Any thoughts and conversations about them would be appreciated.
How important is a backstory?
Started by Q, Jul 30 2003 05:46 PM
15 replies to this topic
#1
Q
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Posted 30 July 2003 - 05:46 PM
I think the subject says it all. How much time do you spend on what came before? Do you use it in character development or the setting? I've been thinking about it lately as I have started an outline for something, and I find that the little backstory I was trying to cobble together for one of the main characters is turning into quite a story in itself, although more of an epic kind.
Any thoughts and conversations about them would be appreciated.
Any thoughts and conversations about them would be appreciated.
#2
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Posted 30 July 2003 - 06:34 PM
i think it depends on the character, and the writer's interest in them. I love writing backstories. its give you insight on the character, and a little emotion for them, depending on their prior adventurers.
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#3
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Posted 30 July 2003 - 09:37 PM
I think the subject says it all. How much time do you spend on what came before? Do you use it in character development or the setting? I've been thinking about it lately as I have started an outline for something, and I find that the little backstory I was trying to cobble together for one of the main characters is turning into quite a story in itself, although more of an epic kind.
It all depends, I think. A person's history is always going to have an effect of what they do, say and think, so some concept of a character's backstory is important. If you have a character that broods over the past, his mistakes, his triumphs etc. it can be very important, since the past is that character's whole world sometimes. On the other hand, if you have a character that is more forward-looking, (or one who doesn't have much of a past to look back on yet) it's not so important to finalize every detail of a backstory.
Usually, I tend to write characters how I want to, and fit the backstory to their personalities afterward (which may seem backward, I suppose.) Unfortunately this is a technique that can lead to situations where you end up with a hopelessly complex history for a character the farther you get into a story, so I do like to set down a few basic facts when I start out. Where the character came from (socially and geographically), when they were born in relation to important events, who their family was, how many family members they had, and what those family members were like (in broad strokes) are all usually pretty important, because they can establish a character's mindset. Joe the farmer who has five siblings who are also farmers, and parents who were farmers before him and so on, is going to have had a far different early life than Bob the Waterdhavian nobleman's son, who's an only child and was raised mostly by his nursemaids. If you put both of them in the same situation their reactions to it might be completely different. Another important thing I try and remember when I set up a character's backstory is where I want them to be when I finish what ever it is I'm writing. If you know where you're going it can make it a lot easier to come up with what's come before (the reverse of which is also true, which, I think, is part of what makes this a vicious, vicious, cycle.)
Anyway, I've rattled on enough I think. I hope that somewhere in the above morass of gibberish you find at least a portion of the answers you're looking for. Good luck with what you're writing.
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#4
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Posted 31 July 2003 - 06:04 PM
My biggest problem with Ripples was that I spent not nearly enough time in developing it, I used it more as a free-writing experience than actual novel writing. In my mind, you have to look at a character as a person, and unless you can explain the main facets of their personality with some story, they will seen unreal. Then you kind of weave character's pasts together and find places where they fit and/or clash...then the story flows more easily from that point. Abbreviated explanation, but in a nutshell...backstories are vital
#5
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Posted 31 July 2003 - 11:32 PM
I think the subject says it all. How much time do you spend on what came before? Do you use it in character development or the setting? I've been thinking about it lately as I have started an outline for something, and I find that the little backstory I was trying to cobble together for one of the main characters is turning into quite a story in itself, although more of an epic kind.
they have a history Any thoughts and conversations about them would be appreciated.
I add a history after people say "Why not add a history?" now that I do i'm getting better at it
#6
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Posted 01 August 2003 - 03:56 AM
I think the subject says it all. How much time do you spend on what came before? Do you use it in character development or the setting? I've been thinking about it lately as I have started an outline for something, and I find that the little backstory I was trying to cobble together for one of the main characters is turning into quite a story in itself, although more of an epic kind.
Any thoughts and conversations about them would be appreciated.
Well I think a main character definitely should have a past outlined. But you don't have go telling it all at once. Sometimes a 'hero' is best with an air of mystery around them and just a few hints about what they've done before, and I guess keeping it that way gives you a lot of flexibiltity later.
As with most things in life, I guess it all just depends on the situation, thinking about what kind of things you want to say/do with that character.
#7
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Posted 01 August 2003 - 12:08 PM
I think it ought to be important for important characters, but in this sense I have not quite established any style yet.
Actually I have a problem with this - I have a certain kind of character in mind that I would like to create for some future stories, but I just can't decide what kind of background would suit her.
Actually I have a problem with this - I have a certain kind of character in mind that I would like to create for some future stories, but I just can't decide what kind of background would suit her.
#8
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Posted 01 August 2003 - 09:43 PM
I think it ought to be important for important characters, but in this sense I have not quite established any style yet.
I know how that feels
Actually I have a problem with this - I have a certain kind of character in mind that I would like to create for some future stories, but I just can't decide what kind of background would suit her.
You can try a dark past full of blood and guts
or try one with flowers and bunnys . For me i'd go with the blood 
.
