Showing a character’s backstory in deep pov is tricky. It’s always easier to use the author voice to explain or summarize what’s already happened, why the character is acting or thinking a certain way, explain erratic behaviour, etc. and just move on with the story.
Choosing deep point of view means you’re committing to showing WHY the character is making the choices they do by showing their thoughts, actions, and emotions without explanation or summary. To pull this off, you need to know your character inside and out, and be strategic and consistent with details over time. This will force readers to lean in and engage, and not everyone wants to do that, but for those who do there’s an emotional connection forged between reader and character.
]The risk is that deep POV notoriously slows the pace of your story and readers get bogged down in (sometimes unnecessary) introspection.
There’s a middle ground though.
Generally, I get asked this when someone wants to show past trauma, but these are the questions I ask in critiques when writers are asking for help to go deeper in a scene with backstory or flashbacks. Let’s go deeper!
Be Objective About What The Reader Needs To Know
First thing’s first, always ask yourself how much information about the past the reader needs to know to understand what’s going on at that point in the story. Right here, right now – what does the reader need to know? Many times, we front-load the backstory details so the reader has EVERYTHING all in one place. Generally, the reader doesn’t need all those details in one paragraph. Drip in the details as the reader needs to know them, or drip them in consistently over the course of the story.
What do I mean by dripped in?
I’m reminded of the very first episode of Yellowstone. You meet Beth and Rip, they have crazy spontaneous sex right off, but we don’t get their whole history in that scene (or even that season). But from just that one brief explosive encounter, we know they’ve been intimate before many times, that Beth has a caustic personality that keeps everyone at arm’s length away which hints at past hurt, and for some reason that toxicity hasn’t turned Rip completely off her.
All the rest of their story gets dripped in over three seasons as we need to know it, as it comes to a head, as it needs to be discussed. It keeps us leaning in.
That first episode answers one or two questions about these characters, enough to lean in and want more info, but leaves us with many MORE questions about what that past was and why she’s so angry all the time.
Map Out The Emotional Consequences Of The Past Event
I start with a mind-map of the emotional context of the past event for my character. Emotional context can be as simplistic or complicated as you want, but this asks us to consider what other events inform actions and decisions. Remember, emotions want us to DO something. Emotions serve three purposes: to warn, to protect, and to inform. They bring genuine concerns forward and propose solutions.
One common way writers undercut the emotional tension in a story is not following through with emotional consequences. You have a character who has this high-emotion moment (maybe they yell, or draw a line in the sand, walk away from something, stand against a bully – whatever), and the next morning they wake up and life continues as though nothing changed. There should be emotional consequences to these events.
Maybe the consequence is exhaustion, but hopefully other characters react to this high-emotion in a way that surprises the character, or at least the reader. Maybe the POV character is the one who is surprised by the actions or another, what are the emotional consequences of that emotion directed at them?
Questions To Inform Your Emotion Mind-Map
- What Emotions Did The Past Experience Evoke?
I like to map this out in two different ways: primary and secondary emotions. The unthinking, knee-jerk reactions to the event may be overwhelming and/or trigger emotions from the past (these emotions may present a problem). The secondary emotions are the thinking reactions (the solutions) to the primary emotions and event.
Initially, there may be fear, vulnerability, surprise, and relief. It may take seconds, minutes, hours, or days for the secondary emotion to kick in which could lead to anger (in an effort to regain control of emotions), betrayal (sorting through the consequences of the event), or shame (they didn’t do a bad thing, they are bad themselves).
Your character’s emotional maturity can play a role here. Are they able to see their own part in something painful? Are they capable of changing the problematic trait? Do they persistently dwell on the event and rehearse what they wanted or should have said? Have they found an closure?
Does this event confirm a limiting belief for the character? (Of course she was fired, she’s a failure. Of course his girlfriend left, he doesn’t deserve to be loved…) These beliefs may be subconscious. Read more about limiting beliefs here.
2. What Sensory Details Linger From The Past Experience?
Jot down the sensory details of that event that overwhelmed the character’s senses in the moment. Memory is closely linked to sound and smell. The car tires screeching on the asphalt, burning rubber, everything was wet from the snow, being yelled at, the taste of fresh bread. You get the idea. This is helpful if you need a trigger for the memory at any point.
I like this clip from Pearl Harbor which shows the immediate aftermath of the attack. You see some characters compartmentalizing their emotions (emotions they’ll have to deal with later) to retain critical thinking skills, and some who are equivocally overwhelmed and just freeze. Some characters reach for anger to help manage the feelings of vulnerability, helplessness, or powerlessness. Notice the sensory details the filmmaker’s included – the smoke, the cries of the wounded, the crush of the bodies, etc.
