Balancing Player Backstory Without Disrupting Match Flow
Introducing an athlete's backstory can be essential to show why they possess certain motivations or mindset. However, it's crucial to learn how to weave in backstory without bogging down your narrative in constant flashbacks. Here are some tips that may help.
The 5 w’s of story – where, what, why, who and when – can all change to create variety and interest. None of these elements must change. The characters in your novel or your setting could remain fairly constant. Yet change opens up possibilities for new developments and intriguing new scenarios. These keep your novel exciting and interesting. To avoid your story stagnating in a single location, shift somewhere new – another town or country, from the city to the countryside or vice versa. Make sure any change of setting makes sense in relation to the story.
“If the middle of your game feels sluggish, don't be afraid to cut.”
This is the first part of a series on writing and developing backstory. I'll share more tips in upcoming articles. Please don't forget to comment on what you'd like discussed next!
Zhang Wei
It’s great that you share these tips with young and aspiring writers. Even though they may not be writing novels, I believe it will be very useful for them to learn something new from a really skilled writer like you. I’d be glad to hear some recommendations on how a writer can develop the plot without cutting down chapters (I often see it in the books of young writers). Anyway, thank you for this post, it is very informative!
Wang Fang
I completely agree with your last point, but I'd also love to learn how to develop the right relationship dynamics between key players. That would be very insightful.