Advice/Help is there a way to expand onto an OC's backstory?

[proiettile]

i know this sounds weird, but... i've had a decently rough time making backstories for OC's. yes, i do enjoy making them, but at times it's so difficult to... y'know, make them. i just need some tips or whatnot for making an OC's backstory.... well, a bit better.​

 

[Virus]

Oooh, I have the same problem, but I can help with that ^^

Couple of things you need to put in.

One, what were they like during their childhood? Did they have a bad one, or did they do well in their childhood? Were they abused?

Two, what are they like now? Dark? Evil? Kind? Etc.

Those are some tips I follow from, but it should help ^^

 

[Onmyoji]

It's really a very general question.
To create a good OC you don't have to describe their entire biography from the moment they were born, but rather think about what shaped their character, their world views, their current goals.
Maybe it's their childhood, maybe it's some notable events they've been through, maybe their friends or family members that influenced them, maybe they had a cool mentor, maybe they had past love relationship they're still not over with... things like that would help making your character more interesting and alive.

 

[Crayons]

I would also add: think about what their personality is like now, then work backwards from that to figure out how they got there.

Maybe they are really tight with money, and the reason could be a) they grew up really poor and so they could never spend money on frivolous things. or b) They grew up really rich in a family who made their money because they were penny pinchers (like Scrooge).

Are they always the one to cheer up their friends and make them laugh? Could be that they grew up with lots of brothers and sisters they had to entertain. Could be that they became a clown to avoid being bullied for some other aspect of their personality/appearance.

Just generally considering the following:

Environment they grew up in
Culture
Social Class
Family
Friends
Notable Events

 

[rae2nerdy]

So I am also super bad about this. What I do is take the people I know in real life as templates. So I will base a characters backstory on my mom or my aunt or my sister. I won't take everything (I usually do fantasy roleplays so obviously there is some creative liberties) but just imagining the people I know as characters in my story really helps me flesh out OCs and their backstory.

I also find it's helpful for side characters (people like a teacher at a school who will show up infrequently but isn't a POV character. I just base them on like teacher's I've had in real life. It makes them easier to remember and it helps the world feel more lived in.)

 

[Inq]

Honestly I draw the inspiration for many of my characters backstories from songs.
The song, the melody, lyrics, set the basic tone of what shaped their personality and from there I usually just work my way backwards c:

 

[Hella Downweather]

I usually start with a specific feeling, character trait, quirk, or power (if I go full fantasy) and then I expand bit by bit my OC.

I don't want to repeat what has already been said before, so I'll simply write the five questions I always ask myself when I create a new character :

1- In a stressful, panic inducing moment, how would they react and why? If someone else is involved, does it change the answer?
It helps a lot to understand a few key personality point, and it is usually reused in my RPs as these kind of events tends to happen frequently. It can also help to see how my OC sees the people around them, like when he/she is in danger and there's someone else beside him/her, who does he/she think of first?

2- In what environment is my OC is the happiest ?
That can help decide where I place him on the extroverted/introverted slider, but also what he does to relax, what he could do to help someone unwind etc..etc...

3- What is their dream, their ultimate aspiration? Do they even have one?
This helps create an OC who doesn't exist solely for the RP (and can be reused if needed or if the RP is dropped). It can be simple, it can be complicated, heck they can even not have one! It has depth to the character and can explain some of their actions.

4- How are they in term of romance?
Are they prude, really flirty, not affected by romance in any way? Is it something they long for or something they are simply content to ignore? While not all RP are romance focused, it's nice to keep in mind something that is oh so important in real life. And if it's not important for your character/your character is ace, BAM more complexity in how they interact with people.

5- What is making them survive in their current environment?
Do they have a family supporting them? Do they rely on their powers, riches, inner skills, anything else ? Are they completely independent, or do they depend on someone, the government, an entity, to live? Are they simply a pawn of society, working 40 hours per week at minimum wage? This helps a lot with the background and previous relationship your character may have had in the past.

I hope it helps with your design of OCs !

 

[peritwinkle]

I like to ask simple questions and stretch out the answers as much as possible to get more relevant information. For instance, what is my OC’s favourite smell? Maybe freshly baked bread. Why? It makes them think of their family home, which they left years ago and miss very much. Why did they have to leave their home? Etc.

This is a super easy method to brainstorm and it also helps if you write those questions down. Try to ask as many “why” questions as possible.

 

[Melpomene]

Oh my goodness, I love this!

Making character backstories is one of my favorite things!

Okay, so the first thing you must know is a backstory is there to explain how a character ended up the way they are now. Whether you build it while you RP or before you even begin the story honestly doesn't matter, you do it in whatever way comes natural to you. If you're ever particularly struggling, I recommend you start writing for the character and see where it takes you before making any solid additions to the backstory.

But! For the backstory itself, a great way to start is to actually flesh out other parts of the character first. What are they like? What are their traits? Their fears? These things tend to not just... appear in a person. If someone is great at being a cunning bastard, they probably learned it from somewhere. Are they a soldier in the army? What brought them here? What made them pick up a sword? Are they afraid of the dark? Abandonment? Usually, something in their past caused this.

You can think of small quirks as well. Do they like nature and animals? Maybe they found solace and sanctuary in it when they were younger.

I hope you have some fun creating new backstories

Cheers!

 

[Grey]

All pretty good tips here, so I'm adding a caveat - nothing grows in barren soil. If there's not enough context to inform a character, they're harder to write.
So it might be worth considering, when you're struggling, if there is enough worldbuilding in place to actually serve as a foundation for a character's life and backstory.

 

[Idea]

My advice is to follow the golden rule of consistency. This is something I stumbled upon as I gained experience in writing, and something I would absolutely call a pillar of my writing today, as it improves my writing, makes it more grounded and meaningful and helps me generate content.

The rule of consistency has two components: Internal consistency and consistency of consequence.

Internal consistency is the adherence to established facts of the setting, character, story and whatever else. If you have a magic system in which wizards need wands to cast spells, for instance, by internal consistency you can't have someone cast spells without a wand, unless you have a good reason for there to be such an exception. If our character is established as very optimistic then they shouldn't express a pessimistic viewpoint over something minor.

Consistency of consequence is an expansion of internal consistency over time, through the establishment of logical causes and effects to the established facts. It takes the assumption "all things have some cause for why they are the way they are" and puts the elements you want to include through that lens. If your character was born to rich parents, then how did they become rich? What influence did it have in their behavior and how did it influence how they raised their child?

Bit short, but I hope this helps. Best of luck and happy roleplaying!