What is it and how does it work? Well, backstory is what has happened to or with a character when he/she isn't front and center in the action. It's something that isn't described in the story but contributes to the character's development.
Some authors, one of my favorites among them, will sit down and write an entire biography of a character and pick and choose things in the bio to throw into a story to color the character. In my novel, Questionable Interests, Drummond 'Butcher' Rand, has been out of town attending the wedding of his half-brother's daughter. He mentions it in passing and reflects on the hard feelings between him and his half-brother without really detailing the source of the hard feelings. It also shows that despite the difficulties of his relationship with his half-brother, he is thoughtful enough to attend the girl's wedding and give the happy couple a generous wedding gift. It gives him a history without the tiresome info-dumps that can drag down the flow of a story. It's economical and gets the information across.
Sometimes, the author may have had people wondering about a character's backstory and be pressed into using more of it in a later novel to feed the readers' curiosity regarding the character. Of such are pre-quels born.
For more instances of how backstory can be used, simply read a few of Hemingway's stories. He was a master of the lightly alluded to backstory. His use of the tool managed to give the reader a sense of understanding more than he knew from the story. Perhaps that description is a little tricky but it gets the point across.
Did you ever pick up a book and begin reading it, only to find passages in it that made you think that you had gotten into the middle of a series? That's backstory. The character has a history, the reader is aware that there is a history and it tends to make the reader more interested in learning about the character.
Now, I said when I began this blog that I am not qualified, and will not attempt, to give any how-to lectures on writing. However, I did say that I wanted to give the reader some idea of how I worked. This is it. Take from it what you will.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Dolly Games, Gulf of the Plains and Congruencies
Friday, December 16, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
The imagined city
And you say, "What in the world is Derek talking about now?" Well, I'll tell you. A couple of years ago, I was writing a story and needed a city to hold a great deal of the action. I felt that I wanted it to be in the Pacific Northwest, but I knew nothing about any of the cities there. Oh, I know which ones they are, but I knew very little about them. I knew I could research them, but there was this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that if I got something wrong about whatever city I included in the story, there would be a million or so people lambasting me about their hometown. Any errors would throw doubt on the story and on my abilities to write. I couldn't have that, so I devised this fictitious city of Port Morgan.
To tell the truth, I've actually lost count of exactly how many stories I've used the city in, but I'm going to put them in chronological order for you. Because, you see, I also used or mentioned several characters in multiple stories. Or, I allowed characters from one book to walk down the streets of Port Morgan as 'extras' in the movie that played in my head and ended up on the page. But, you know what? I couldn't come up with an appropriate name for the city until my latest novel.
Okay, here they are, in chronological order according to what is happening in the stories: Dolly Games, Eggs of Empire, Cold Feet(A short story), Questionable Interests and Taken Apart.
I know this isn't exactly fair. In order to understand what I'm talking about, a person would have to have read all of these stories. Incidentally, Cold Feet is included in my book of shorts titled, The Empty Heart: A Collection. But you have to pay attention because some of the characters who have made uncredited cameo appearances in these books are not identified and only exist in the stories for a paragraph or two. Sometimes, they are only described in passing. but if you know the stories, then you know the characters.
No. I won't tell you which ones they are and I won't give hints.
Returning to the fact that I didn't give the city a name until recently; I don't know if a name never really popped out and made itself known to me, or if I was just being lazy and using a location that I had already invested a lot of time and effort on. Who knows? I don't.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Dolly Games, Gulf of the Plains I and II, and Congruencies.
To tell the truth, I've actually lost count of exactly how many stories I've used the city in, but I'm going to put them in chronological order for you. Because, you see, I also used or mentioned several characters in multiple stories. Or, I allowed characters from one book to walk down the streets of Port Morgan as 'extras' in the movie that played in my head and ended up on the page. But, you know what? I couldn't come up with an appropriate name for the city until my latest novel.
Okay, here they are, in chronological order according to what is happening in the stories: Dolly Games, Eggs of Empire, Cold Feet(A short story), Questionable Interests and Taken Apart.
I know this isn't exactly fair. In order to understand what I'm talking about, a person would have to have read all of these stories. Incidentally, Cold Feet is included in my book of shorts titled, The Empty Heart: A Collection. But you have to pay attention because some of the characters who have made uncredited cameo appearances in these books are not identified and only exist in the stories for a paragraph or two. Sometimes, they are only described in passing. but if you know the stories, then you know the characters.
