How Do I Know What I Think Until I See What I Say?

A while ago (like, way back in May), Agent Kristin had writer Carolyn Jewel do a guest post on the intricacies of including backstory in the story . Backstory can go wrong primarily in two ways: 1. there isn't any. 2. there's way too much. Most writers err on the side of "way too much." These are the writers who insist on prologues and pages of stuff about the character's childhood, when the character isn't actually a child anymore. I can understand this. I mean, you spend all your time working out these characters and their world--leaving any of it out, especially when it does have an impact on your story, can be really hard. Worse, when it's well-written. Carolyn Jewel comes down hard on backstory. She writes that whenever you leave the "now" of the story, things get boring. I'm not entirely convinced of that, but I do agree with her that backstory has to be parsed out in dribs and drabs, a couple of sentences at a time, interspe