#9
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Posted 01 August 2003 - 09:58 PM
This brings up my problem nicely - it cannot be too dark, but it cannot be too easy on her either. Neither would feel right given to what she'll be like. Not that I have entirely decided that either.You can try a dark past full of blood and guts
#10
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Posted 01 August 2003 - 10:08 PM
This brings up my problem nicely - it cannot be too dark, but it cannot be too easy on her either. Neither would feel right given to what she'll be like. Not that I have entirely decided that either.You can try a dark past full of blood and guts
Try a little of both by putting them in a short and posting it to let the people pick .
#12
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Posted 03 August 2003 - 02:38 AM
I think the subject says it all. How much time do you spend on what came before? Do you use it in character development or the setting? I've been thinking about it lately as I have started an outline for something, and I find that the little backstory I was trying to cobble together for one of the main characters is turning into quite a story in itself, although more of an epic kind.
By all means, you should know what the character is as a person and where he/she comes from, in terms of character development.
It's just that you don't have to spill the beans right at the start and then forget about it. Rather, reveal the character's backstory in the so-called "small detail briefly told" method. Namely, mentioning some detail about the character's past in a situation that warrants it (or stronger even, in a situation that requires it). Another detail in a different situation, and so on.
That would both reveal the character more, as the story progresses, and at the same time create a stronger sense of credibility for the character, as the reader feels that the author knows all there is to know about the character and writes him/her to that knowledge.
Note that even if not all of the backstory might eventually be revealed, it always pays for the author to know about it. That would improve the sense of character's credibility as that backstory, even if untold in parts, would show through his/her actions.
Leo
#13
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Posted 07 August 2003 - 02:07 PM
I think the subject says it all. How much time do you spend on what came before? Do you use it in character development or the setting? I've been thinking about it lately as I have started an outline for something, and I find that the little backstory I was trying to cobble together for one of the main characters is turning into quite a story in itself, although more of an epic kind.
Any thoughts and conversations about them would be appreciated.
I think backstory is absolutely necessary in creating any believable character. The difference between a character with a background and one without is like the difference between a role-player and a power-gamer -- a role-player is interested in creating a character that has depth and realism, whereas a power-gamer only wants a character with the right stats that can kick some butt.
Now, how much backstory is a different question entirely. While it might be interesting to know what the heroes favorite breakfast cereal was when he was 8 years old, that might be just a little too much info. And then there's the question of how much do you reveal, i.e. "When I was growing up in the Umar Hills, raising chickens and dreaming about becoming a paladin in Athkatla, and dating Gretta, the girl who lived down the lane, I often used to eat Sugar Pops for breakfast" -- you don't want to be Basil Exposition.
#14
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Posted 17 September 2003 - 08:55 PM
Well, to me, backgrounds are everything.
A persons childhood and upbringing are vital to who the charecter becomes later on.
I'm not talking favourite breakfasts or girlfreinds, im talking enviroment, experineces and persons.
If a child grows up in a harsh slum, where he had to steal to live, and watched people dying all the time, he'll almost certainly become a somewhat emotionless rouge or assasin. Fighting for his own survival, and having no real regard for others.
Sure, such things can change over time, but it rarely does.
The upbringingis what shapes a person to whom the person will become.
A persons childhood and upbringing are vital to who the charecter becomes later on.
I'm not talking favourite breakfasts or girlfreinds, im talking enviroment, experineces and persons.
If a child grows up in a harsh slum, where he had to steal to live, and watched people dying all the time, he'll almost certainly become a somewhat emotionless rouge or assasin. Fighting for his own survival, and having no real regard for others.
Sure, such things can change over time, but it rarely does.
The upbringingis what shapes a person to whom the person will become.
#15
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Posted 15 November 2003 - 08:42 PM
To me backstories are vital. I always create one when I am creating a character to play, and I usually have at least an outline when I create a character I am writing about.
Backstories are not as important, in secondary characters, and in some cases (Ahem: insert Tom Clancy here), they are way too developed. This occurs if the character is described right before he is eliminated. If the eliminated charcter is important to the story, whether by playing a part in the background of a future character or a future occurrence, it can be described as the background of the important element.
Backstories are not as important, in secondary characters, and in some cases (Ahem: insert Tom Clancy here), they are way too developed. This occurs if the character is described right before he is eliminated. If the eliminated charcter is important to the story, whether by playing a part in the background of a future character or a future occurrence, it can be described as the background of the important element.
#16
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Posted 15 November 2003 - 09:44 PM
I'd agree with Clancy's tendency to just dump us with annoying backstories. But sometimes they can have a part to play if the character is just about to be eliminated - the reader's going to care a lot more if a minor character dies if they are given a life, a background, all of that. Though I really don't like him, to keep in the same vein as the Clancy example, Patrick Robinson does this well in his book Nimitz Class - he has an aircraft carrier sunk, but not before building up a few minor characters who serve no purpose other than making the reader actually care that they're dead and the ship is gone. They have friendships, wives, futures, pasts, and they're characters we might have wanted to get to know better. But now they're DEAD.
Backstories aid to caring about the characters, simply. But that caring can be used in many different ways.
Backstories aid to caring about the characters, simply. But that caring can be used in many different ways.
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