A to Z Challenge: B is for Boredom

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

I’ll be sharing mostly what I’ve learned about writing emotion into a novel, but I’ll also be throwing in a few key grammar lessons, pet peeves I’ve picked up while working as an editor.

Today’s an emotion day!

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B is for boredom:  the state of being tired or distracted; to make weary by being dull, repetitious, or uninteresting; a pervasive lack of interest; an attentional lapse.

Boredom is a tough one because it’s more about what’s not being shown.  There is generally no engagement with a character who is bored.  They stare off into space with a blank face, doodle on a piece of paper, or keep checking the time.  They fidget, sigh heavily, and exhibit signs of tiredness such as slouching or yawning.  They drum their fingers and roll their eyes in impatience, because boredom is mostly about the limitation of energy, not having any way to satisfy the need to expend it.

Boredom is an emotion you want to use very sparingly as it will slow the action and tension in a scene, offering the reader a perfect place to put the book down.

A to Z Challenge: B is for Backstory

Welcome to Day 2 of the A to Z Challenge

Many bloggers have chosen a theme for the A to Z.  My pledge since becoming a blogger is to post about writing, so for this event, I will being posting about what I've learned about writing a novel.

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B is for backstory:  the literary device of a narrative history and set of facts and factors all chronologically earlier than, and related to, a narrative of primary interest. Generally, it is the history of characters or other elements that underlie the situation existing at the main narrative's start.  (Wikipedia)

Generally speaking, readers do not need a bunch of backstory to understand who the characters are and why they are in the opening scenes.  Readers are content to wait a long time to learn the characters’ background as long as they are continuously dealing with a disturbance.  The trick to adding backstory is to drop it in in small doses and only when the need to know arises, and it must be dropped in actively.  There must be tension in backstory and should be used to bridge the conflict.  But make no mistake, backstory is necessary, so the reader can bond with the characters emotionally, to understand why they are doing what they are doing.

In my novel, I have two instances where backstory is vital.  I use dialogue as a way for the characters to hash out their past mistakes while also bringing to light their relevant histories.

Have you found it necessary to use much backstory in your novels?