Know Your Character’s Back Story

Fiction writing is all about characters. Well, I guess it is also about plot, setting, and all that jazz, but let’s face it – a really great starring character can make almost any novel or short story interesting. Check out your own fiction work. Just how round are you characters.

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Back to junior high English class for a minute. When a character is “round,” it has substance. It is a believable, real character that causes the reader to care. This is in contrast to a “flat” character, who is a one-note that serves as little more than a stereotype. Of course, not every character in every book needs to be round. Flat characters serve a purpose. That said, you want your protagonists to be as round as possible, and one way to do that is to know your character’s back story.

Think about your own life. Where were you five years ago? Ten years ago? What were you like in high school? How about in college? Who have you dated? Who used to be your friends? What was the wildest night of your life? What bad decisions have you made? What good decisions have you made? The point is this – no matter how much you’ve changed, everything in your past has made you the person you are today. The same is true for your characters.

So where have they been? What have they done? How have their experiences shaped them?

Write a short history of your character. You should consider that everyone has ups and downs in life. Your character doesn’t need a ton of tragedies or crazy experiences, but life is never, ever boring for anyone. As you write, think about your character’s back story and how those experience will determine his or her decisions in the time period of your tale. Your fiction will be stronger for it.