I also need to say that everytime I read this I find another misplaced comma or typo, or some such, so for those of you who find them please forgive me. This was supposed to be the original prologue but I've decided against it.
My favorite quote from Diana Jenkins -- 'We don't need no stinkin' backstory.'
I'm curious. Why did you decide against it? It works well as a prologue, I think. Did you write something else for it, or are you skipping it altogether in favor of 'no stinkin' backstory'?
Because I'm a big fan of dropping a reader right into the story and letting any backstory play out later.
I've found that when I tell a story I have to start from the beginning. This was my starting point with Ellis. The problem is, in my genre the editors want you to start with the meeting between the H/H first and then backstory to fill in later. I hate that. I want the backstory, I want all the details, even when I read a book, so I can feel the love for the characters and grow with them as the story grows. And that's how I have to write. With all the details.
When I finished Masquerade (Ellis' brother's story) it ended up being 126K. So I've had to revise, revise, revise. Hate that too. But that's what sells. Short, sweet and to the point. 85-90K.
My only consolation (I hope) is when I become famous and have a terrific website I'll get to put up all the backstory parts that were cut.
As Ellis' story stands right now, we know his wife died, but we really don't know how. We have snippets of his devastating loss but nothing like this. When my story starts now, Ellis has been a widow for almost 14 months. He still misses his wife but he has Jane to comfort him. I may, if I can figure it out, have some part of this in the main storyline somehow, but it's not looking like it so far.
5 comments:
Powerful. Painful. Well done.
Thank you very much Simon.
I also need to say that everytime I read this I find another misplaced comma or typo, or some such, so for those of you who find them please forgive me. This was supposed to be the original prologue but I've decided against it.
My favorite quote from Diana Jenkins -- 'We don't need no stinkin' backstory.'
I'm curious. Why did you decide against it? It works well as a prologue, I think. Did you write something else for it, or are you skipping it altogether in favor of 'no stinkin' backstory'?
Because I'm a big fan of dropping a reader right into the story and letting any backstory play out later.
I've found that when I tell a story I have to start from the beginning. This was my starting point with Ellis. The problem is, in my genre the editors want you to start with the meeting between the H/H first and then backstory to fill in later. I hate that. I want the backstory, I want all the details, even when I read a book, so I can feel the love for the characters and grow with them as the story grows. And that's how I have to write. With all the details.
When I finished Masquerade (Ellis' brother's story) it ended up being 126K. So I've had to revise, revise, revise. Hate that too. But that's what sells. Short, sweet and to the point. 85-90K.
My only consolation (I hope) is when I become famous and have a terrific website I'll get to put up all the backstory parts that were cut.
As Ellis' story stands right now, we know his wife died, but we really don't know how. We have snippets of his devastating loss but nothing like this. When my story starts now, Ellis has been a widow for almost 14 months. He still misses his wife but he has Jane to comfort him. I may, if I can figure it out, have some part of this in the main storyline somehow, but it's not looking like it so far.
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