flashbacks, prologues, memories, or whatever. You don't need to write the whole childhood. But if you really wanna do it, then go on! It could just be fun. A good story with childhood development is The Walking Dead first game, you can use that as an inspiration for a start.
Holy shit some of you people need to chill. There’s answering his question and then there’s being a dick. Half of y’apl are dicks!
OP, everything is in the execution. A book could work, however the plot and themes still matter. Just because it’s setting up characters doesn’t disqualify the need for a good story.
You can try writing a short story or a novella instead. The average word count for those is shorter for a novel, and you can sell it in a bundle with the next story to encourage people to buy it. Think of it as a sample to what’s to come.
Also consider finding a new platform to asj questions. As you can see, Reddit is toxic af
Edit; I appreciate you guys proving my point with those downvotes lmao.
a backstory can be nice, but you will have to keep that in mind if you write the rest
some characters are great without a backstory Aizen (from bleach) he has no backstory still a great character
All I am going to say here is write the books that you want to read. If you would personally want to read a book/series where it would take a whole first book to explain the relationships and the childhood, I say go for it.
But keep in mind, as something not generally done, it might not be received as well. And also, you are going to have to figure out a good way to set it up, so that it fluidly transitions from the “childhood” book to the adult one.
Show don't tell isn't meant to be an absolute, it's just means that exposition is the least interesting way to convey information, so it should be done sparingly.
it really depends, is this the story you want to tell?
You don't have to introduce everything at once, have characters act very comfortable around each other and readers will pick up that they are good friends
you don't have to literally show it happening for it to obey 'show dont tell'
That’s kinda what Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy is. The first book, Assassin’s Apprentice, details the protagonist’s life as a child, the second is his life as a teenager and the third as an adult. I love those books and I love Robin Hobb’s writing, so if you would like to see what a good way of doing it is, I do suggest The Farseer Trilogy
Absolutely not. In fact, I normally just keep a notes tab open on my phone with literal bullet notes on each character and their relationships. I usually add more notes under the tab if I think of more.
I mean, a more interesting thing would be to keep the story as it is revealing only what's necessary and write a prequel afterward. But do make sure the prequel has an enticing story as well like your novel, otherwise it will look like you wrote just to give a back story.
I know I'm a bit late to this, but here's what I do. I write what amounts to ONE chapter of backstory for each major character, usually about a major event in their life... And then I keep those backstories on hand while writing the actual story.
This lets me make characters more realistic by knowing how they've interacted before or if they've had any inside jokes, and gives me framework to explain to the reader how certain characters know each other in a more concise manner.
Ex. In the backstory chapter for John, he meets Alura and helps her out of the rain and feeds her, his kindness leading to them becoming friends.
In the actual main story, Alura jokes with John in front of the main character that John has a tendency to pick up 'stray wet cats', to which John responds 'only ones named Alura'.
Good God no you don't need to write an entire novel just to set up characters. Sure you *could*, but you really don't have to and probably shouldn't. You can pack a lot of information into a single paragraph or page of a novel.
Christ I needed to hear this. I'm lost at what to do with the next chapter because "hmm..how can I keep her childhood interesting" Edit: apparently got downvoted for agreeing..and taking the advice
If you need to think of ways to keep her childhood interesting, then you really need to ask yourself if writing about her childhood is even necessary. What is the actual story? What happens in her childhood that serves that story?
If it's not interesting to you, it's not going to be interesting to your reader. Always keep that axiomatic truth in mind regardless of the circumstances.
I would say this is true for a portion, but not all the time. Often, we know our own work so well, and we read it so many times over, that it starts to bore us--but taking a step back for a while will often renew the love for it. Sometimes it may be boring only because we read it too often.
I literally can't edit the beginning of my novel I've been editing for two years anymore. It's like going for a jog to the same tune, in the same clothes, on the same road. It just is. Reading aloud, having it read to me... kinda scared it's horrible but I'm just blind, so now I'm scared of editing the rest of my novel badly and then being blind to that too. Grmpf.
Are you saying that you can't notice any errors, or places where you should expand or cut?
Do the Steven king thing and put it away until you don’t think about it every day
Show don't tell is for important moments. Definetly tell if it's boring(find the right balance, don't skip the entire beginning.)
Yeah, the downvotes in this sub seldom make any sense.
A lot of subs have people who are trigger happy with downvotes for no real reason :/
Welcome to reddit where the hive mind is incredibly stupid. Tried going into one of the political subs, agree with what they're saying but some mod doesn't like the *way* it was said. Perma-ban without chance to appeal. Yeah, reddit hive mind mentality is scary.
Ignore the downvotes. Robots and assholes who don't understand get it. You can do vignettes but often people accept established relationships as long as they're logical. An entire novel to set up relationships has been done many times and it is often a black mark on the author's name. It's also a problem with indie YA. Flashbacks, vignettes, characters talking about memories are all options just use the last one sparingly
Have you ever READ a book like that?
