where should backstory go?

[loneflame]

I'm working on a piece that involves some non-human characters that definitely needs some back story into at least how they met and who they are. I'm a big fan of just jumping right in, en media res, and doling out pieces of the backstory throughout. Personal preferences I guess.

The real question is whether or not this is the audience for it? In erotic writing, should the story start at the beginning (where I suppse logically it should) or is strong action enough to make up for the fact that the reader is confused for a page or two?

Maybe it just comes down to how well it's written? In which case I should probably go the safe route and just rearrange some things...

 

[CWatson]

First off: erotic fiction is not judged by different standards than non-erotic fiction. ...Well, yes, it kind of is, but a different sorting process is at work. When The Reader clicks on your story, he will read for (let's say) five paragraphs and then check to see if any sex has happened yet. If it has, he will either hit the Back button or keep reading, depending on whether he's looking for porn or erotic fiction. Porn is about sex and nothing else. Erotic fiction is a story that also has sex in it. This site hosts both.

So, by now you've winnowed away half the clicks (or more) by writing erotic fiction instead of porn. Now we start talking.

As to flashbacks... Yes, I'd agree they're the way to go. If you want to be perfectly technical about it, starting the story from "the beginning" means starting at the character's birth, if not earlier. That gets annoying, because now you have 16 or 18 years to get through before the story can actually start. So, yeah, I'd go in media res.

As to flashbacks themselves, the question is not really about how much of them there are, but--as you accurately asked--how well they're handled. A clumsy flashback turns readers off. A deft one can pass before they even realize it's happened. So were I you, I'd worry less about plotting the locations of your segues and more about smoothing the transitions into and out of them. If you were planning to put sequence breaks in (you know, the three asterisks centered in the middle of the page?), try writing without them--try blending the flashback into the narrative so smoothly that the sequence breaks aren't needed.

Remember: if you, as The Writer, are convincing with your craft and technique, you can make The Reader believe anything.

 

[JoshuaGlynn]

I have to agree totally with CW. Start with the action and flashback the infodump... so it not so infodumpy.... (is that even a word? lol)

It is funny you bring this up, because I'm using this in a new short story I'm working on. The Main story is just a basic sex scene... well not too basic. It is about two people having sex for the first time in their relationship, but I have flashbacks through out, that get into how their relationship started, and what brought them to this first day of sexual bliss...

It is going well so far, so good luck on yours

Joshua

 

[loneflame]

Thanks, I was skimming back through some of my favorite stories on here and I noticed that the ones that I liked the best left some questions unanswered for a while to build suspense. This is my first forray outside the world of journalism. I think my biggest challenge is to avoid writting a play by play (first she did this, then he said this, then ... blah blah blah). I suppose it's sort of like a good entertainment article though: you start with the good stuff and add details as they become relevent.

 

[sr71plt]

I put in the backstory as I go along and as it is needed--and in small, digestible pieces that I hope don't intrude on the flow. I also usually jump into the middle. I often see critics on this board (and elsewhere) about the reader not being put into the picture from the getgo and I don't follow this pattern--I want the reader to be engaged of working themselves out of confusion/lack of information from the start. This gets them engaged and lets them discover elements on their own--and enjoy having done so. I just try not to leave them in total confusion for very long.

 

[MiliktheRed]

When I try to bring the reader up to speed on the backstory, I try to do it in a way that feels seemless. I often put the charactor in a position where they might be thinking of their past or the course of events that brought them there. It's difficult to stay away from making it a narrative on the history.
I agree that its best to dole it out in small bites. Just dont let it steer the story away from the actual plot as it moves forward.