Focused Backstory by Carol Alwood Book Review and Amazon Gift Card Giveaway
About the Book
Learn how to write characters readers will love.
Has an industry professional told you not to dump character history at the beginning of your story? If so, you aren’t alone. But what’s the solution to this common advice? Most writers take the time to design interesting characters with troubled pasts. They long for readers to care about the characters’ lives. However, the sad truth is on page one, readers don’t care—yet. That’s why industry gurus tell writers to stop overusing character history, also called backstory, at the beginning of stories. Have you ever wondered… How to use backstory correctly? What are the ways other writers successfully incorporate backstory into their work? Do tools exist to help writers better plan stories so the backstory isn’t such a problem? In Focused Backstory: The Key to Writing Deep Character Journeys, you’ll find answers to these questions and more. You’ll learn how to avoid the dreaded info-dump and instead, harness curiosity so readers keep turning pages. This resource breaks down focused backstory into simple pieces to use flexibly in any story no matter what genre or length. Worksheets, tables, questionnaires, and templates will help you plan an engaging story with deep characters. Examples from popular stories will help you understand this method.
You’ll learn how to
• design a character around a troubled past.
• create additional characters around the main character.
• weave interesting sub-plots within a characters’ journey toward healing.
• design proper obstacles that interfere with characters’ goals.
• guide readers’ emotions so they have a satisfying reading experience.
No matter what kind of writer you are, if you take the time to analyze the use of backstory, it will enhance your style. Focused Backstory: The Key to Writing Deep Character Journeys is the missing gadget in your writing tool kit.
Book: Focused Backstory
Author: Carol Alwood
Genre: Non-fiction, writing resource
Release Date: June 26, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
As a filmmaker, story writer and blogger I was so excited to read "Focused Backstory" by Carol Alwood.
Carol Alwood has taken her years of experience in writing and beautifully created a great writing resource. "Focused Backstory" concentrates more on fictional writing, but most of the concepts can be brought to other types of media writing including short stories, screenplays, plays, memoir, biographies, news articles,, and so much more. Her book is full of illustrated charts, worksheets, and exercises that help guide you in building your characters' backstories in a systematic way. The book identifies five backstories and the eleven elements that constitute them, branching out from there and building on how to compose a story with engaging characters. She does a fantastic job of using movies, book and tv show to make her concepts easy to understand.
The structure of the book is very helpful. Each chapter tells you what it's going to cover, then covers it. Within each chapter, she puts in tables for ready reference, templates, worksheets and bullet lists and stick-figure illustrations. At the end of the chapter it summaries it to help you focus on what was the most important information.
Not only does she talk about character development but also advice regarding plot, subplots, motivation, conflict and other important novel-writing elements. Throughout the book she includes tips on creating secondary characters, giving characters goals and obstacles all while developing character arcs. Alwood does a great job explaining how to elicit reader emotions too.
Whether or not you are an aspiring or an experienced writer, you will find "Focused Backstory" is worth the read.
I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit but was not under any obligation to write a review. All opinions are strictly mine.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carol Alwood has an unending passion for fiction, and she can’t think of a better way to spend her life than writing books for young adults and teaching about techniques she has learned along the way. With a Master of Education, experience as a content editor, and over a decade of establishing and working with critique groups, she is an excellent resource. An award-winning author, Carol finds joy in helping writers find the right tools to plan, draft and revise their novels so they can achieve excellence in storytelling.Website: https://www.carolalwood.com/
More from Carol
Focused Backstory resulted from a personal quest to please industry critics who suggested I keep character history out of the first pages of my novels. My initial questions to this advice were: What? Why? I searched for resources to figure out how to write a more powerful beginning without relying on the past but found little help. On a mission to find answers, I studied popular books, television and movies to abstract what made stories work and — boom! I found it! We can break down backstory into simple pieces to use flexibly in any story without compromising artistry. This book provides definitions, examples, worksheets, templates, and comics to help writers study the art of using powerful character histories to keep readers turning pages. I’m so excited to offer this resource and hope it will empower your writing as it has mine.
GIVEAWAY
To celebrate her tour, Carol is giving away the grand prize of a $25 Amazon gift card!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway!
BLOG SPOTS
Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, December 28
Holly Jo Morris, December 28
janicesbookreviews, December 29
CarpeDiem, December 29
Jacquelyn Lynn, December 29
For the Love of Literature, December 30
Mary Hake, December 30
Blogging With Carol, December 31
All-of-a-kind Mom, December 31
Genesis 5020, January 1
April Hayman, Author, January 1
Pause for Tales, January 1
Through the Fire Blogs, January 2
A Modern Day Fairy Tale, January 2
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, January 3
Emily Yager, January 3
Remembrancy, January 4
Stephanie’s Life of Determination, January 4
A Reader’s Brain, January 5
Spoken from the Heart, January 5
Sara Jane Jacobs, January 5
Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, January 6
Godly Book Reviews, January 6
Blossoms and Blessings, January 7
With a Joyful Noise, January 7
Inklings and notions, January 8
Stories Where Hope and Quirky Meet, January 8
A Diva’s Heart, January 8
Artistic Nobody, January 9
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, January 9
Hebrews 12 Endurance, January 9
Texas Book-aholic, January 10
Stories By Gina, January 10
Click here to get your copy.
Another great book to discover. Thanks so much for sharing this with us.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning! Thank you for the book description.These tours are great and we have found some terrific books so thanks so much.
ReplyDelete