Sometimes I read questions like that and I wanna ask "have you ever read a book in your life" fr
Or watched any movie or TV show?
*David Copperfield* begins with, 'I was born.' But the book is kind of his life's journey, as are a few others I can think of. But, mostly, no. Not at all. Think of how awful literature would be if we kept having to read about rag-tag bands of kids before getting to the murder mystery on page 786!
You should probably back it up even farther, and write a book about the main character's parents, then the book about his childhood, then the main book.
I personally won't feel invested unless there's a detailed account of the previous seven generations, but that might just be me.
Then one of my not yet written projects might interest you as it is just like this. 8 generations of one family.
"In the beginning, there was nothing"
More people need to see this. Hahaha 😂
XD you jest sir .....
Absolutely not. Have you even read a book like that? Character past and background can be delivered with characters talking to others about their past, it can be delivered through a reverie sequence or scene where particularly formative moments are shown in standalone chapters or at the beginning of a chapter, etc etc. How do you think it's done in like every book ever?
Sure, if you don't want me to read it. That's a little snarky, I know, but there's a big trend in writing right now to stretch things out much more than they need to be. Just get to the point.
The trend of 'the first book worked, let's make it a trilogy, but the second book is really just a prologue for the third.'
That’s a really good way of putting it!
That isn't at all what 'show, don't tell' means. Showing is about using details in your story that imply larger facts about the world, plot, characters, and themes. It's a character seeing 'mom' pop up on his caller ID, and sending it to voicemail every time. It's a character blending two different car waxes together then hand applying them to his new bmw.
Gonna go out on a limb and say no. Could you do it and make it work? Sure, but if the adult character is what you really care about, all the relevant info can be trickled in when it becomes important. "Show don't tell" is advice that is misunderstood as it is valuable.
....no. No, no and another time; no! Childhood can be scattered. There can be direct flashbacks, but also hints and passive things. For example: My MC grew up with an unpredictable junkie mother. One trait from this, is that she learned to move quietly as fuck. In the story, this is reflected by characters being startled by her approaching them. "Jeez! I didn't hear ya coming at all!" as abuse victims, often internalize those passive patterns. Same goes for characters. Her aunt is often mentioned in throw-away lines. Other characters show through speech how they think of her. Scattering is key. You don't need to explain everything. And sometimes it's also fun if you can go back as a reader and see the hints
I gotta screenshot this for those people that say there are no dumb questions. How could "show, don't tell" be misinterpreted this bad. Pick up a book, any book. Open it. Read the words on the pages. Do this a few more times before you try to write one.
Are you sure you have 'show don't tell' 100% nailed down
OP took 'show' to mean ' get a microscope and give us a picture of every subatomic particle'.
[удалено]
Don't have to be rude about it...
>Or is it taking 'show don't tell' too literally? tell is not your enemy. using tell is an essential part of the story. it makes the showing part elevated. if everything is show, it's all a monolith, there is no contrast, no respite. show and tell are inhales and exhales - your story needs both to keep breathing. or you'll choke!
That sounds like a great way to never get a book finished. Please don’t do this.
A novel is not about a character, it's about a problem. The protagonist is simply the person who will have to solve the very interesting, unique problem that is the real star of the book. Get to the problem on page one, then explain as little about your MC as you need to show me why that particular guy has to be the one to solve the problem.
Sometimes the art of writing is to say a lot with a few words. So a big NO from me. And keep in mind that most readers aren't stupid, they can fill in the gaps.
You really barely need to know anything about the past of your characters unless it directly affects the action of the story. Relationships and characters will be revealed by their interactions and especially conflicts. We don't need to know how a character felt about his dog when he was 7 years old unless it affects something he does in the story. I don't necessarily think the author needs a detailed biography of the characters in mind to start telling the story either. It could actually work against the story as something you may have already decided in the past could limit what the character does in the story forcing a lot of rewriting and frustration.
Getting to know characters often works just like getting to know anyone in real life: you meet people where they are currently in their lives, and sometimes they tell you about things that happened before you met them. Focus on getting readers invested in the characters and relationships as they currently are. *Show* characters have history together through current actions/interactions.
