Have you ever watched a play, tv show, or movie where background characters did nothing but stand around and watch? It gets old and boring quick. The same is true for background characters in your writing.

How your characters react in everyday situations is as important to how they respond in the “big scenes”. Without secondary responses, the pages of a book take on the same droll sense that watching someone on stage just standing there has. Boring.

We would like your thoughts and advice on how to up the background, yet still keep it in the back. Because even though it’s necessary, it still must not over power the importance of the scene it is in.

Okay, Anica had such a great comment, that I decided to add it to this post.

I think a lot of it is about knowing how your point of view character would look at the background characters and their activities. That’s the level of detail they should get.

Sometimes scenes seem to stop while the protagonist describes everything that other characters are doing – as you say, the background overpowers the scene. Mostly, I think the issue is that showing activities (e.g. what some character in the background is doing) implies (a) the passage of time, and, (b) that your protagonist spends the aforementioned time being aware of these activities, which means s/he’s paying enough attention to describe them at the level at which they’re described.

This can be especially problematic in big fight scenes. Often the author has introduced a bunch of characters over the course of a book or even a series, and s/he then wants to show the reader what all of them are up to during the big fight, but reading paragraphs on what other people are doing during an action sequence makes me think, “What about our protagonist? Is she just standing there watching?” (If so, there had better be a good reason, because that isn’t a very active or interesting course for her to take.)

Background details can be included; they just have to make sense in the context of what the POV character is doing at the time. In the fight scene example, maybe she could be fighting her way across the room, trying to ask each of her friends an important question, which would mean she would see what each of them is doing.

Thanks, Anica for your thoughts on this subject, I agree completely!

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Sarah is writer looking for an agent. She is currently working on novel # 4, editing novels 2 and 3, and querying novel # 1. For more insight to her work, visit: http://legendoftheprotectors.wordpress.com/ or http://legendoftheprotectors.blogspot.com/

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My dad, bless his heart, still expects me to read my emails daily. He sent me an email for a free seminar on writing. Of course, the seminar was yesterday, but I clicked on the site and within minutes received an email from the authors say we could still listen. Here’s the email and sites for all those who need and/or want advice from two Best selling and Prize winning authors. I for one can’t wait to listen.

“7 Success Strategies Every Entrepreneurial Author
Needs to Know… Before Writing a Word.”

Christine Kloser and Lynne Klippel, Best-selling and Award-winning Authors, have a free seminar they offered at their site.

The call is over now, but you can still listen to the
recording. It was a great call, filled with “nuts and bolts”
tips and techniques for aspiring authors… especially the
ones who are struggling to get their book written! People
from all over the world discovered how to set themselves
up for success as an author from the very first word.

Here’s your link to listen to the call:

http://AttendThisEvent.com/?eventid=14947536

Be sure to have a pen and paper handy to take plenty of
notes! And, pay special attention to the end of the call
where you’ll hear 2 special and TIME-SENSITIVE
announcements that we’ll never be offering again.

To your book success,

Christine Kloser and Lynne Klippel
Best-selling and Award-winning Authors

Co-hosts of Successful Author Secrets
Co-creators of the award-winning “Get Your Book Done” program
Co-founders of Love Your Life Publishing, Inc.
Ph: (800) 314-5590

P.S. – If you don’t have time right now to listen to the
call, you can go directly to
www.LoveYourLifePublishing.com/gybd-live where you’ll learn
more about our Get Your Book Done® writing program that
begins on October 12. This program is for YOU if you want
2011 to be THE year your book gets done! Please hurry, our
special pricing ends in 7 days…

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Sarah is writer looking for an agent. She is currently working on novel # 4, editing novels 2 and 3, and querying novel # 1. For more insight to her work, visit: http://legendoftheprotectors.wordpress.com/ or http://legendoftheprotectors.blogspot.com/

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It’s inevitable that as you start on your journey in creating a story, you don’t start at day one. So where do you start?

For me, when I first started writing, I started too early into the story. My friend Bethany helped the inexperienced me understand that the story starts often after the trauma, after the move, after the big change. That ridded me of my first two chapters of book one. Now, as I write, I try to start where the story actually begins, but I realize that often I still need someone to say, “Nope, here’s the start to your story.”

That leaves the backstory to be woven into the novel, not dumped in, but layered throughout.

Often, we tend to think that something can’t be cut because it’s important for the reader to know. So, my question is: How do you work it in without dumping it?

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Sarah is writer looking for an agent. She is currently working on novel # 4, editing novels 2 and 3, and querying novel # 1. For more insight to her work, visit: http://legendoftheprotectors.wordpress.com/ or http://legendoftheprotectors.blogspot.com/

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There are a few sites that I sign up for their email. One is Guide to Literary Agents Editor’s Blog. It gives you great insights into the world of the agent. A recent article by Debbie Fuhry, an inspirational fiction writer, lists 7 things she’s learned.

1. Look before you leap.

2. Don’t be cheap.

3. Find a writing group.

4. Make the best use of writer’s conferences.

5. Don’t bypass the agent.

6. Cheer on other writers.

7. Keep your expectations in line with reality.

To read the full article, go to Guide to Literary Agents and learn why I subscribe.

For more on Debbie, visit her site or her blog.

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Sarah is writer looking for an agent. She is currently working on novel # 4, editing novels 2 and 3, and querying novel # 1. For more insight to her work, visit: http://legendoftheprotectors.wordpress.com/ or http://legendoftheprotectors.blogspot.com/

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We interrupt this regular day to bring you some HUGE NEWS!

Our very own JAMIE HARRINGTON HAS AN AGENT!

Yep, you read that correctly!

Jamie joined us not long after we started here, and has been an intricate part to our site. (She and her husband created it for us.) So we couldn’t be more thrilled to announce that:

Victoria Horn from Liza Dawson Associates

has signed on to be her agent!

Congratulations to Jamie and Victoria, I am sure they will make a great team!

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Sarah is writer looking for an agent. She is currently working on novel # 4, editing novels 2 and 3, and querying novel # 1. For more insight to her work, visit: http://legendoftheprotectors.wordpress.com/ or http://legendoftheprotectors.blogspot.com/

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