: Re: Seeking advice on establishing the emotional impact of backstory I am drafting a novel outline. The interesting part (and thus the part I should be writing) would come with several characters

@Ann1701686

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There are many ways of approaching this. First, and foremost, bear in mind: there's usually very few truly "bad ideas," only poor executions of ideas.

The past is never gone - it's all around you. A way in which one might approach this is to (I hate this saying, but I'll use it since it fits this context) show, not tell. Character A might behave in what may seem a toxic way toward Character B, but Character B is now in a relationship with Character C. Character C tells Character B to forget about Character A, because Character A was a good-for-nothing tool. Cut to Character A, who is constantly drunk and tries to not cry him or herself to sleep each night.

Notice that I haven't actually told you that Character B cheated on Character A, and Character A is depressed because of that - I have (as much as it is possible using names like "Character A, B, C" anyhow) revealed the state of their relationships, which are a result of their relationships in the past.

I should also mention that there is a fundamental difference between "flashback" and "info-dump". A flashback should actually have a significant emotional impact upon the reader - it should either establish something that leads to dramatic irony (i.e. the reader knows something that the characters don't) later, or is the pay-off - the so-called reveal - to a build-up that happened prior to the flashback. Wander too far away from that template, and you've probably just got an info dump.

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