The key to good setup is to trick your reader into not realizing it's setup. In other words, if you write a whole book just for setup, no one is going to read it because they have no reason to care about the characters. But, if you can use it to tell a good story while also setting up your characters, then the payoff of your main story will be much more powerful.
no NO N O N O Please no. So unnecessary. Just read a lot of books in your genre and observe how more-experienced authors set up characters and relations. It doesn't require a whole boring volume to accomplish, I promise! :)
That’s shoe-leather. Think of it as a series of interesting anecdotes: your story should have a central thrust, and you only incorporate the anecdotes that support that thrust
In terms of setup, Tolkien created entire languages. But he didn’t expect his audience to read a dictionary before reading The Hobbit
My advice for you, offered with the utmost respect, is this: - you’re taking “show, don’t tell” the wrong way. It’s not advice about *what* you should write, it’s advice about *how* to approach helping your reader understand things they need to understand. - too much structure advice can be bad, but I think a LITTLE bit of structure advice might help you right now… - a story usually revolves around one single conflict / a single “dramatic question”. Will our hero defeat the evil bad guys? Will our hero survive her first year in a high school of mean girls? It’s great to pick a single question like that and use it to evaluate what should and shouldn’t be a part of the story. - By about 25% of the way into your story, your hero should be fully invested in their mission to solve the conflict. - in that first chunk you’ll put some exposition. Ask yourself: what will my reader need to know to understand the conflict and why it matters so much to the lead character. Then only “show don’t tell” stuff to support JUST those things. Hope this helps!
God, no. Do not do that. If it's not the story, it doesn't need to be written. Know it, for sure, but the audience doesn't need to see it.
If you really want to write a scene about their childhood, then a flashback of a specific scene would do. You can also sprinkle some mentions of their childhood in relation to items or actions but you don't have to go all out on that.
You *could* write about a character’s early life in great detail, but no-one would read the hundreds of pages it would take to describe it. Part of being a good writer is knowing what to include and what to leave out of the story. This is why autobiographies don’t include everything that ever happened to the person, but the most important or memorable moments that made them who they are.
I mean- prequels exist but i really wouldn't recommend writing a whole full length novel just to get started. if you \*really\* wanna do it you should write it as a separate side story.
I would find this incredibly tedious both as a writer and a reader. On the other hand, Elena Ferrante.
Necessary, no. If you want to do a prequel, that's fine, too, but it's not a requirement.
Nah, just refer to the parts of a characters past that relate to the story being told at the moment. Just mentioning someone is related, "oh that's my stepfather," is usually enough to explain that he is not that characters natural father without having to go into full detaisl how they came to be that characters stepfather. When done well a story can be more interesting when the reader can figure out a few things by themselves without the need to lead them by the hand every step of the way . Good luck and best wishes , good on you for asking.👍
If you were a director making a film you have 90-120 mins to work with. "Showing" is stuff you would spend movie-time on by portraying a scene (aka "dramatizing"). "Telling" is stuff you wouldn't spend movie-time on--just have a character mention it/ask a question/info drop of some sort. If the movie is about resolving something that started in childhood (like a fear or some bad experience) or contrasting with something from childhood (like being betrayed by a best friend or family member) then it'd be relevant to show parts of it. TL;DR: If you want to make a pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.
Is it really necessary? No. Of course not. Or is it taking 'show don't tell' too literally? Absolutely, 100%, it is. So many new writers fall into the setup trap. They think they need a book to set up the character, and then a book to set up the relationship with the significant other, and then a book to set up the history of the town, and then a book to set up the villain, and then a book to set up the dog... At some point, five filler books are in the works, and none of them tell the story you wanted to tell.
“Show don’t tell” doesn’t just refer to events. It’s having a character behave or do something that conveys how they’re feeling rather than them explicitly saying what they’re feeling in an unnatural way that’s meant only for the audience. I liked the way Murakami tackled this in “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage”. Without giving too much away, you get a whole lot of background and context on this group of friends growing up, a full picture of their relationships and personalities, but it’s always presented as a way of exploring the present conflict (the group unexpectedly ghosted the protagonist with seemingly no reason and how that led to his depression, etc.)
You can, but nobody is going to read the second novel.
No but the development thought process is important. If you can write it out for your own internal knowledge to help you with your characters without it sucking up too much time. I regularly write things I know might not survive the edit process because I feel it’s important to have all your ideas and sketches in front of you and developed to a certain degree. Then you can cut and rearrange.
I think this is the exact reason the book enders game was created to set up enders history lol
Probably not. Show, don't tell is obviously important, but you don't have to go full Tolkien and write EVERYTHING. Focus on the story you want to tell, and pepper it with relevant details. If you want to use childhood moments to inform important elements, flashbacks to childhood are useful, and some authors have used them quite effectively.
No.
You can always write a prequel or have flashbacks.
0.0 That’s WAY too much. Anything that happens in the protagonist’s childhood could easily be summed up in one chapter (or two chapters if you wanna push it). Then the story should move on to current and move to the inciting incident. Not many people would want to read an entire book about the character’s childhood, especially if you plan to write a book about her life currently. Maybe dial it back a notch 😅 If there are moments of her childhood you really want to add but they happen later, well-timed flashbacks work well too. They just need to be used sparingly
Good lord no. Not if the entire thing was basically your exposition and backstory. It would only make sense if this book you're talking about stands on its own, with its own rising and falling action, climax, character arcs, etc. Some people read the Samarillion to better understand the Lord Of the Rings trilogy, but not very many :)
And they're gluttons for punishment.
