I’m a big fan of Channel Awesome’s THE NOSTALGIA CRITIC, its host Doug Walker, and the show’s reviews of (often) older movies: it skewers commercial favorites, shines a light on forgotten classics, and generally advances media critiques in a way I only wish Goodreads & Amazon would allow for books.
Doug Walker’s recent review of the Pink Floyd musical ‘The Wall’ is a clear-eyed, and mostly measured look at a milestone in 70s-80’s progressive rock.
I like Floyd. I grew up with their music in my life even as a pre-teen due to Brothers Who Played Guitar, and a mom who discovered her passion in prog-rock later in life.
This monumental review was a shared effort between Walker, his usual co-critics, Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, and Sam Fennah (of Satellite City). It introduced me to Sam Fennah’s haunting and sensual character animation work (better than some Hollywood works with vastly bigger budgets!)
It also brought up an often-dismissed aspect of worldbuilding in the fantasy and science fiction genres.
Side characters and settings have back stories. If they don’t, they’re cardboard, and probably 1) are relics of old-school Plot Takes All SFF writing, and 2) aren’t worth the time they spend on the page.
I see too many well-meaning genre writing experts who advise new writers *not* to worry too much about backstory, especially in romance crossovers with SFF. The ranks of current and defunct small-press romance e-publishers are rife with authors who simply didn’t include or think out much backstory…and the reviews show it.
Invest in your characters and settings. Leap down the rabbit hole, and see where in Wonderland it leads.