No. I won't tell you which ones they are and I won't give hints.
Returning to the fact that I didn't give the city a name until recently; I don't know if a name never really popped out and made itself known to me, or if I was just being lazy and using a location that I had already invested a lot of time and effort on. Who knows? I don't.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Dolly Games, Gulf of the Plains I and II, and Congruencies.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Latest novel's reception
I last left you with the news that Dolly Games was going to be available in the KLL(KDP Select Lending Library), and was going to be offered free for just two days. So far, the number of downloads of this book far outstrip all my other offerings by such a margin that it is difficult to quantify it. At least, for me it is. I wondered for the past day and night if it was being downloaded so much simply because it was free. Well, now I know that it is also a very good book. One of my toughest critics is my youngest daughter, (Hi, Kris!) while my oldest daughter has been overwhelmingly in favor of everything I've written, (Hi, Mel!).
Kris is one of those very busy people who has difficulty finding time to do the things she wants because she has so much that she has committed herself to do for her family and others. As such, sometimes, dear-ol'-Dad falls by the wayside and that has been the case with many of the books I've written. Of course, I know that the genres I generally write in aren't for everybody and not usually to her taste. However, she called me today to tell me that she loved my latest book and that it was "scary". She also told me that she had called a friend of hers who writes a blog dealing with free Kindle books and started to tell her about my book. Her friend stopped her and told her that she had already downloaded the book and loved it!
Since so many people refuse to buy a book that has no reviews posted about it on its Amazon page, I ask all those who have read Dolly Games to post a review. You wouldn't believe how many people won't buy a book for the most inane reasons; some people won't buy a book if the cover doesn't appear to be professionally done. Or, if it has a generic, two-color cover. Or,if they think the book's description page indicates that it might have skeezy content. It is the same with reviews. Some people won't buy a book that has no reviews. Others won't buy a book that has even one bad review. Still others won't buy a book that has reviews written by people who can't spell grammar, much less use proper grammar when writing anything. I guess they think the book must be low-brow or that the people who wrote the reviews are so clueless about what is good that their opinion can't be trusted. So, please, if you have downloaded Dolly Games, post a review. It doesn't matter to me if it is a good or bad review; a good one can only help others to make up their minds about the book and I can learn from a bad review.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Dolly Games, Congruencies, The Empty Heart: A Collection and others.
Kris is one of those very busy people who has difficulty finding time to do the things she wants because she has so much that she has committed herself to do for her family and others. As such, sometimes, dear-ol'-Dad falls by the wayside and that has been the case with many of the books I've written. Of course, I know that the genres I generally write in aren't for everybody and not usually to her taste. However, she called me today to tell me that she loved my latest book and that it was "scary". She also told me that she had called a friend of hers who writes a blog dealing with free Kindle books and started to tell her about my book. Her friend stopped her and told her that she had already downloaded the book and loved it!
Since so many people refuse to buy a book that has no reviews posted about it on its Amazon page, I ask all those who have read Dolly Games to post a review. You wouldn't believe how many people won't buy a book for the most inane reasons; some people won't buy a book if the cover doesn't appear to be professionally done. Or, if it has a generic, two-color cover. Or,if they think the book's description page indicates that it might have skeezy content. It is the same with reviews. Some people won't buy a book that has no reviews. Others won't buy a book that has even one bad review. Still others won't buy a book that has reviews written by people who can't spell grammar, much less use proper grammar when writing anything. I guess they think the book must be low-brow or that the people who wrote the reviews are so clueless about what is good that their opinion can't be trusted. So, please, if you have downloaded Dolly Games, post a review. It doesn't matter to me if it is a good or bad review; a good one can only help others to make up their minds about the book and I can learn from a bad review.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Dolly Games, Congruencies, The Empty Heart: A Collection and others.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Self-censoring as a writer
Yeah, that's right, I'm taking that subject out of the box. Let's grab hold of it, roll it around, give it a shake and see what happens.
From cruising the Kindle Boards, I've seen some folks lament the lack of clean stories. I agree that there is a time and place for the sort of thing that sometimes ends up in my novels, and those who object to sometimes vulgar language, tittilating, even almost explicit subject matter, should understand that every bit of it in my stories is meant to advance the story. Either that or to add to character development. Sometimes I use it to set the tone for the story or to clarify a character's motivations.
