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Using BACKSTORY to its full potential, a thread 🧵 In our experience as dev editors, backstory often "goes wrong" in three ways: too much, too soon, and without necessity. We believe that anything can be done well, but here are some guidelines to follow. #writingcommunity

Here's a question: At what point does one have enough backstory to take out the back and make it a whole separate story? Am Curious.

In fact, this is pretty common! I've encountered many manuscripts where the most intense and interesting conflict is in the past and the present story is more about the repercussions of the past. That can work, but sometimes it means turning the back into the story, for sure!!

Imagine doing this several times by complete accident. You turn the backstory into main story, only to accidentally make that story's backstory So Much that now THAT is The Story, but that THAT story's backstory-