Backstories

I've done a lot of backstories for The Running Game series over the years. The characters have their own histories and part of the joy of writing the books is exploring where they all came from. There are a few threads left to pull out and weave into the series. The first is the final line of Rachel's backstory; a new character is about to show his face and introduce a new dynamic to her story arch.

The second is John's backstory, or rather his mother's. That's right. He does have a mother. And it's no surprise that she is long gone by the time book 5 arrives. But what happens to her is hugely important to the whole series and will hopefully tie everything up neatly.

This week I've been working on her story arch and the big dilema at the moment is whether it will appear as part of book 5, or whether it will become a short story in its own right. I'll know once book 5 is in its first draft - and no I don't know when that will be.

What I do know is there's lots of inspiration from current world events that are shaping the narrative so expect something that is going to change the Reacher world on its head.