I came across writing prompt on Pinterest which said that if you are stuck, try writing a list of things about the character (or characters in my case, I just do it all in one go) that the reader will never know, and it will bleed through and add depth into your story writing. So, I decided to do it- after all when else do all the teeny-tiny strange obscurities in my charries' lives actually warrant recording? Here's what I have or the ever-growing Word document.

Things the reader will never know…
They will never know that Wir-Jagger (the villain) was spoiled by his nanny as a child.
That Stelle (neutral friendly one) used to steal treats from her mansion’s kitchen.
That Orim (plucky teenage sidekick) has this fantasy about getting a perfect girlfriend and buying her a dog.
That the little boy from the market was Elya’s imaginary friend for two years.
That Wynne (cute little girl) is afraid of all tall men.
That one day, Elya (FMC) just wants to buy up all the merchandise someone is selling.
That Kastan (MMC, hero) wishes he was poor so he could have an easier life.
That Berneen’s great-grandmother had Alien Limb Syndrome.
That Elya’s only living grandparents are on her father’s side. She never knew her maternal grandparents, but met their parents once. Her paternal grandparents, Luna and Ergardo Alteri, live in the northernmost town in Aelati and mail her family letters every few months.
That when Kastan is working alone in the Palace stables, he sings.
That a few years ago, Stelle was terribly depressed.
That Orim has another fantasy about saving an old lady- just as she is about to totter into a raging river, he sweeps her frail body up in his arms.
That Lenartus (old guy, obstacle character) first noticed his wife because she was wearing thick, clunky reading spectacles while reading a huge tome. To him, the glasses looked terribly attractive on her.
That Orim has another fantasy about riding giant wolves.
That Stelle wears holes in her stockings faster that you can say “Sad Fish.”
That Wir-Jagger conditions his beard with olive oil once a week.

This is extremely important for any story, short or long. You absolutely need to know more about every aspect of your story than your audience will ever get to know. It is Backstory 101. If you know where characters have been and why, then you can create interesting surprises that still make sense thus creating a lot of depth to your story. However, I will warn to not carve any of the backstory into stone. Sometimes shifting little motivations around in the backstory can give the perfect twist on a scene in your story that will make it really unique and memorable. All in all, keep doing this as you need to, but also keep slugging away at the story itself.

Thanks! This will help.

But I've got a question. How do you work out a backstory without inventing a million more characters and their own backstories until you've woven a history backwards and you might as well have just written the story forwards?

Eventually you decide "OK, that's enough" and stop.

But the reason you might prefer to work the history out as backstory is that details of backstory can be changed, while if a story turns into multiple volumes and (as writers tend to do, not being as wealthy as Solomon) you send the first volume to the publisher (or set it up on CreateSpace or whatever) before you've finished the last volume, you can't make changes to the earliest material that you suddenly find the last volume needs.

This is a fascinating idea; I've always done it, though I've never listed much of it. I've always given my characters detailed backstories. It seemed quite natural for me, to know as much about them as possible.

I just have trouble keeping all that out of the stories, because I love the characters and their lives so much, I want everyone else to know as well! I manage to restrain myself most of the time, though.

*laughs* Good point. Especially the rewriting part. That does tend to happen a lot.



You end up writing a biography for your character instead of your story with MANY characters!!!

That tends to happen too...

Yes, exactly that. *wry grin*

Exactly. * grins *

One interesting fact about a character I've got that will in all likelihood never enter the story is that he owns a house – an empty, unfurnished house – that he wants to live in because he likes it but never does for more than a week or so at a time because he's restless and looking for things to do. He's that sort of person.

And I think that is the main way that things about your characters that the readers never know manage to make a book better – because you know it, and so you have a better idea of what sort of person he is. Another character of mine once murdered someone – and no one in the story ever knows that, or any other details, they just know that he is wanted by law. But I know everything about what happened and why he did it – so I know he's that sort of person. Also, I know there is a chance he might react to certain situations a bit differently than if his crime had been different.

You don't have to keep going very far, though... you can say that a certain minor character had a mother who really loved him, without having to go through all the details about the mother and how she was a news reporter as a young woman – or you can, if you want, but since the character you are developing is a minor character, it probably wouldn't change the story at all, and might use up time better spent doing something else.

For me, a part of this is just saying "I know this character needs this family background, so there you go" and just leaving it at that. I'll come up with a list of different things (this being for a minor character) that may or may not get into the story but which are important to the way a character works, without actually fleshing out the character.

For example:

Maybe I have a carter with a family. He makes carts. He loves his wife and kids and wants them safe. And that's all I know about him.

But what if he joins a revolution? Well, then he needs a reason. He wants his family safe, so why invite war? I might invent one tiny thread of back-story for him--he immigrated to the present country and isn't loyal. Or it's not a contest of loyalty or passion, but the simple fact that he thinks the revolution will win and he wants to be on the victorious side for his family. Once I find something that works and explains what I need, I leave him alone.

This makes sense. So you ick one character and only plan out hsi immediate history as it pertains to the story. That actually is really clear and makes sense.