- Brainstorm formative events that shape your characters.
- Choose where to tell character backstory.
- Balance telling backstory with showing.
- Keep backstory relevant to current choices and actions.
- Strip excess backstory from narration.
- Use backstory to reveal drives.
How do you create a tragic backstory?
- Tap into your own emotionality. …
- Know the difference between sentimentality and truth. …
- Leave room to be surprised by specific detail. …
- Pair strong emotions with ordinary ones. …
- Use backstories to add weight. …
- Use sad moments to further character development.
How do you start a backstory?
Begin at the beginning of the character’s life
. Create a backstory that includes key moments from the character’s childhood. Pick specific moments and events from childhood that are particular to the character. The childhood backstory should include experiences that are defining and significant to the character.
How can I make my OC more interesting?
Pick an
archetype
that works for your character, but add unique traits that make your character original. Describe your character’s physical appearance in a list or paragraph. Ask yourself how your character will look. Then, describe their basic physical features, how they typically dress, and how they move and stand.
How do you write a good backstory to the OC?
- Build a timeline of your character’s life events.
- Make sure backstory details are relevant.
- Draw inspiration from real life.
- Show, don’t tell.
- Don’t overload your first chapter with backstory.
How do you reveal a character’s backstory?
- DO Write Everything Down About Your Character. …
- DON’T Share Everything With Your Readers. …
- DO Pinpoint the Defining Events that Impacted the Character. …
- DON’T Get Carried Away. …
- DO Show Moral Conflict Throughout the Character’s Past. …
- DON’T Narrate the Backstory.
Does every character need a tragic backstory?
Every hero, every villain and practically every innkeeper-in-a-fantasy-setting now has a tragic
backstory. Why? Well, because it’s interesting; because it easily adds depth to a character and gives the audience something to empathise with.
How do you write a good backstory?
- Brainstorm formative events that shape your characters.
- Choose where to tell character backstory. …
- Balance telling backstory with showing.
- Keep backstory relevant to current choices and actions. …
- Strip excess backstory from narration.
- Use backstory to reveal drives.
- Draw character background from familiar places.
How do you start a D&D backstory?
When you’re writing a D&D backstory, you need to
think about what you want to achieve
. Do you want to become a champion of the people, or perhaps a slayer of evil? Maybe you’re just interested in exploring the world and learning as much as you can.
What should be included in an OC?
Describe their
skin color, hair color, hair style, hair length, eye color, height, weight, body type and build, style choice, and markings
if they have any. PERSONALITY: This is the most important part of the bio and should be the longest.
How do you draw an OC character?
An OC stands
for “Original Character
.” DeviantArt even calls some fan-based characters “original characters,” even though they are not “original.” For example, he/she could be based off Nintendo, but has modifications to make it your own distinctive art.
How do you make an anime OC?
- Height:
- Weight:
- Race:
- Eye color: Be specific about the color.
- Hair color: Again, make the color specific.
- Hair style:
- Glasses or contact lenses?:
- Skin color:
When should you reveal a backstory?
We should discover character backstory
only when it’s natural and necessary
. For example, I wrote a novella in which the main character is missing three fingers from his right hand. This detail is clearly established in the second scene, yet the reader doesn’t immediately know where his fingers went.
How do you reveal a villains backstory?
- Withhold the villain’s identity from the protagonist/other main characters.
- Place the villain in a symbolically “unreachable” place, where he/she can taunt the hero at will.
- Describe in detail the villain weaving his/her plot, right under the noses of the protagonists.
How do you write a short backstory?
- Understand that a short story is not the same as a novel. …
- Start as close to the end as possible. …
- Keep up the pace. …
- Keep the number of characters small. …
- Give the reader someone to root for. …
- Create conflict! …
- Suggest a backstory but don’t elaborate. …
- Appeal to the five senses.