When You Need Backstory And When You Don't

Okay, so this is another area that I normally struggle with. See, I've created a new world in POSSESSION (and thus SURRENDER), and well, readers typically want to know how our world became theirs.

You may not have a world backstory, but certainly you have character backstory, setting backstory, etc.

Here's a little secret: I don't care about world backstory.

There. I said it.

When I'm reading I don't care how our world became the one in the story. I just don't. I suppose some might call me shallow. I don't know.

But as an author, I don't normally gravitate toward including a wad of backstory for my world. This is something I'm working on, not only in my future writing (fix it before you have to fix it, right?), but in drafts I've already completed.

So, how do you know when you need backstory and when you don't? It's simple, really. If it's essential to your plot, you need it.

I make a Venn diagram in my head. (Yeah, I write down some notes, but diagrams? That's going a little bit too far for me. *wink*)

One circle is labeled "ESSENTIAL" another is labeled "NICE TO KNOW" and another is labeled "MAYBE IF I HAVE ENOUGH WORDS".

And let's face it, I never have enough words. So what ends up happening is I take stock of everything that the reader MUST know and what it would be NICE if they knew, and I insert them into the MS.

In my forthcoming novel SURRENDER, I tell the reader about the educational system by examining a defunct friendship, and use the school years to chronologically advance (or de-advance, I suppose) the relationship. I sneak in the world's backstory through another person.

The beginning of POSSESSION reads as follows:

"Good girls don't walk with boys. Even if they're good boys--and Zenn is the best. He strolled next to me, all military with his hands clasped behind his back, wearing the black uniform of a Forces recruit. The green stripes on his shirtsleeves flashed with silver tech lights, probably recording everything. Probably? Who am I kidding? Those damn strips were definitely recording everything."

I established several things by using Zenn:
1. Good girls don't walk with boys.
2. Zenn is in the Forces, and they wear uniforms.
3. There is some level of technology in his actual clothing, what with the flashing stripes.
4. Those stripes record stuff. Definitely all kinds of stuff.

Things you might want to reconsider:
1. Using dialog to deliver backstory. Typically, the two (or more) characters talking already know the backstory, so it's lame to have them discussing it as if they don't.

2. Having the MC simply give a long monologue about the world they live in. Trust me, I have to get a lot of information about the world into my books. Find ways to put it in where the MC isn't just expounding on their world for no reason. Use a relationship, a person, or an attitude to establish a reason for inserting the backstory.

Got any world backstory tips for me? I'd love to add to my arsenal!