Kill That Back Story...Says The Village

My writers' group has told me in no uncertain terms to kill that back story that currently serves as the opening to my new novel.

Image found here

But the other night, I couldn't quite believe my trusted critique partners. No, the voice of habit and comfort, never mind a fond memory of How the Muse Struck Me, was wa-a-a-a-a-y louder than they.

As I've been prepping my manuscript for their critique this week, I've stared lovingly at my opening chapter, a back story tale of the protagonist in fifth grade. The history of how the poor thing was bullied--how in the world can I leave that out?

The main action of the novel will take place in ninth grade, when the protagonist vows to seek revenge--but no matter, no matter, the back story tale is just so clever, so well-written, so full of protagonist voice, how could I ever move it from first place?

You see, the Muse brought me the first lines of the character's voice, they came like a revelation, so OF COURSE they should be the first words of the novel, right?

And don't readers need to know about the long-standing enmity before we see the ninth grade scenes? Won't the reader feel the pathos of the poor little 10 year-old character and the story will be the better for it?

My head was so full of these rhetorical questions--in other words, the vote to keep the back story had already won the argument--that I couldn't move forward. Then it hit me: Post the question on Facebook and see what the people say.

At first I wondered if it was just another one of my procrastination tactics, me refusing to face the hard work of drafting. But I headed into the virtual village anyway.

I wrote, Begin with back story, or jump right into the action? That is the question.

Bob: Only if it's a prologue, and I've been shooed off of those.

Lauren: So many of my favorites start with action in the first chapter, that I lean towards that side. But that's not to say that there can't be backstory as well. Find a situation to put your character in that allows them to tell a part of their story as the action develops. Just a bookworm's two cents.

Karen: Action...plenty of time for backstory later.

Jamey: I do love me some backstory, but I think that might work (at least for me) if it's doled out bit by bit in the story...This makes me think of when we watch older movies. The credits came before any action at all. And now it has to start with a bang.

Tara: "I will destroy this mean girl." That's a pretty darn great first line to a book if you ask me. Flashbacks to the history as she goes would prob work.

The people spoke, and finally, I was ready to listen.

It's not about my not trusting fabulous critique partners, Stephanie and Jen. They steer my prose well so often. It's not about my not knowing modern storytelling strategies that work well--because I do. I think one of my issues is that I can't always define my genre and in this limbo land, I try to be both old school and new school. I write commercial fiction, with a literary twist--but not full-on literary and not straight genre. Since I straddle the lines, those fast-dissolving lines that perhaps never were to begin with, I confuse myself sometimes wanting to be all things to all people, which is a way of giving myself a pass Don't box me in because there are no rules. In other words, an easy way out.

Not so with writing. What does the audience want? is a question you can never ignore. You can answer it myriad, creative ways, and the voice of the people can set much-needed strictures. Nuns fret not, remember, in their narrow convent rooms; Wordsworth tells me so. Limits are a good thing.

So I got back to work on Chapter 1. And suddenly, I started asking more questions of plot events I'd taken for granted. Why didn't Mean Girl Carli's secret get more play? Why didn't Carli ever directly threaten Minerva, the protagonist? What if they had a scene together? Does the pain of fifth grade seem like centuries ago to a ninth grader, and why should the reader care anymore than Minerva about that fated day, circa age 10? Suddenly my sacred manuscript suddenly looked moth eaten, a Swiss cheese of plot holes.

The new chapter might fix this. I don't know; it's only draft one. But if we are going to write novels in this revolutionary time of self-publishing, we must take heed of what the people say, else become part of the supposed "tsunami of crap" that would-be authors unleash on the web, or, lost in the hubbub, the roaring noise of too many voices.

Last thought: if Salinger, Lee, O'Connor, or Munro (four of my favorite authors) had used Facebook, would their writing be better? I'm not saying it would. All I know is, I needed it yesterday for my creative process, and it kickstarted me out of an idling path and revved my engine for better plotting going forward.

Now I have a new chapter called Cornered by Carli's Cartel. Clearly I'm having too much fun with alliteration. The inspiration came from the crowd, and I'm thankful for it.

Where do you get your inspiration when you're trying to break through a writing block?