At the local bookshop to pick up Sisters in Yellow, and having a coffee. Love this place (Backstory in Balham).

#SistersInYellow #MiekoKawakami #Backstory #IndependentBookstores

#WordWeavers 3 April 2026
For which characters do you come up with a backstory?

In fact, I have a backstory for each of my characters, even if it isn’t always explicitly mentioned in the story. However, it’s important to me for understanding what drives each character and ensuring their actions make sense.

#writing #characters #backstory

#WordWeavers 3 For which characters do you come up with a backstory?

Those for whom other characters in the current story need to know the backstory.

For example in my book "Of Wheels and Witches" 11-year-old Jeffery Davidson goes to spent the school holidays as a paying guest on a farm because his parents are overseas. He meets the farm-owner's niece, 9-year-old Catherine, who is half-Russian, lives in England, and whose parents were killed in a plane crash. He learns this backstory when he is introduced to her.

In a later book in the series this backstory becomes significant when Catherine's grandmother gives her a jewelled cross which is a family heirloom, and becomes a mcguffin in the story.

So the backstory is given on a "need to know" basis -- when either the other characters or the reader need to know it to understand what is going on in the present.

#writing #backstory #writingcommunity

How Fear Shrinks Your Character’s World Over Time

Fear is something we all experience, a psychological early warning system that alerts us to possible danger. When we encounter a situation that contains unknowns, fear kicks in. Even if we do not yet know what is triggering our unease, our senses heighten, our blood pressure rises, and we go on high alert, searching for...
The post How Fear Shrinks Your Character’s World Over Time appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.
https://writershelpingwriters.net/2026/03/how-fear-shrinks/

#Backstory #CharacterArc #CharacterWound #Characters #Emotion

Using Contradictions to Create Microtension – Part 5

We’ve been looking at how to craft powerful mictotension (a must in fiction!) in these last few posts. In this...
The post Using Contradictions to Create Microtension – Part 5 appeared first on C. S. Lakin.
https://www.livewritethrive.com/2026/03/06/33567/

#Fiction #NovelStructure #Backstory #microtension

How to Write Authentic Character Behavior

Some stories stick with us more than others, and why? The characters. They feel so real. How they view life, the way they interact with others, the beliefs that steer them and their reactions to setbacks…it somehow all rings true. They might be nothing like us. We may not agree with their choices. But even...
The post How to Write Authentic Character Behavior appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.
https://writershelpingwriters.net/2026/03/write-authentic-character-behavior/

#Backstory #BasicHumanNeeds #CharacterArc #CharacterFlaws #Characters