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

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