Think about your character’s flaw or wound, or maybe they have a secret they don’t want anyone to know. Pick any of those things or something else, as long as it’s something about the character that arose from their backstory.

Got it?

Now, what, in the front story, could prompt them to think about this backstory incident? It could be an object or a place, a smell. A song. Whatever.

For this prompt, we’re going to write a scene that prompts the character to remember this character-forming incident. They’re going through their frontstory life, pursuing their goal, dealing with their conflict, and then–bam (or whoosh)–something triggers this memory . . .

Do they shut it down immediately? Do they feel even more threatened for having remembered? Does including this memory add any conflict?

Can it?

Write the scene.

Book that inspired this post

The book cover link above is an Affiliate Link, which means I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through this link, at no cost to you.  In other words, if you’re thinking of buying a copy of this book for your home craft library anyway, buying said copy through this link is a no-brainer way to help support this site. And I appreciate it. Thank you!

That’s it for me!

If you found this post helpful, please . . .

1. Like it and share it! There are share buttons below . . .

2. Subscribe to the Blog to receive the Tools in your inbox as soon as they post:

3. Subscribe to the Newsletter. It’s a monthly-to-quarterly-ish (that’s still vastly overstating it) newsletter to share news and free worksheets and whatnot. Your welcome email will include the 19-page Character Development Workbook. You can subscribe here.

4. And if you found it particularly helpful . . .

Thanks!