Are you like me when you first sit down in front of your laptop to start a character back story? If you are, then your brain goes a little blank. I sometimes blame the fact that I'm not what one would call a prolific writer, where words flow out of me like water rushing down a waterfall. It would be great if I didn't need a dictionary or thesaurus when I work on one of my stories.
Or maybe, you're one of those "swings by the seat of your pants" kind of writers. To hell with the backstories. Who needs em?
But here's the thing, when you're writing a character back story, you're flushing out that character's history--the web of formative experiences that help to explain your characters' desires, fears, and motivations. This is really important stuff! You'll be using these backstories to craft scenes that show how these experiences may have impacted your character. They will help you understand and write how your character should react to your story's movement or respond in a dialogue with other characters.
I know what you're thinking. With such weight placed on getting the back story right, it's no wonder we're paralyzed when we first get started. What if we get it wrong? Then the whole story won't make any sense at all! Or why should you even think of going through the trouble of writing backstories for your important characters-- it's way too much work!
"When I write, I feel like an armless, legless man with a crayon in his mouth"
-Kurt Vonnegut
Let's get one thing straight. Writing is hard. More specifically, writing a good story takes a lot of work. Writing a great story can often seem impossible. But the only way to get started is to start writing. And keep writing. The more you write, the better the story will turn out. That doesn't just mean writing more chapters or more scenes for your plot. It means writing period. Blog, journal, note anything that you can. It might have absolutely nothing to do with your story, or it could have everything to do with it. Hey, how about writing a character back story? Makes sense, right?
Characters are the drivers of your story. You have a plot. You have an outline. You may even have a definitive moral of the story. But the character building is what gets you to the end. As you get to know a character by writing about them -giving them words to say in dialog, describing their expressions and movements - the story changes. The characters themselves take you in different directions. Of course, to keep the reader interested, the characters have to be believable. That isn't always an easy task, but by developing their back story, you get to know what drives each character, making their reactions in your story more believable.
I thought I'd take this time to share the character backgrounds for a few of my characters in Finding Normal. I knew how I saw Emma before writing anything, but I had to get through writing the first passage before she truly formed in my mind. I scratched these character prompts onto a piece of paper right after I finished her first memory sequence in the story. I had yet to create the outline for how the story would progress or end up. I just knew I had to get to know Emma more to tell her story, but in the end, she made the story all her own.
Emma Rose Peterson -16 years old, brown hair, brown eyes, slender. Smart, clumsy, awkward. She's not shy but keeps to herself. She feels that friendships are complicated. Unapproachable. Has significant abandonment issues. Parents split when she was eight. Spends most of her time at home with her mom. Does well in school. No social skills. Low self esteem. Favorite color is blue. Loves old black and white movies. Thinks real love is only in movies or books.
Jackie Peterson - Emma's mom. Pretty, flirty, fun. Got pregnant and married young. She grew up in a very catholic family with a moderate income. Her parents disowned her when she got pregnant. Loves with all her heart, but doesn't really know how to be a parent, so she acts like Emma's best friend. Favorite color is yellow.
As you can see, these notes were reasonably simple. Character backgrounds can be as extensive as necessary to help you create your story. But don't be surprised if certain aspects of each character changes through the course of your writing. That's normal and should happen as your story solidifies. For example, instead of having velvety blue eyes, your character can have dark, crazy eyes. Or instead of being raised by their birth parents, you discover your character's parents were killed in an accident, and he or she was adopted and raised by formally estranged relatives. Nothing is written in stone. Go where your story takes you.
Here's a great blog post I found about character writing prompts.
Alrighty then, I best get back to my new project. This distraction has come to an end.
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