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CAA/SFC Webinar: Backstory Secrets
May 19, 2021 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
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Backstory is tricky to interweave into your story effectively. Often, our mistake is to introduce it too soon, or all at once in one large infodump. When and how can it be feathered in effectively? Think of your backstory as a series of secrets your protagonist does not want to reveal. Make your audience hungry for backstory and deliver it at just the right moment!
As a result of attending this session, attendees will be able to: distinguish between character biography and backstory; identify places in their own fiction where the power of backstory is lost because it is introduced too soon, in the wrong place, or too much is given at once; recognize the importance of backstory for their own understanding of their characters; recognize the power of backstory to deepen character, to provide motivation to a character who has been defeated to keep going at all costs, and to heighten the drama of a story; and use multiple techniques to introduce backstory effectively.
Presenter: Susan Forest
Length: 90 minutes (including Q&A)
Level: Basic and Intermediate
Type: Informational
COST: This series is free due to COVID-19’s impact on the writing community; space in the live event is limited to the first 100.
About the Presenter
Susan Forest is the author of Aurora Award-winning Bursts of Fire (2019), as well as over 25 internationally published short stories. She edits an award-winning anthology series for Laksa Media, and will be Editor Guest of Honour at Keycon in 2021. The second novel of her seven-volume Addicted to Heaven series, Flights of Marigold (Publisher’s Lunch Selection), confronts issues of addictions in an epic fantasy world of intrigue and betrayal.
Twitter: @susanjforest
Facebook:: Susan Forest
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-forest-84220153/
Website: http://speculative-fiction.ca/
Can’t attend on that particular date? No problem — as long as you’re registered, we’ll send you a link to the recording within 48 hours of the live webinar.