For these characters in the future, memories of this attack could be triggered by any of these sensory details. Emotional and auditory flashbacks are also very possible. The sound of a plane engine overhead might trigger the same fear. The loud voices and crush of a large crowd may trigger the helplessless all over again. These sensory details could also force the emotions the character refused to acknowledge in the moment. There’s lots to play with here (and, just in case it needs to be said, this list isn’t exhaustive and of course there’s exceptions and outliers).
3. How Often Does The Memory Intrude On The Character?
Whether it’s a positive or painful memory, some intrude frequently and some we’re reminded of only rarely. A character who nearly drowned as a child, may be able to avoid triggers of this memory if they avoid being in the water above their knees, for instance. Or, the fear of suffocation may be far more intrusive and occur at any point where they feel fear or powerlessness. Just remember, the more often you have a memory intrude on a character, the more debilitating painful memories will be. There will be not only an emotional toll, but a physical and mental cost as well to reliving difficult moments. If you give your character PTSD, the cost is enormous and more far-reaching than those without it.
4. What Are The Emotional Triggers From That Past Experience?
Emotional triggers are more thematic, than exact replicas. Emotional triggers can result in flashbacks of all sorts, but can also come out in dreams, or in behaviour and decisions. The key to SHOW that your character has an emotional trigger is repetition. The cause of the trigger can vary, but be consistent with how the trigger comes on, how it feels, and the reaction to it. Do they chronically over-react, exit, become angry?
If, for instance, betrayal is the emotional trigger, what situations could you create for that character to evoke that emotion, or the fear of that emotion rising up? Remember, we’ll go to extraordinary lengths to avoid painful emotions. Would they risk asking someone out on a date? Would they trust a coworker to complete their half of a project? Would they ever fully trust a romantic or business partner? Would this extend to being misunderstood or other neighbour-emotions?
A character who struggles with perfectionism might be trying to avoid a situation or emotion that was uncomfortable or left them feeling vulnerable. The perfectionism might be a way to try and control things. So dig into the WHY behind the coping mechanism, and drip in little hints that show WHY the perfectionism is actually a rational (to that character) solution to the problem.
5. How Much Time Has Gone By Between The Present And The Event?
A child is going to remember details differently than an adult. Did the character have to devise their own way of surviving the experience, or did they have the tools of an adult to process what happened? A child often won’t point to the caregiver who’s hurt them and know they’re making poor decisions or are a bad person. Rather, the child blames themselves.
In this post I talk about emotional context and the kids at the table. A memory from childhood may trigger child-like language or solutions to the emotional concern, or the adult may recognize the child’s concern and be able to behave and make decisions like an empowered adult. (By empowered, I mean they have the freedom to leave a troubled situation, they have the freedom to say no, they can speak for themselves, they’ll be heard, etc.)
The more time that’s gone by, the more the memory will be affected by outside factors like news reports, other people’s perspectives, their own ideas of what should have or shouldn’t have happened – the story is likely to change or have key pieces forgotten. With something like PTSD, the memory is frozen in time. Combat survivors from WW2 were interviewed immediately after a battle, and then again twenty or thirty years later. The ones who had processed the event, recalled the events much differently, their memory filled in the gaps and added context from outside sources. They forgot many details.
Whereas those with PTSD, recalled the event and used nearly the same wording as in their initial briefing following the event. The memory is frozen in time.
6. Does The Character Avoid Reminders Of The Past?
Quite a lot can be inferred by readers through what a character avoids. It may be a direct copy of whatever the past event was, it could be thematically or emotionally related. Anniversaries are a great way to link the present to the past, because grief and old emotional wounds have a way of sneaking up on us through the calender. Something the character believes has been dealt with, something that happened so long ago, can be brought back just by a particular tree blooming, a date, or a yearly event like the beginning of school.
A character with a poor self-body image may actively avoid looking at their body in a mirror. They may be very intentional about not looking at themselves below the neck, or avoid body-length mirrors, etc. Show what the emotional wound is through this repeated avoidance of something that otherwise seems innocuous.
If the past event involved bondage of some sort, they may avoid fitted or restrictive clothing. If there was medical trauma, they may avoid going to the hospital or being around anyone who wears a mask.
7. Do They Carry Any Shame From The Past?
Shame is such a powerful, pervasive and debilitating emotion to give a character. Where guilt says: you did a bad thing. Shame says, you’re a bad person. This can key into the limiting beliefs I linked to above. Do they have survivor’s guilt? Does the regret morph into ‘I’m a bad person because I didn’t…’ or ‘I’m a bad person because I was too much…’ Are there thoughts that haunt them? ‘No one can know about…’ or ‘If they knew x or y about me, they’d be gone.’
This is something to dig deeper into. Shame is a complex emotion, so resist the urge to make it simplistic. It should affect thoughts, emotions, decisions, reactions, and even physiology if chronically ignored.
Annnnd… I’ve reached nine questions. I could go on. Maybe I’ll continue that in the next mastery series post 😀 What would you like to see me cover in a deep pov mastery series post? Which of these questions have helped spark your creativity and thinking with your WIP?