Literary Devices

How to create a Powerful Character Backstory

MOTIVE = Motive goals + Stakes

Motive goal – is a thing the character once set of circumstances they would like
to bring about in the world.

Stakes – are why they want to.

• You need both of this to get the reader to care about the journey that
the character is going to go on to try and get what they want.
• Motive goal and stakes conceived in this way actually fit pretty much
perfectly into the first two plot points of the plan real.

PLOT POINT

1. YOU – you’re establishing the protagonist and a zone of comfort and this
is where you establish the stakes.
2. NEED – you need something changes to make the character want something
that they can’t get from their comfort zone, and this is the motive goal.

Backstory – is the event or events that created the part of that person which
is going to change during the story. Anything else we’re talking to them in the
past is window dressing. It can still be there in the novel, you can still talk
about it but it doesn’t belong in the plot in view. (Example: Darth Vader).

HOOK THE READER

At the beginning of the story, we want to hook reader’s interest immediately.

We want to entice them into the fictional world we’ve created. One way to do
this is by beginning with:

• Conflict or intrigue – something that will make the reader expect a dramatic
unfolding. Raise a question for the reader they’ll want answered. Do it as
early as the first paragraph.

UNIVERSAL THEMES

• Great stories draw us in by focusing on issues of human need.

- the need to be loved
- to be respected
 - to have control over one’s life
- to overcome hardships and painful emotional experiences
- the need to find meaning

These universal themes can be brought to life in original stories.

• By engaging the reader on an emotional level, you make them care and
want to know what happens next. The action in the story might be great
but it still needs an emotional angle to sustain interest from the audience.
• Avoid starting a story with long, descriptive passages. Gets straight into the
drama. Introduce a dilemma or goal for the protagonist. Once you got
the reader engaged, then you can illuminate the characters and their
fictional world.
• Using a character, you’ve already created, write a paragraph about a
problem or need they must resolve. Make it as dramatic as possible and
with an emotional edge.
• Create expectation and curiosity in the reader. It should be connected in
with the central theme of your story. If you’re not sure what your central
theme is, take time to work it out. If you don’t know what your story’s
about, neither will the reader.
• The hook at the beginning should be connected to the ending. This helps
to frame the story. The questions posed are answered.

Plot twists

• Most plot twists re fundamentally same.

Anagnorisis – means a recognition.

According to Aristotle, “anagnorisis is a change from ignorance to knowledge,

producing love or hate between the persons destined by the poet for good
or bad fortune.”

• A moment of anagnorisis is when the character suddenly understands their

own nature or the nature of another character, typically their antagonist.
• There are techniques that storytellers use to create surprising moment in
a story but anagnorisis is the one that hits us the hardest because it is a
personal and emotional revelation.
Plot twist – has psychological effect that they can have on their audience. The
reason they are so shocking and so memorable is because they deconstruct
one of the fundamental ways we think, especially in the Western world.

Jacques Derrida – a French philosopher known for popularizing a from of

critical analysis called Deconstruction.

• One of the most important ideas about deconstruction is the idea that
we only understand something in terms of what it is not. And as a
result, we develop a way of thinking that categorizes the world into
binaries, which is a fancy word that means pairs or in this context a
pair of opposites. (e.g. good and evil, man and woman, white and black,
civilized and uncivilized). This way of thinking is everywhere in Western
society.
• But deconstruction allows us to see that these are false opposites and
that the world is much more complicated.

The true horror of the plot twist is that it says this: good is evil. But how
can something be its opposite? Metaphorically, these statements are
metaphors that capture the themes of their stories but they are metaphors
in conflict.

Paradoxes – because of paradoxical state, that moment of moral confusion

that inverts or demolishes our acceptance of binaries that twists continually
surprise us.

• We move from an understandable world of simple binary categories to

a world of infinite and incomprehensible possibilities. Because when you
only understand things as either good or bad, seeing both in the same
image is culturally jarring.

Foreshadowing and Flashback

• They are often taught together because they both refer to a specific
time in a story.