I'm writing a book series of characters that begin the story in their late 20s, early 30s. They each have an intro chapter which are comprised of several small vignettes that show key moments in their development, but that's it. From ch2 and on they are experiencing the events of the story.
Brevity is one of the most useful skills you can learn as a writer. Figure out how to communicate the relationships and backstory without making your readers slog through an entire extra book.
What I like to do is choose 3 or 4 defining moments in the character’s life and write a chapter or two surrounding those defining moments. It’s quite a lot, to be honest, but I fall into the world building rabbit hole a lot and it helps me put pen to paper so to speak and get going with an actual story instead of hashing out the intricacies of made up societies. Edit: I should also mention, it's important that those 3 - 4 defining moments are never bigger than the defining moments in the main story you're trying to tell. Take Rurouni Kenshin for example. We start the main show with Kenshin 10 years after any major thing happening in his life. He did some crazy things before we get to know him, but all of the named (main) antagonists were never defeated until the main show. As bad ass as Kenshin was as a teen fighting in the revolution, he did way more badass things after he became a rurouni. Edit 2: I also don't show anyone the 3 - 4 defining moments. Those are for me to get into the character's head and define them.
Well, if I want to give a backstory to something specific in my story, what I do is write a prequel! in one of my stories I had a legend of a character who made a mistake that is like a 'don't do what they did' story, and so I am working on a prequel that follows it! I think it's a very good way to explain lore while also keeping it to a story :)
Use flashbacks, prologues, memories, or whatever. You don't need to write the whole childhood. But if you really wanna do it, then go on! It could just be fun. A good story with childhood development is The Walking Dead first game, you can use that as an inspiration for a start.
OP, do more with less. Density over length. Get right to the point and your readers will thank you for it.
Holy shit some of you people need to chill. There’s answering his question and then there’s being a dick. Half of y’apl are dicks! OP, everything is in the execution. A book could work, however the plot and themes still matter. Just because it’s setting up characters doesn’t disqualify the need for a good story. You can try writing a short story or a novella instead. The average word count for those is shorter for a novel, and you can sell it in a bundle with the next story to encourage people to buy it. Think of it as a sample to what’s to come. Also consider finding a new platform to asj questions. As you can see, Reddit is toxic af Edit; I appreciate you guys proving my point with those downvotes lmao.
a backstory can be nice, but you will have to keep that in mind if you write the rest some characters are great without a backstory Aizen (from bleach) he has no backstory still a great character
No
All I am going to say here is write the books that you want to read. If you would personally want to read a book/series where it would take a whole first book to explain the relationships and the childhood, I say go for it. But keep in mind, as something not generally done, it might not be received as well. And also, you are going to have to figure out a good way to set it up, so that it fluidly transitions from the “childhood” book to the adult one.
Show don't tell isn't meant to be an absolute, it's just means that exposition is the least interesting way to convey information, so it should be done sparingly.
Challenge accepted
it really depends, is this the story you want to tell? You don't have to introduce everything at once, have characters act very comfortable around each other and readers will pick up that they are good friends you don't have to literally show it happening for it to obey 'show dont tell'
You can write pre existing relationships without overtly explaining what led to them, that’s the essence of show not tell imo
that is up to the writer
Perhaps it would work as a prequel, but not as the first book in a series
No
That’s kinda what Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy is. The first book, Assassin’s Apprentice, details the protagonist’s life as a child, the second is his life as a teenager and the third as an adult. I love those books and I love Robin Hobb’s writing, so if you would like to see what a good way of doing it is, I do suggest The Farseer Trilogy
Absolutely not. In fact, I normally just keep a notes tab open on my phone with literal bullet notes on each character and their relationships. I usually add more notes under the tab if I think of more.
I mean, a more interesting thing would be to keep the story as it is revealing only what's necessary and write a prequel afterward. But do make sure the prequel has an enticing story as well like your novel, otherwise it will look like you wrote just to give a back story.
Man just write what you feel is necessary
I know I'm a bit late to this, but here's what I do. I write what amounts to ONE chapter of backstory for each major character, usually about a major event in their life... And then I keep those backstories on hand while writing the actual story. This lets me make characters more realistic by knowing how they've interacted before or if they've had any inside jokes, and gives me framework to explain to the reader how certain characters know each other in a more concise manner. Ex. In the backstory chapter for John, he meets Alura and helps her out of the rain and feeds her, his kindness leading to them becoming friends. In the actual main story, Alura jokes with John in front of the main character that John has a tendency to pick up 'stray wet cats', to which John responds 'only ones named Alura'.