The Backstory Iceberg

For our new roundtable, let's talk about your characters, specifically their backstory.

How deep do you go into figuring out your MC's backstory? Your lesser characters? How do you determine how far is enough?

Jessica Nettles: It depends on the character and how much I think I need to know. Sometimes that changes as I get to know the character and learn more about them and where they fit in my world.

Sheela Leyh: I used to go very in-depth in the past to get to know everything about my main character. The lesser characters I used to do quite a bit of detail, However, I've stopped doing that as much. It's more of what is needed to move the story along while still giving it life. I noticed that when I stopped going as deep and let the story emerge unhindered that it started taking off easier for me. I let my characters talk to me and then gauge it as it comes up during the writing process.

Elizabeth Mirasol: I'm a pantser, so as I'm writing, my character shows me more of their background and I can build on it. I just start with a brief personality and image in my head and go from there.

Wade Garret: I created DnD character sheets for my MCs and some secondary.

Sean Taylor: Mine vary. I used to go a lot deeper, but the more I wrote, the more I internalized that process and didn't need to address it as a strategic part of my process. I was able to have it take shape as needed as I wrote, leaving on the major character beats as something I needed to spec out before writing.

However, when I create characters that other writers will also tackle, I create a very, very in-depth story bible because I can't afford to leave anything stone unturned (as the cliche goes) or anything to chance.

We're all familiar with the iceberg metaphor, with 90 percent hidden under the water and only 10 percent showing. How does that line up with your research and backstory for your characters? Do you find you have pages of stuff you know about them that never makes it into print?

Sheela Leyh: I tend to find that I only research if necessary. The backstory comes up as the characters talk to me and as the story needs it. There are some things that don't make it into print, like typos and some pretty awkward phrases here and there. However, I've been finding as I've been changing my writing process and growing that is less often now. It's often just a sentence or two per page. Some of what doesn't get into print often gets recycled for a future story down the road.

Jessica Nettles: I have found that most of the time I know a lot more than what makes it on the page. For my character, Shadow, I have about 250 years of history that I’m still working out. I know he knew Ben Franklin and went to France with him at least once. He may have participated in the French/Indian war. And there are probably things I still don’t know yet.

Sean Taylor: I'm a lot like Jessica in this respect. I tend to know the 90 percent, but not have it anywhere written down to prove it if you ask me to do so. A lot of my backstory comes from general knowledge of literature and history and the worlds my characters inhabit, so as it is needed, that sort of private-Akashic Record of my own kicks into action.

Elizabeth Mirasol: I'm an intuitive writer. As I write, the characters reveal themselves. In the editing process(es) I will trim, delete, and add to what supports the story. A lot of the time I talk to myself when I drive, puzzling out the why's regarding my characters (MCs most of all) and that sheds light on their behavior. Knowing the background helps me write/edit the results that cause the reader to want to know more about why a character acts and reacts the way they do and in the editing process(es) I use backstory to reveal the characters to the readers and that's usually through a line or two of memories or a dream - that's all stream of conscious.

Do your characters' backstories ever surprise you and end up taking on a larger role in the next book? Or perhaps it causes you to rewrite the current story to bring some of that "color" into the story because it becomes more important than you originally thought?

Elizabeth Mirasol: I don't use backstory material for another book. To me, that's lazy writing or the writer hasn't fully fleshed out the characters (MCs) in the first book, and also hasn't disengaged from that book and started a new, unrelated story. I might, though, choose one of the supporting characters or minor characters that the reader may want to know more about and write a continuation of the story having new characters to explore and play with, but that's a big IF. I have to know what the theme is and be solid with it. I have to explore it in a new way. Otherwise, I'd write an unrelated, unique story.

Sheela Leyh: Sometimes, the backstreets do surprise me and completely change my understanding of a character. Other times, it changes a character's role or sets up another story arc within the story. On occasion, it helps bring more color to the story. Like the current one I'm working on, the maid's backstory is setting up an unexpected story arc, and I'm going with it before the climax of that story unfolds fully.

Jessica Nettles: Yes. Backstory almost always comes in bits and surprises me at times. Sometimes they do come up later and shape what happens later. I feel like that will happen as the Brotherhood continues to split and Shadow has to face more with the Abominations in my next book. I’m learning more backstory with my Delancy sisters too. They are beginning to learn more about their momma and her witchy life. Should be cool.

Sean Taylor: All the time. A lot of that stuff becomes the backbone of the C-plot that gets subtly hinted at in my stories with recurring characters.