Unburying the Lede
Focus on important information in stories
Imagine reading a story with an opening scene where a character is working against the clock to find and disarm an active bomb. Where do you think the scene should start?
The easy answer is start in the middle of the action. Perhaps the scene opens with the protagonist acting on a tip and racing down a busy street to the bomb site. Maybe it opens with them canvassing a building to locate the bomb. Many options are available to an author to build a scene that hooks a reader and makes them care about the characters right away.
Unfortunately, you see far too many short stories who approach a dramatic scenario by rambling about backstory tangents that have no immediate relevancy. The author will spend multiple paragraphs — or even multiple pages — detailing the main character’s life history or sociopolitical issues influencing their world before getting around to telling readers there’s a bomb that needs to be defused.
This practice is called — to borrow a phrase from journalism — burying the lede.
Focus on Relevant Details
Imagine you’re a sports journalist covering an NBA playoff game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Lakers rally from a 10-point deficit late in the fourth quarter in Game 1 and steal a win on the road when LeBron James hits a game-winning jumper at the buzzer.
What should be the focus of your story? The dramatic game-winning basket from LeBron, of course. A secondary focus would be on how the Lakers stole a critical road win to go up 1-0 in the playoff series.
A story burying the lede will place undue focus on irrelevant information early in the story. Instead of leading off with the play and fourth quarter comeback, such a story might first detail irrelevant plays from the first half, how James’ NBA season unfolded to that point, or what the Lakers did in previous rounds of the playoffs. The information might be interesting in another context, but it isn’t relevant or engaging to a reader wanting to read about LeBron’s game-winning basket or the Lakers’ fourth-quarter comeback.
Burying the lede is a common flaw in many short stories. An author will fall in love with the backstory to their story and spend far too much time expounding trivial details connected to their main characters or their fictional world instead of jumping straight into the story.
It feels frustrating from a reader’s perspective to read a story written this way. Immediately unloading large chunks of backstory keeps readers from immersing themselves in a story. Readers struggle to connect with characters because these information dumps feel like intrusions from an unseen narrator addressing them directly rather than authentic thoughts or feelings from a point-of-view character.
Make stories immersive
Stories are more compelling when authors start in the middle of the action and use a slow-drip method to touch on relevant backstory details as the story progresses. Tales written this way feel much more immersive, create mystery, and build suspense as the narrative unfolds.
Consider these examples:
Story A —
Connor stared at an endless sea of trees ahead of him. He spent so many summer days exploring mountain trails with his father or the boy scouts. Ever since he joined their local troop and started earning merit badges. His father never became an eagle scout, only advancing as far as life scout before giving up in high school. Failing to become an eagle scout ate at his father enough that he pushed Connor to embrace the outdoors and finish what he had started.
On days like this, Connor wished he had enough of a spine to push back against living out his father's dreams. Going into the wilderness felt like a forced hobby. The older scouts liked to harass the younger scouts with endless pranks. Last summer's image of a tenderfoot screaming and running from a snake dumped into his tent stuck fresh in his mind as though it happened only a few seconds ago.
They probably pretended Connor was there when the scout master gathered everyone for roll call. Nobody would figure out he’d become separated from the other scouts before it grew dark.
Story B —
Staring at his pocket compass did nothing to ease Connor's anxiety. Every tree and boulder looked identical. Which direction did he come from? Connor wished he had taken note of landmarks on the trail leading to his troop's campsite. This dense forest swallowed him whole, leaving no crumbs for the other scouts to find.
Out of these two examples, Story B is more compelling. It instantly draws the reader into the story and lets them feel Connor’s dire situation. Story A wastes time rambling on a backstory tangent detailing why Connor is a boy scout before finally revealing he’s lost in an off-handed manner.
Backstory details help enrich and flesh out a story. They give important context to the thoughts and actions of multiple characters. That being said, timing is everything with backstory. An author should never detour off the main trail and meander down a side path chasing irrelevant backstory tangents. Relevant backstory details should always be threaded through the narrative in organic and realistic ways.
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