Character History/Backstories -- How to Make Them Relevant?

Discussion in 'Character Development' started by isaac223, Aug 9, 2016.

  1. theamorset

    theamorset Member

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    Generally, I don't put any backstory for any character into anything I write.

    Anything the others in the story learn about the character, anything the reader learns about the character, is learned because of something the character or someone else does or says, and it doesn't come out in a lengthy speech or discussion, but rather, in bits and pieces as time goes on. I do this fundamentally because that is how it usually goes in real life.

    Questions about why people do things and what they're like, aren't usually solved quickly and easily. People learn about each other gradually, and with great effort. Even when it comes to self-knowledge.

    For this reason I find backstories especially unrealistic and contrived.

    In one scene in one of the 'Austin Powers' movies, Dr. Evil goes on and on about his childhood. "In the spring we would make meat helmets". To me, this is exactly what backstories are like.

     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2016
  2. Simpson17866

    Simpson17866 Contributor Contributor

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    I think that's what most people mean by backstory ;)
     
  3. Lew

    Lew Contributor Contributor

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    Backstories, along with worldbuilding, can be useful in planning your story, though you may use only fragments in the actual story. I generally don't do this, as I am a "pantser" and don't know any more about my characters when they first emerge than the reader does. But I attended a writing conference PWC in Wilkes-Barre, and my friend and prodigious author David Poyer (40 books in 40 years) outlined his approach to character backstory. One is a narrative description of several paragraphs about each character, the other is a matrix of characters and their strengths, weaknes, motivations, fears, inclinations, means they try to use to attain their goal, and their success or failure... how were they thwarted. He also uses flow charts to map out their interactions. For me, this would be more like coding C++ than writing, but for planners it works. The key caution is that, if you have all of this figured out before you start writing the story, be careful not to do a "data dump" and unload all of it on the reader at once. Also, not all of that background need be used, just a hint here or there is all that is needed to make your characters seem real.
     
  4. Commandante Lemming

    Commandante Lemming Contributor Contributor

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    This definitely works - although you can also do this backwards - I've been known to start by fleshing out a main character and then figuring out what kind of story they belong in. But I do think for the purposes of this thread that designing characters to fit the plot can definitely work (although it can be a lot of fun to throw someone into the plot who doesn't belong there and see what happens :p )
     
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  5. Commandante Lemming

    Commandante Lemming Contributor Contributor

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    Also on the supernatural fantasy stuff - not really my game (I dabble in urban fantasy a little but never go that deep) - but Brandon Sanderson has a LOT of teaching material on worldbuilding, how to design magic systems, and how to get info across to the reader. You can look at the "Writing Excuses" podcast archives he contributes to (lots of that in there), and also his "Write About Dragons" lectures from the course he teaches at Brigham Young University (I linked to the 2012 full semester of YouTube videos, but they are in process of uploading and updated 2016 version). Building the world without boring the reader is the great challenge of writers in either Fantasy or SciFi, and it's worth looking at curriculum in various forms that focus on how to do that in genre writing (a lot of creative writing courses are aimed at literary writing and so they tend to miss that one aspect - but you can definitely find tips).
     
  6. Lew

    Lew Contributor Contributor

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    Had a minor character appear in the story, sort of a Pequod-type deckhand on a first century Roman ship, but his name was Galosga, Cherokee for "he who fell down." Unless the readers knew Cherokee, and maybe even if they did, they would not connect this individual with a native American due to time and place. Just your basic "mystery man" in the background of the story. Severely challenged linguistically with just snatches of Aramaic quickly learned, he could not tell his story, though the flint arrowhead in his pouch was a clue. And even after he mastered Chinese well enough to tell his story, as he put it, he did not know where home was, and did not know where here was, either. Imagine a character captured by aliens, taken to another world, and unable to communicate for more than a year.

    He grew into the story from the background to turn out to be a fun character who played an important mid-level role with another mid-level character. He wound up settling in with the Xiongnu nomads north of China, the closest match to his way of life he was likely to find. He did learn how to ride a horse quite well. But I had no idea what he was going to do when I introduced him in the story.
     
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  7. Sack-a-Doo!

    Sack-a-Doo! Contributor Contributor

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    My hat is off to you. Early on (read: back in the cave days when I first started scratching stories on walls) I tried this over and over and it just doesn't work for me at all.

    Strangely enough, this is a big part of what I'm talking about. Once the plot is in place, I throw in a character who doesn't belong there, one who doesn't know how to solve the story problem (but thinks he does; or knows he doesn't but does his best anyway) and he fails over and over until he finally figures out what he has to change about himself before he can solve the story problem.

    Matching up a character with the plot he's perfect for, IMHO, is always going to lead to pedestrian storytelling. He's gonna know exactly how to solve the problem and it'll be boring watching/reading about him doing it. All the setbacks end up being: "Oh! I got the football and you don't." or "Oops! Got your girlfriend (significant other) so back the hell off!" stuff like that. Boring, boring and boring. I can't write like that; I fall asleep.
     
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  8. isaac223

    isaac223 Senior Member

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    Thank you all for responding to my post. I believe that, after reading over everyone's replies, that I think I've got a great idea of what I should do in regards to the topic at hand. Its interesting how much thought can go into the process of writing, beyond more than just the substance of what one is trying to write.
     
  9. Francis de Aguilar

    Francis de Aguilar Contributor Contributor

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    I like back story. I have used it a lot in my novel 'Stormy Weather' each of the three main characters has a couple of meaty chapters devoted to this. I believe it adds depth to the story and the relationships.
     
  10. Commandante Lemming

    Commandante Lemming Contributor Contributor

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    It does tend to result in orphaned "Main Characters" who have no stories - I have one of those that eats at me (Her name is Praxedes) because I really love her character but I can't find her plot.

    I tend to have the worst luck when I start with Setting - Praxedes came out of a setting idea, and I have another alt-history idea that really didn't get off the launchpad for me because it had a strong setting idea (a world where Manichaeism remained a major religion) but the plot and characters didn't come easy.

    I think I have my best luck when the character and the plot arise at the same time from the same idea (my easiest outline started with the concept "Fallen Valkyrie living as an Orthodox Jew in Modern America" - just figuring that out gave me both a great MC and a great plot - and then I have another one that worked pretty easy that started from "Nordic Noir Crime Drama set in the Cthulu Mythos" - instant character building and plot)

    Of course none of those things are even close to being on the front burner because I'm too busy with the "Great White Whale" project that is my main WIP.
     
    Last edited: Aug 17, 2016
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  11. Historical Science

    Historical Science Contributor Contributor

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    The way I've used flashbacks/backstory with my current novel is when the main character sleeps he has a dream/nightmare using a past event that is related to what is currently happening in the story. I try not to over use it and I think it works well in my book.
     
  12. Lew

    Lew Contributor Contributor

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    Ditto. I did that with a minor character, a fierce fighting woman among 1st century nomads, whose either dreams of her dead lover, or is visited by his ghost (ambiguous, she thinks the latter). He insists she must tell "their" story to someone, because it is going to kill her if she does not. It is a very traumatic event in her past that she has never shared with anyone, kept her remote and distant from all, but has also been the engine for her rise in what is normally a man's world of fierce fighting.
     

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