No Backstory in Chapter One
*big huge sigh*
I suppose it had to happen. Something I AGREE with. But in my defense, I wouldn't characterize this as a schmule, or even a rule. It's simply good technique.
When we write a novel, we have a finite number of pages to tell the story at hand. What happens to the characters before the novel starts might be paramount to their character, their ideas and behaviors, their motivations, and it may even have something to do with the actual story as it happens now. How you deliver that information, the information of the past, is the key. Telling the events of the past as 'real time' in the current novel proper isn't going to cut it.
As they say in Hollywood: Cut to the chase, folks.
There are several ways to deliver backstory pertinent to the current novel. Prologue, Weaving, and Flashbacks.
The Prologue
This is an unnumbered chapter set before the beginning of the book. It should be entertaining and pertinent to the book. Something in the prologue should lead to events in the book, build characterization, or pose a question that will be answered later. I have prologues in both The Jewel and the Sword and The Lighthorseman, but I don't have them in either Starla Child's Firelight nor Raleigh Kincaid's Tapestry of Wonders.
Slight side rant: Schmule: Never have a prologue - Readers skip them and editors hate them.
Response: Bite me.
Sorry, I digress. The second manner in which to deliver your backstory is the Weaving Technique. Throughout the course of the novel, you drop hints that something powerful happened in the distant or not-so-distant past that is guiding the characters decision-making process and actions. This is a wonderful technique because it builds the level of drama and suspense and keeps the reader turning the pages. I'm using this in The Flyer, the sequel to The Lighthorseman, which, thus far, has no prologue.
The final technique involves the Flashback. I've heard folks say they hate them. I have no opinion other than to say that I have used them in at least one book, Dawn of Love, slated to come out later this year. In fact, the flashbacks in this novel could be a novel of their own. It's the story of my Vampire hero's former life, and it has a beginning, a middle, and an end. But this wasn't "his story". His story involves the current heroine, his happily-ever-after comes much later, and his former story has much to do with it. Flashbacks were the best way to go about it in this case.
Ultimately, the decision of how to involve the characters' pasts is up to you. If the past has an impact on the present, we must deliver that information. Unfortunately, the first few chapters isn't the place to do it. In my opinion, a good novel will center on the present, then bring in the motivations of the past later on.
You all know I don't believe in schmules. But I do believe in good, solid writing.
Hugs,
Marjorie