Bad language can and should be used to show the state of mind of a character under stress. If that character is the type of person who wouldn't be expected to use bad language. And it can be used to show exactly how stressful a situation is. If the character has taken everything thrown at him/her in stride and is suddenly found to be cursing, that just means the character is under a great deal of stress. More than he/she has experienced previously. And sometimes, a character is just such an uninhibited person, accustomed to the lowlife, that the use of bad language is natural for him/her.
Now, to sex. How many of us have had sex waved under our noses as a carrot to get us to do something that someone else wants us to do. I mean, sex can be a great tool for manipulation of others. It can and has been used to ruin many lives in the past and will continue to be used because it is such an effective tool. Sex is one of the great motivators of History. Though it is viewed as something cheap, it is very nearly as great a motivator as Money and Power. If we could peek into the boudoirs of the most powerful, richest people in History, I think we would find that freedom of sexual practices is one of their favorite pastimes. How many rich and powerful people have had careers ruined because the most intimate, private and personal details of their lives have been brought to light?
By using sex to show how a character reacts, whether he/she is the most powerful person in the story, or the least, I can establish the fact that he/she is simply another person. No different in substance than anyone else.
So, should a writer self-censor himself/herself? I can only say that it depends on the circumstances of the story, the audience he/she wants to reach and how the writer wants his/her work to be perceived. Think of all the books that would have been tremendously different if the author had left sex out of the equation. Lolita, Catcher in the Rye, Portnoy's Complaint, Ulysses. Those are only a few that I can name, but you get the idea. Writers are creative people or they wouldn't be writers. I'm not sure I would go so far as to describe them as artists; I know that I am not an artist, I'm a writer.
As a writer, I have an inborn need to communicate, to be understood, to connect with my readers. I thought once of blunting my creative urge and becoming a critic, but felt that the choice wouldn't allow me to be true to myself. I have to admit that I was feeling somewhat tremulous about my writing ability and was timid about putting my writing efforts out there for others to see. I mean, the full extent of a critic's creativity is only in how to describe how much they like or dislike another's work. From some of the reviews I've read of others' work, critics don't seem to feel the need to self-censor. Believe me, I self-censor quite a lot of my work. I have written some passages that have stunned me when I've gone back to proofread them. A couple of times, I've said to myself, "What in the world would Miss Grundy say?"
In closing, I can only say that whether or not a writer self-censors is entirely up to him/her.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Dolly Games, Gulf of the Plains and Congruencies.
From cruising the Kindle Boards, I've seen some folks lament the lack of clean stories. I agree that there is a time and place for the sort of thing that sometimes ends up in my novels, and those who object to sometimes vulgar language, tittilating, even almost explicit subject matter, should understand that every bit of it in my stories is meant to advance the story. Either that or to add to character development. Sometimes I use it to set the tone for the story or to clarify a character's motivations.
Bad language can and should be used to show the state of mind of a character under stress. If that character is the type of person who wouldn't be expected to use bad language. And it can be used to show exactly how stressful a situation is. If the character has taken everything thrown at him/her in stride and is suddenly found to be cursing, that just means the character is under a great deal of stress. More than he/she has experienced previously. And sometimes, a character is just such an uninhibited person, accustomed to the lowlife, that the use of bad language is natural for him/her.
Now, to sex. How many of us have had sex waved under our noses as a carrot to get us to do something that someone else wants us to do. I mean, sex can be a great tool for manipulation of others. It can and has been used to ruin many lives in the past and will continue to be used because it is such an effective tool. Sex is one of the great motivators of History. Though it is viewed as something cheap, it is very nearly as great a motivator as Money and Power. If we could peek into the boudoirs of the most powerful, richest people in History, I think we would find that freedom of sexual practices is one of their favorite pastimes. How many rich and powerful people have had careers ruined because the most intimate, private and personal details of their lives have been brought to light?
By using sex to show how a character reacts, whether he/she is the most powerful person in the story, or the least, I can establish the fact that he/she is simply another person. No different in substance than anyone else.
So, should a writer self-censor himself/herself? I can only say that it depends on the circumstances of the story, the audience he/she wants to reach and how the writer wants his/her work to be perceived. Think of all the books that would have been tremendously different if the author had left sex out of the equation. Lolita, Catcher in the Rye, Portnoy's Complaint, Ulysses. Those are only a few that I can name, but you get the idea. Writers are creative people or they wouldn't be writers. I'm not sure I would go so far as to describe them as artists; I know that I am not an artist, I'm a writer.
