Focused Backstory Blog Tour and Review with Celebrate Lit
About the Book:
Book: Focused Backstory Author: Carol Alwood Genre: Non-fiction, writing resource Release Date: June 26, 2019
Learn how to write characters readers will love.
Has an industry professional told you not to dump character history at the beginning of your story? If so, you aren’t alone. But what’s the solution to this common advice? Most writers take the time to design interesting characters with troubled pasts. They long for readers to care about the characters’ lives. However, the sad truth is on page one, readers don’t care—yet. That’s why industry gurus tell writers to stop overusing character history, also called backstory, at the beginning of stories. Have you ever wondered… How to use backstory correctly? What are the ways other writers successfully incorporate backstory into their work? Do tools exist to help writers better plan stories so the backstory isn’t such a problem? In Focused Backstory: The Key to Writing Deep Character Journeys, you’ll find answers to these questions and more. You’ll learn how to avoid the dreaded info-dump and instead, harness curiosity so readers keep turning pages. This resource breaks down focused backstory into simple pieces to use flexibly in any story no matter what genre or length. Worksheets, tables, questionnaires, and templates will help you plan an engaging story with deep characters. Examples from popular stories will help you understand this method.
You’ll learn how to
• design a character around a troubled past.
• create additional characters around the main character.
• weave interesting sub-plots within a characters’ journey toward healing.
• design proper obstacles which interfere with characters’ goals.
• guide readers’ emotions so they have a satisfying reading experience.
No matter what kind of writer you are, if you take the time to analyze the use of backstory, it will enhance your style. Focused Backstory: The Key to Writing Deep Character Journeys is the missing gadget in your writing tool kit.
As an author, I found this book to be practical and superbly useful in my quest to create characters that readers will love and backstories that will tug as their hearts. This is an invaluable source to every writer, whether you are writing fiction, scripts, or even memoirs. It’s full of charts, worksheets, and examples from film and page. This book is useful whether you are a seasoned author or a beginner.
I enjoyed applying the information I learned to my current work in progress while I read through this book. It helped me get in touch with my characters and work out their backstories that previously had remained unknown.
The thing that impressed me the most was the practicality of this book, it includes worksheets that you can copy and use over and over as you create new characters. It helps you ask questions you never thought of before and helps the author to focus on what makes their characters tick, so that they can touch the readers in the deepest way.
This is an excellent textbook/workbook from author Carol Alwood and is now part of my planning progress. Every author should add this to their bookshelf!
About the Author:
Carol Alwood has an unending passion for fiction, and she can’t think of a better way to spend her life than writing books for young adults and teaching about techniques she has learned along the way. With a Master of Education, experience as a content editor, and over a decade of establishing and working with critique groups, she is an excellent resource. An award-winning author, Carol finds joy in helping writers find the right tools to plan, draft and revise their novels so they can achieve excellence in storytelling.
More from Carol
Focused Backstory resulted from a personal quest to please industry critics who suggested I keep character history out of the first pages of my novels. My initial questions to this advice were: What? Why? I searched for resources to figure out how to write a more powerful beginning without relying on the past but found little help. On a mission to find answers, I studied popular books, television and movies to abstract what made stories work and — boom! I found it! We can break down backstory into simple pieces to use flexibly in any story without compromising artistry. This book provides definitions, examples, worksheets, templates, and comics to help writers study the art of using powerful character histories to keep readers turning pages. I’m so excited to offer this resource and hope it will empower your writing as it has mine.
About the Book:
Stories By Gina 
It’s great that there are reproducible worksheets included. Very convenient!
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I should get this book for my daughter’s birthday present!
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Thank you for sharing this excellent resource!
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