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Q&A Is it bad if I sidetrack to a backstory that’s not really necessary but is interesting?

My story is about two children and one of them dies in the first chapter. I give a four page backstory of how his parents came to the town they are in now, it is unnecessary but very interesting....

3 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by Angel‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T09:40:25Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/38444
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Angel‭ · 2019-12-08T09:40:25Z (about 5 years ago)
My story is about two children and one of them dies in the first chapter.

I give a four page backstory of how his parents came to the town they are in now, it is unnecessary but very interesting. Should I just remove it?

I mostly added it because the chapter was too short and I wanted to expand on how the dead one came to the town but if I never really talk about him again is it just unnecessary to have all that back story about his parents?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-08-23T04:36:34Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 15