Presenting background is one of those eternally difficult techniques for novelists. It’s inherently dull because it stops your story—something you want to avoid. Yet it’s absolutely necessary if the reader is to understand your characters’ actions and motivations. So often, beginning writers give far too much background, then compound the mistake by putting the background where it shouldn’t go. The trick is to know when and how to present background in your novel. Here are some pointers.Give Background as Explanation

Provide background only when something has come up that needs explaining. In other words, explain only what needs to be explained in order for the reader to be able to understand the story at this moment.

Here’s an example. Your lead character, a teacher, sees a particular parent enter her classroom at the end of the day and she tenses up. Unless you do some explaining, the reader will be at a loss as to why your lead has reacted this way. It’s necessary at this point to tell the reader what has happened between the parent and your lead to make your lead react this way.

You can present this background in dialogue between these two characters—if you can find a way to do it naturally. For example, your lead might force herself to approach the parent, smile, and say, “I’m sorry I blew up at you the other day, Mrs. Jensen, but I really don’t think you were listening to what I was trying to tell you about Andrew.”

You can present it in dialogue between your lead and a third character—again, if you can find a way to do it naturally, and if, of course, there’s another character present. For example, if there’s another teacher or an aide nearby, your lead might whisper, “There’s that Mrs. Jensen. She won’t hear anything negative about her precious Andrew.”

Or you can just tell us, as succinctly as possible, what happened: Yesterday, when Mary had tried to tell Mrs. Jensen that her son Andrew was failing in nearly all his subjects because he refused to make an effort, Mrs. Jensen had cut Mary off and said that Mary herself was the problem…

Minimize Background

Most likely you’ll have created what I call a character fact list about each of your novel’s major characters. You needn’t try to convey to the reader all the information on the character’s fact list. You created that background information to help YOU bring the character to life. Never give background just for the sake of giving it: always make sure there’s a reason, AT THE MOMENT YOU’RE GIVING THE INFORMATION, for giving it.

Even when you’ve decided it’s the right time to give the reader some background, think hard about whether it’s vital to deliver ALL of it. It’s probably not. Whittle the information down to the essentials—what’s necessary to understand what’s happening in the story now.

Don’t just present background briefly; present it ONCE. Give your readers credit for being able to remember what you’ve told them. (You can, of course, always allude, or have a character allude to or think about, a piece of information you’ve already presented.)

Withhold Information

Understand that readers don’t need to know every facet of a character’s background to follow that character’s present story or sympathize with that character. New writers deliver great unbroken gobs of background at the beginning of their novels in the mistaken belief that readers need it in order to go on. The reverse is true. The longer you can withhold the juiciest stuff about a character’s past, the better.

Break It Up

There’s no excuse for those unbroken gobs of background information, at the beginning or at any other point in your novel. Spoon-feed background to your readers so that they’re barely aware they’re getting it.

Convert Background to More Dynamic Material

Whenever you can, convert background into action, dialogue, thoughts, or a combination of these. In the first two examples above about Mary the teacher, background is presented in conversation. But often a character’s actions convey background more strongly than words or thoughts ever could. Eight-year-old Jamie is on his way to his friend’s house and stops to pick blueberries from the bushes that grow at the edge of Mrs. Pickett’s yard. Suddenly Mrs. Pickett appears on her porch and glares hard at Jamie. He sees her and takes off, heart pounding. It’s pretty clear that he’s done this before—and that Mrs. Pickett has taken him to task for it.

Use Flashbacks When They’re Necessary and Appropriate

Some editors of genre fiction won’t allow flashbacks because the fast pace of these stories can’t support the flashback’s story-halting action. But in most novels it’s perfectly appropriate to present information in the form of an actual scene IF THE READER MUST HAVE THE EXACT DETAILS OF THAT SCENE. Just keep the flashback as brief as possible, and present it at a time when the story action has slowed. What reader will have patience for a flashback in the middle of a car chase? If a flashback is long but necessary, don’t be afraid to break it up. Just leave it off at a cliff-hanging moment and return the reader to it later.

Keep Background Up Front

If at all possible, present all of your background within the first quarter of your novel—though I’d keep it out of chapter one. By page 100 of a 400-page manuscript, readers should know just about all they need to know about a character’s background. The rest of the book should be pretty much “real-time” story.

Keep these tips in mind and presenting background in your novel will soon become second-nature.