Writing Realistic Backstory Characters by Jeff Bailey

I write nuclear thrillers. As such, the thriller is the main story and the characters are backstory. In other genres, such as romantic comedies, recovery dramas, and memoirs, the characters are the main story and the world around them is the backstory. While characters must have a high degree of consistency in all novels, it is particularly difficult to write consistent characters as backstory when the main plot drives the majority of the story development. Every ounce of backstory development must be spot on.

I have an added impediment to believable backstory character development. I’ve been a scientist and engineer for fifty years. I know the terrorist story that I want to tell. But, I am somewhat stunted when it comes to understanding how people socially react in given situations, how they verbally share themselves, and what situations they might encounter as part of my story. For me, writing social interactions, believable dialog, and emotional motivations is as foreign as writing upside down.

I have, however, found a ways around my developmental shortcomings. The most obvious single solution is that I listen to and heed the advice of my editors, my beta readers, and my wife. These collaborators know what part of my writing leaves them wanting more. If they aren’t satisfied, my readers in general won’t be satisfied. I had to learn my second most usable character consistency tool, the thesauruses.

Negative Trait Thesaurus

I have two character development bibles: The Positive Trait Thesaurus and The NegativeTrait Thesaurus, both by writing gurus Ackerman and Puglisi. The respective references itemize an extensive range of character-associated traits. The body of the texts then provides stunningly accurate analysis of those traits, a revelation.

I have to start the process from scratch. For each protagonist, I search the index of the two thesauruses for the three positive trait and one negative trait that I feel most describes my intended character. I reverse the order for my antagonist. I pick three negative traits and one positive trait. No character should be all good or all bad. Then I read, reread, highlight, reread, and reread again the sections of the thesauruses that discusses these traits.

Positive Trait Thesaurus

As I write, I periodically review the discussions on these three traits. I need my characters to exhibit similar attributes and associated behaviors. I have flashbacks that are consistent with the possible causes list. I screen my characters’ actions to be true to the associated behaviors, thoughts, and emotions examples. If I stay within the boundaries of my four selected traits, my characters should feel true for my readers.

When my manuscript is completed, I often face one last challenge. I review the story to make sure that I’ve included enough character development to satisfy the story. After all, I’m a science nerd and thriller writer. My last story scan is focused on developing scenes that do nothing more than contribute to the character backstories. There always seems to be a couple of gaps in the flow of the scenes. I look at the examples from film and challenging scenarios sections of the thesauruses. If I mix these two sections with the main story line, a couple of new scenes seem to present themselves that are consistent with the characters that I want my reader to believe. These bonus scenes usually seem intentional and true to the overall story line.

With more than a hundred fully developed traits developed in both references, there is no end to wealth of characters that even I can develop. Even my thrillers would be ‘less than’ without backstory characters. 

The Defect

My name is Jeff Bailey. I write nuclear thrillers for a reason, I’ve worked in nuclear related industries, from nuclear weapons to nuclear research, for fifty years. Deer Hawk Publications released my first book, The Defect in June of 2016. In The Defect, I tell the story of a terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant and why the government covered it up. The Defect is based on true events. Deer Hawk Publications is scheduled to release I’m a Marine in the summer of 2017. I’m a Marine is about a female aviation firefighter in the U.S. Marines who witnesses the murder of two M.P.s. She decides that it is her duty to stop them. Keep in mind that I write nuclear thrillers. The Chilcoat Project, to be released in spring of 2018, is about the theft of nuclear weapons secrets from a national laboratory. The Chilcoat Project is also based on true events. My current project, Wine Country, is based on the true story of the Radioactive Boy Scout, but with a more sinister twist.

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