159 - Backstory: Mountaintop or Valley

Episode 159 - Backstory: On the Mountaintop or in the Valley? with Sharon Short

November 8, 2022

I talk with Sharon Short about BACKSTORY: ON THE MOUNTAINTOP OR IN THE VALLEY? We discuss the importance of understanding what the character wants, backstory red flags, the point of no return, backstory for secondary characters and for setting, and when the backstory becomes the story.

Sharon Short is a regular contributor to Writer’s Digest magazine with her "Level Up Your Writing (Life)" column. She teaches a number of courses for writers, including those via Writer's Digest University. As Jess Montgomery, she writes the Kinship Historical Mystery series is set in 1920s Appalachia and inspired by Ohio's true first female sheriff. As Sharon Short, her book-length work ranges from a coming-of-age novel set in the 1950s (“My One Square Inch of Alaska”) as well as two mystery series: the comedic-with-a-twist-of-social-satire Josie Toadfern mysteries, and the electronic-gumshoe Patricia Delaney series.

"That leads us to the notion of the point of no return, like on the hero's journey where, if you're looking over the cliff and you realize, yeah, if I'm going to do this, hopefully I got a parachute because here I go. Or you're in the valley, and you're going to trudge up and at some point it's going to be more dangerous. You're not going to be able to turn back. You're going to have to keep going." —Sharon Short

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Links

Sharon's Links:
Kinship Historical Mysteries (as Jess Montgomery)
Writer's Digest Columnist: Level Up Your Writing (Life) (as Sharon Short)

Vice President, Mystery Writers of America Midwest Chapter
Facebook (Jess) Facebook (Sharon) Bookbub Goodreads Instagram Twitter
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I’d love to hear your thoughts!

I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Sharon! Have you ever had an aspect of your primary character’s backstory take on a life of its own and expand into a bigger part of the main story, or become a separate sub-plot or book of its own? I'd love to hear about it!

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