Narrative Techniques Series: #3 Backstory
Do you have ever heard about this third Narrative Technique, the Backstory? I am sure you do.
Think about the sentence which often begins with a “…years ago”. This sentence concerns the way to give more information about the past of a character or a story. The Backstory technique aims to provide more intensity and depth to a narration. There are many movies and books which include this proper narrative technique: the Backstory.
Using the narrative technique of the Backstory, you can choose to tell a story without any breaks or use this technique to make the whole story more vivid and intense.
What is the Narrative Technique of Backstory?
This narrative technique is kind of a window into the past of our characters. With the background technique, the reader can better understand the behavior of the protagonist or others. The narrative technique of the Backstory gives the chance to travel through past experiences and life stories and then keep going on the current narration with a different perspective about a character.
Every one of us in our life, after all, has passed difficulties or barriers that change the path and attitude to face things. The past has a significant role in everyone’s life. It is the place where we come from and our story. That is the reason why the narrative technique of the backstory is so important and valuable.
Understand a character also mean knowing his/her fears, even the deepest ones.
“We do not have to be ashamed of what we are. As sentient beings, we have wonderful backgrounds. These backgrounds may not be particularly enlightened or peaceful, or intelligent. Nevertheless, we have soil good enough to cultivate; we can plant anything in it.”
Chögyam Trungpa
How to use the Backstory Narrative Technique?
There are different ways to use this technique.
The first one is the flashback. It has to be a short but intense break in the narration and used at different times during the story. In general, the public likes flashbacks because it makes the story more dynamic by creating an extra level of narration. Therefore, usually, it hides some unforeseen plot twist.
The second one is the prologue. It is like a flashback but only introduces at the beginning of a story. Here we don’t have the same surprise effect as in the flashback technique, but the reader can learn a lot of information about the characters and the story itself.
The digression is another helpful instrument to realize the narrative technique of the backstory. In the digression, the writer makes a little break to explain better a scene, an environment, or a particular character’s attitude.
Finally, you can resort to the first-person narrative or the third-person one.
With the first-person narration, the writer tells a story, an event, speaking about the past. In this case, the writer is personally involved in the narration and uses his voice to give more details. Using the second option, the third-person narrative, the writer chooses a third person, outside the story, who can narrate and know everything.
Write your story with the narrative technique of the Backstory and bibisco novel writing software
Writing your novel is quite a complicated task. Fortunately, bibisco has some valuable tools which will make it easier for you to create your story and get to know your characters in depth.
Conclusions
Why deciding to use the backstory narrative technique in your novel? Because this technique can add meaning to your story and enrich it with details.
The reader could get their idea about the characters and the narration by reading more information given through the backstory narrative technique. It also can be a useful element to make the narration more vivid and amaze your public.
