How do you make a character's backstory? Not what it needs but if you need to write it very detailed, simple or complexed for example
Guide: Character Back Stories
What is a Character Back Story?
From the day you’re born, you begin racking up experiences that are a result of your environment, the people around you, and the things that happen to you. These experiences, and how they affected you, play a huge role in who you are at every stage of your life by influencing things like: personality, likes and dislikes, hopes and dreams, pet peeves and fears, wants and needs, skills and career, hobbies and interests, knowledge and the choices you make are all affected by your previous experiences. All of those things can be transformed over and over again throughout life, especially when we go through “life-changing” experiences.
We want our characters to feel as real as possible to our reader, so a part of creating a realistic character is understanding their personal history and the effect their past experiences have had on who they are when the story begins. In fact, part of the point of stories about people (both fiction and non-fiction) is to examine how their experiences (or, more importantly, a life-changing event) changes who they are. That’s what we call a “character arc” in fiction.
How Do You Figure Out a Character’s Back Story?
Different writers have different processes for figuring out a character’s back story. Some writers like to create a fully fleshed out character and then figure out how that back story affects how they move through the plot. Other writers like to plot out how the character will move through the plot, then figure out what experiences might have led to those beliefs, desires, experiences, etc. And some people (like me) do a combination of the two, creating a basic framework for the back story, but tweaking and adding things as they become necessary throughout the story.
Cause and Effect: Experiences and Impact on Choices
Since your character’s experiences affect who they become and the choices they make, it’s important to consider the cause and effect relationship between experiences and choices. First, let’s look at a possible experience and see if we can brainstorm some possibilities for how it might affect the character’s traits:
Let’s say your character survived a bad flood as a child. How might that experience impact the following traits?
Personality - they might be a little high strung and panicky because they never feel truly safe in their environment.
Likes and Dislikes - they might like things that feel safe and secure. They probably dislike things that involve being on or near water.
Hopes and Dreams - they may dream of living someplace inland where there aren’t a lot of lakes and rivers. Or, maybe they dream of a career where they can prevent future floods.
Pet Peeves and Fears - they might be annoyed by people who enjoy water-related activities like fishing and boating. They might be afraid of big bodies of water and avoid being near it at all cost.
Wants and Needs - they might want or even need things that keep them away from bodies of water, like if they have to visit a place normally accessed by boat, they might need to find an alternate route, like flying or taking the long way by road.
Skills and Career - they may have acquired any number of survival skills during the flood, such as performing first aid and CPR. They may have enjoyed administering first aid during the flood, so they might choose a career as a first responder or medical personnel.
Hobbies and Interests - probably none of their interests and hobbies involve being on or near water. But maybe they have a strange fascination with painting bodies of water, or with reading about shipwrecks.
Knowledge and Choices - they may have a lot of knowledge about floods, why they happen, how things go wrong, what to do and not to do in a flood, laws and regulations meant to prevent flooding, knowing how water impacts the body, etc. And they may make choices that lead them to any of the above or away from them, as necessary.
These are all things you can brainstorm with a little thought, imagination, and research. But, if you can get a hold of The Positive Trait Thesaurus and The Negative Trait Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, do it… because these handy writing reference books not only walk you through potential causes of various traits, they also provide the behaviors and attitudes that commonly result from them. Knowing that helps you understand how your character’s cynicism affects their choices and moves them through the story.
How to Implement Back Story as You Write
Since you have fleshed out the cause and effect of your character’s experiences, you can start to look at things that happen in the story, then figure out how that resulting trait impacts any particular thing they have to say or do. You can do this systematically during the planning process, or you can do it as you write, always keeping in mind how these traits impact their choices.
How to Flesh Out/Organize Back Story Details
Your character’s back story should be a part of the overall character development you do when you create your character, so how you flesh out and organize those details will depend on your planning process. You may want to include back story details in an overall character summary, or you might include them in a character profile. You can find templates for these all over online, just be cautious of templates that are too detailed. No one cares what your character’s favorite gum flavor is, or whether they prefer glue or tape. Try to stick to fleshing out details that matter in the story, and the same is true of back story details.
Good luck with your story!
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