In the starting a new novel, I'm oftenstuck on the amount of backstory to include in the first chapter. Backstory (what happened before) does slow the story. Hooking the reader in the first few paragraphs is paramount so filling in back story must wait. But when is it appropriate? I think of my self as a beginning writer, always a beginner even though I've had several children's stories published, articles, four nonfiction books, and one novel. So why do I think I'm a beginner. Well, I still want to dump backstory at the beginning of a work of fiction knowing the information is only important to me. When I finish a novel I often end up deleting the first two or three chapters because I have too much backstory. Backstory and background, in my opinion, should be brought out in bits and pieces and as unobtrusively as possible. If you feed out to much to early you may feed out more information than a person can absorb. So give only needed background information and keep it short. Avoid long monlogues, narratives, family histories, and concentrate on what's happening at the moment the story opens. Back to my novel. Any suggestions are welcomed. Mary Hagen, ECHO OF LOVE