Foreshadowing - refers to the future event in a story. It is a literary device

in which a character gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the
story. Foreshadowing often appears at the beginning of a story, or a
chapter, and helps the reader develop expectations about the coming events
in a story.
There are various ways to create foreshadowing:

a. A writer for example may use character dialogues to hint at what

may occur in the future.
b. In addition, any event or action in the story may throw a hint to the
readers about future events or actions. Even a title of a work or a
chapter title can act as a clue that suggests what is going to happen.
c. Foreshadowing in fiction creates an atmosphere of suspense in a
story, so that the readers are interested to know more.

Function of Foreshadowing:

a. Generally, it is to build anticipation in the minds of reader about

what might happen next, thus adding dramatic tension to a story.
b. It is deliberately employed to create suspense in mystery novels,
usually by giving false clues – or red herrings – to distract readers.
c. It can make extraordinary and bizarre events appear credible, as the
events are predicted beforehand so that readers are mentally
prepared for them.

Examples of Foreshadowing:

a. The evening was still. Suddenly, a cool breeze started blowing and made
a windy night. (Foreshadows thunderstorm)
b. The most awful thing happened on a stormy evening, the battle between
good and evil started. (Foreshadows danger)
c. They thought there would not be more bodies; however, they could not
believe the thought. (Foreshadows murder)

Flashback – refers to the past event in a story. Merriam Webster defines

the word flashback as an interruption of the chronological sequence as a
film or literary work) of an event of earlier occurrence. Flashbacks are
interruptions that writers do to insert past events, in order to provide
background or context to the current events of a narrative. By using
flashbacks, writer allow their readers to gain insight into a character’s
motivations, and provide a background to a current conflict. Dream
sequences and memories are methods used to present flashbacks.

Function of Flashbacks

a. The use of a flashback is to convey to the readers information regarding

the character’s background, and give them an idea of the character’s
 motives for doing certain things later in the story. Therefore, a flashback
in the story deepens inner conflict. It provides stimulus for the conflict,
deepens the touching effects, and allows the reader to sympathize even
with the villain.
b. Another function of flashbacks in a narrative is to increase tension. A
mere mention of a past event makes readers wish to know the secrets.
So, they read on to find out what the secret is.

Flash-forward – writers often used visions and prophecies these are type
of flash-forward as well as they tell the reader what might happen later on
in the story to keep them interested in what’s going to happen next. The
reader will then wonder how the characters will escape the situation. It
might seem impossible but don’t worry, all will be revealed.

Flash-forward build tension in a story by showing a later part of the story

first. It is usually exciting or puzzling so the reader wants to know how the
story builds up to that point.

Chekhov’s Gun

• Every element of a story should be necessary. When a filmmaker chooses

to show or tells us something, it better has a payoff it is called Chekhov’s
gun.
• It is a principle derives from a Russian author and playwright, Anton
Chekhov who claimed “If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle
hanging on the wall. In the second or third chapter it absolutely must
go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.” In
other words, “Remove everything that has no relevance to the story.”
• The concept of Chekhov’s gun does often refer to a literal weapon but
it’s not restricted to just weapons. The term can refer to just a simple
object. A quiet place makes brilliant use of this when the nail is pulled
up on the steps, the nail being raised is essentially loading the gun
then it just sits there constantly building tension until finally the gun is
fired.

Cliffhanger – is a type of literary device which reaches an abrupt ending

to a story so that the main characters are left in a very difficult situation
without offering any resolution of conflicts.
• As a result of a sudden end, suspense is created at the very end
of the story. The unanswered questions leave the readers of viewers
wondering what will happen next.

Example of cliffhanger situations:

a. A character has to make a crucial decision.

b. Characters are about to commit, get caught or discovered in the
midst of doing something morally or legally wrong.
c. Carrot is about to die or become injured, a mystery on the verge of
being solved.
d. A new clue that could lead to a resolution of a conflict.
e. A new antagonist reveals himself.

Cliffhangers – can be used across all fiction genres however, there are
most commonly in thrillers in dramas and mysteries, typically serial
publications movies or TV episodes leaving the option hanging until the
smooth.