How much effort do you put into your backstory?

Caitlin Level 1

April 12, 2014, 9:21 am

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How much effort do you put into your backstory?

Do you always write a backstory for your characters or fiction? Does this slow you down or help you visualize the events as they are happening? What good is a backstory in fiction or any type of writing?

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Beverly

Without a backstory, how can you know the character's motivations or why they are acting in a certain way (such as what brought your character to their current place in the storyline). The backstory lets you work out these internal details and get other external details.

11 years ago

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NaturalWriter

It depends on the type of story you're writing, and how you want your character to be seen.
If you want your characters to be seen more "in the moment", then you may wish to only focus a little bit on the history. However, if you really want depth to a couple of your main character, you may want to get into a detailed description of their past.

It really just depends on how you want your story seen by others

I work both when I write. Sometimes I don't feel like getting into a description about the characters history until I'm partly into the story. Sometimes I even wait beyond mid story. It just depends on how I feel

11 years ago

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Corzhens

One veteran writer in the cinema said that the backstory particularly of a character is important is that character is important in the story. But the backstory should not be given all at once. There are times that a backstory is given near the end of the story but the best way to infuse the backstory is by trickles so it will appear like garnishing of a meal. And I agree because when I read a story with a long backstory, I easily get bored.

7 years ago

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SEOClerks

How much effort do you put into your backstory?

How much effort do you put into your backstory?

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