First theology thread of mine...okay, folks. Let's see how theological I can sound, eh?

Often times when writing the history of a character with a solemn past you will imply to the reader about it until, in due time, the character's past will spill out and the reader shall know all. Up to this point, though, the reader has been left in the dark. Creating educated guesses solely by the few hints that you give them. Through these hints you are implying to the reader what has happened in the character's past...but what if the character's past can't be described...what if his (or her) past is too much to spill over to the reader. Then the reader must learn of the character's past solely by your hints.

Let me clarify a little better; I have a character with a rather solemn past. An abusive one actually, but I don't want to tell the reader that. At least, not overtly. No, you see, I want the reader to put the pieces together. It's a puzzle they must solve. I want them to solve it. So, they must learn of my character's abusive past solely through the hints I give them. They must guess...

While this makes for a very interesting read (I have read books that do similar things to do this before) it poses a problem to me. How do I give my reader the answer without actually giving my reader the answer? Obviously, it's all about the subtle clues I give them, but I was still wondering if I am the only writer that wishes for their readers to solve the pieces of the puzzles without having to pour out the answers to them.

So, do you have a character with a past you wish the reader to discover for themselves? If so; how do you go about placing the answer in your reader's mind without giving it to them on a silver platter?

Anyways, that is my question. Hopefully I didn't hopelessly confuse you!

Bethany Faith

This is an intriguing thought, Bethany. I haven't written it yet, but I have a character who has a phobia of small dark spaces due to a previous bad experience when she was young. Hints that I plan on giving will be showing the reader her apprehensive thoughts when approaching a dark space, but without giving the reasons why, unusual reactions to dark rooms, and denying anything is wrong when asked.

I haven't had much experience writing this kind of thing, but from my observations some ways to reveal the past bit by bit would be through the character's emotions, perhaps fleeting memories (i.e. flashbacks) or irrational responses to seemingly safe situations that relate to his or her past.

Sorry I wasn't more help!

Hey...I'm doing that with Mahlia. When she was only four, something happened that completely rocked her little world. Later, when she is older, she has no memories of it. She thinks it's just normal, since most people can't remember much from when they were little. So the reader doesn't know about Mahlia's past, because Mahlia herself doesn't know. But I drop hints. The first hints being that she does not resemble her parents and sisters very much...

If you'd like to read what I've written so far, let me know.

This thread actually doesn't belong in Theology, but I'm not positive which forum it goes in, so I will wait for a mod to come along and assist me.

Very good question, Bethy.

This is an interesting post Bethy! Thanks for bringing it up.

In my historical novel I have something that is hinted (very slightly) throughout the book, but as it has a great bearing as a whole on the novel I have to expound more on it at the end so that my readers know what's happening. I would worry otherwise that I'm confusing them and they'll miss the big part of the plot. However the way I explain it will not go into detail and nasty scenes. It will just be someone mentioning it briefly.

Having gentle hints in conversations can be one way of doing it I think. And you don't even have to mention who they're talking about and the person hearing it could only catch a snippet of the conversation and no name.

Perhaps character development?

My first guess was Village Lore, my second the Forge. I'm thinking Village Lore though, since what you're discussing is how to reveal backstory.

I'll move this over to the Forge... because I think it matches that room's synopsis best.

Welcome to The Forge!

And thus the interesting thread died.

Alison to the rescue! Hopefully...

So I actually really like this device; when used well, it can add a lot of mystery and depth to a story and make a backstory a lot more interesting. But just like any other plot device that forces the reader to guess, if the answers are obvious even though they're not supposed to be, it can be really annoying! I'm trying to use this device in my current novel, actually. There isn't that much tension about what will happen, so I'm trying to add some tension about what did happen to make things a bit more interesting.

When I decided to use this technique, I tried to consider all the different ways a significant memory can impact you, and then tried to hint at the memory using those effects. Let's use as an example my MC Tasavai's encounter with what was basically an evil pagan religious ceremony. I'd rather not describe the ceremony because 1) the only sufficiently evil ceremony I can think of is really, truly horrible 2) thus I don't want to think about it that much 3) and thus I don't want to force my readers to think about it too much. It left a strong mark on him, however, and so I still wanted to hint at it and suggest at it, even if I wouldn't describe it outright. So, first of all I thought about his experience's immediate, direct impact. After seeing the ceremony, Tasavai realized that there were things too dark and evil for him to study and understand; things that he didn't want to know, and that shook up his worldview and made him reconsider his strategy as a scholar and researcher. So I can talk about (or have other characters talk about) how he's changed as a thinker and a scholar, hinting at some turning point that initiated the change. There was also a direct impact on his relationships with his friends; another thing that I can show.