As a writer, I have an inborn need to communicate, to be understood, to connect with my readers. I thought once of blunting my creative urge and becoming a critic, but felt that the choice wouldn't allow me to be true to myself. I have to admit that I was feeling somewhat tremulous about my writing ability and was timid about putting my writing efforts out there for others to see. I mean, the full extent of a critic's creativity is only in how to describe how much they like or dislike another's work. From some of the reviews I've read of others' work, critics don't seem to feel the need to self-censor. Believe me, I self-censor quite a lot of my work. I have written some passages that have stunned me when I've gone back to proofread them. A couple of times, I've said to myself, "What in the world would Miss Grundy say?"
In closing, I can only say that whether or not a writer self-censors is entirely up to him/her.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Dolly Games, Gulf of the Plains and Congruencies.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
New Options
After so many months of wishing that Amazon had some sort of program for Indie authors to promote their work, it has finally happened. They have gotten their KDP Select Lending Library up and running and given Indies the opportunity to enroll their works in it. Of course, the author must allow Amazon to be the exclusive eBook retailer of the title for 90 days, but that's no hardship. At least not for me. Maybe it is for other authors, but everyone's opinion and outlook is different. My opinion happens to be that any positive exposure is good for sales.
Along with this, the author also will be allowed to promote his/her book free of charge for 5 days every 90 days. That means that for the duration of the promotion, that title will be free to prospective purchasers. At one time, we (Indies) were able to set our price at $0.00 for any period of time, and that helped to drive sales. It got the author's name in front of the public and anyone who liked his/her work, would normally begin searching for other books by that author. When the Agency Model was forced on Amazon by Apple and the Big Publishers, that option was taken away from the Indies as part of the marketing agreement with Big Publishing. That's when the option to make free eBooks available to readers was reserved for Big Publishing alone. I believe that to be something like restraint of trade. Now, of course, the U.S. government and the European Union are both investigating Apple and the Big Publishers regarding price fixing. And that's a good thing. I don't believe that any reader should be forced to sometimes pay as much for an eBook as they pay for a hardcover or Trade Paperback book.
For those who don't know; most of the paperback books that people buy are called mass market paperbacks. Trade Paperbacks are generally about the size of a hardcover book, with somewhat larger print and better production quality. Trade paperbacks are more expensive than mass market paperbacks, too. So, you can see what I'm getting at here. Apple and Big Publishing forced readers to pay more for an eBook than was previously necessary. There is no reason for an eBook to cost more than $2.99. Many authors, like me for instance, price their books anywhere from $.99 to $1.99, and that pricing model seems to work very well. I know of an Indie author who routinely earns royalties in the six figure range every year while pricing his books at $2.99.
No, I don't expect to earn that much from my books. Anyone would be a fool to think that. In the meantime, I'll be reasonably content to sell a few books to people who have come to trust and like my work.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Along with this, the author also will be allowed to promote his/her book free of charge for 5 days every 90 days. That means that for the duration of the promotion, that title will be free to prospective purchasers. At one time, we (Indies) were able to set our price at $0.00 for any period of time, and that helped to drive sales. It got the author's name in front of the public and anyone who liked his/her work, would normally begin searching for other books by that author. When the Agency Model was forced on Amazon by Apple and the Big Publishers, that option was taken away from the Indies as part of the marketing agreement with Big Publishing. That's when the option to make free eBooks available to readers was reserved for Big Publishing alone. I believe that to be something like restraint of trade. Now, of course, the U.S. government and the European Union are both investigating Apple and the Big Publishers regarding price fixing. And that's a good thing. I don't believe that any reader should be forced to sometimes pay as much for an eBook as they pay for a hardcover or Trade Paperback book.
For those who don't know; most of the paperback books that people buy are called mass market paperbacks. Trade Paperbacks are generally about the size of a hardcover book, with somewhat larger print and better production quality. Trade paperbacks are more expensive than mass market paperbacks, too. So, you can see what I'm getting at here. Apple and Big Publishing forced readers to pay more for an eBook than was previously necessary. There is no reason for an eBook to cost more than $2.99. Many authors, like me for instance, price their books anywhere from $.99 to $1.99, and that pricing model seems to work very well. I know of an Indie author who routinely earns royalties in the six figure range every year while pricing his books at $2.99.
No, I don't expect to earn that much from my books. Anyone would be a fool to think that. In the meantime, I'll be reasonably content to sell a few books to people who have come to trust and like my work.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
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