'Before Exile'

by Jeff Mustard

Backstory is critical in creating captivating drama. Why? It’s where we learn, as the story unfolds, how our characters came to be, revealed frequently in “flashbacks,” since the people they are todayare a result of their “life experience.” So often, when we know more about a person’s life, we can empathize with them and experience their story. 

In the End, It Starts at the Beginning

In the end, it always starts at the beginning and in the world of drama, this lays the foundation for the often-heard phrases -- character arc, character growth, transformation.  In the case of Antonio Cabrera “Before Exile” is a short story, written in a conventional fictional narrative allowing the author, Jeff Mustard, to wander a bit creatively, unshackled by the restrictive conventions of screenplay/tv writing. Mustard takes an opportunity to introduce the reader to the bits and pieces of Antonio’s life, his backstory. Hopefully, readers will appreciate the style, tone and tenor, as much as gaining insight to his the revealing character.

Antonio Cabrera – The Arc of his Life Circumstances Force him to Change

In “Before Exile,” as the title suggests, readers will discover rich details about who is Antonio Cabrera and the beautiful, simple, bittersweet life he led. Was he naive? Yes. After all, he is from the Cuban countryside, raised in a fishing village in the 1940s. But as the son of a famous fisherman, Jorge Cabrera, Ernest Hemingway’s Boat Captain, Antonio’s life was simple and uncomplicated. But all that would change -- and all that would change him.  Read on to learn more about the extraordinary early life of Antonio Cabrera.  

EXCERPT 

“Take him away,” barked Nestor Delgado, the high-ranking Cuban military officer waving his arms dismissively toward me from behind the imposing wood desk, his Khaki government uniform still crisp despite it being near midnight and a stifling humidity slipping through half-opened windows on the third floor of this recently inhabited building, a former post office in the “pre-revolution days”, now part of the sprawling complex of Ministries overlooking the Plaza de la Revolucion, the nerve center of Fidel Castro’s military operations.