But memories can also leave more subconscious marks. The ceremony took place in a network of small tunnels, and now small, twisty tunnels make Tasavai nervous, if not afraid - his experience didn't produce a full-on phobia; it just tainted his perception of tunnels. Also, Tasavai saw the ceremony while he was with two or three friends (not sure how many yet!). Now his memory of those friends is going to be tainted by that experience they had together; they'll think of each other differently and treat each other differently. And now when Tasavai thinks about pagan religious ceremonies, when he thinks about the island where it occurred, when he thinks about that date, when he sees a landscape that looks similar, all of these things, he'll think of that experience. He won't necessarily have an obsessive fear of religious ceremonies, or islands, or that date, or that kind of landscape...but like I said, they'll be tainted by his memory. (That's been my own experience with memories, at any rate.) You could do phobias, of course, but sometimes I think it's better to have something more subtle. So anyways, I can make him react with fear or nervousness or whatever it is for him when he comes across those tainted things...and I can flavor his interactions with the characters who shared the experience with him. Actually, the whole novel is composed of letters to a woman who was involved, and so this makes it extra-easy!

There's another aspect of memory, too - it becomes a store of illustrations, examples and references to bring up in a discussion. This becomes handy for a mysterious backstory when you have some characters around who know about the backstory. Then someone can say things such as, "I didn't understand it, it was like what we saw in the tunnels..." and the other characters can know what s/he means without requiring further explanation. Anyways, those are some aspects of memories that I thought of. Perhaps you could think about the effect of memories more as you figure out how to leave clues to a backstory.

As I said, I've found it useful to have other characters around who know the backstory. I've also found it handy for the novel to be in first-person, with the narrator being the one who has the mysterious backstory. Then s/he can hide things...but s/he can also accidentally let things slip. Always fun. And also, in the past I've fretted and fretted over how on earth I'll hint at a backstory before I start a novel...but then once I get writing the opportunities for hints just keep popping up. With my current novel, I worked out beforehand what were the main effects of his experience in the tunnels, but then I just started writing and hoped I'd find ways to throw in hints using those effects. And sure enough, I'm finding plenty of opportunities. Hopefully I'm using them well!

Anyways, I'd love to hear about anyone else's experiences using or reading this plot device, or any other advice.

If the thing that must be guessed is something necessary to the plot, or 'promised' by the writer as something that will be answered, then not answering it and letting the readers figure it out themselves just disappoints people – even if they do guess right. In those cases, they don't really want to be left with a guess, they want to know.

It really depends on how important the information is, both how much it affects the plot, and also how much the story plays it up. If you make the reader expect that he will find out the information, and then you don't tell them, that's a problem.

But it's not always bad. Back story is a place where it is particularly powerful, I believe.

Yes, that's the same way with me, and I've heard other people mention it.

Heh. Series of Unfortunate Events, some? The author does this all the time. For instance, the narrator keeps hinting about a sugar bowl being really important, and then eventually the characters start looking for it and wondering about it and trying to protect it...and we never find out why on earth that stupid sugar bowl is so important. Fans have various theories on what's up with it, but they can't be sure. And it is rather annoying.


Yup. There will always be readers who want more, of course, but that's life.

I think sometimes it's nice to explain only the general outline of something, and then hint at the details. For instance, a backstory of abuse. You could reveal openly that your character has been abused in the past, not going into details of how exactly. But the way your character responds to various people and situations could hint at the details. Or you could have the hints first, and then the general explanation to sort of collect them together and put them into context.

I'm guessing that for a book like that, weird stuff like such is part of the humor, even if it is annoying. * grins * I'd think that for a more serious book, it would be more unsatisfying. That's how it's been in my experience, anyway. I can give some grace to a book that's meant to be weird, like Lemony Snicket's, and 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe'.

* nods * Yes, I've seen this kind of thing done very well.

Ah, I said it was annoying, but I didn't say it was bad. The annoyance of it is just why it's so funny! And at least in the case of A Series of Unfortunate Events, the lack of answers was part of the serious point of the books. So yes, there definitely is room for lack of answers, even when it's annoying, in fiction...every rule has an exception, particularly in writing! But in a more normal, orthodox book, so to speak, you do need to be careful about how much you're refusing to tell the readers, I think.

Anyways, thanks for your thoughts.