My Passion's Pen

By Margie Lawson

A huge THANK YOU to the amazing Laura Drake for inviting me to be her guest today!

Don’t put BS on your pages!

Write back story that is fresh and compelling.

Readers need some back story. They need to know a few critical points that happened before your story opened. Those points are the motivators for your POV character’s decisions and actions. Those back story points drive your story.

Way too often, back story is stagnant. Flat. Boring.

Agents quit reading.

Aack!

Writers may think the reader needs all the cool history the writer created. They share it in chunks.

But when back story is shared in chunks, it stops the momentum. Stops the story. Tempts the reader to skim. 

When a reader skims, they’re not engaged. They’re not connected to the characters. They’re not hooked.

They don’t care what happens. They can quit reading.

The…