This is taken from a blog post of mine but I believe this could help a lot of people out. Especially new authors.

This is something I hear so many people having trouble with. Background stories. You know the things that happen to something before the events that are currently happening. Well fear no more because I'm going to be giving my thoughts on this crap.

(TLDR crap at the bottom.)

Let's go over what i'm going to be talking about here.

Character background.

Lore.

Originality.

So let's start with some general things about all of these. There are three key things that need to be put into consideration before attempting the two things in the title of this blog post. Detail, reality, and consistency. The more detail put in the more fleshed out will become, even if it's just something as simple as "What time does this character brush his teeth." And the best thing about it is... you can just make it up as you go along! BUT, you have to be consistent. You can't say one thing happened at one time, but say another thing happened at the same time and place. You can make up anything you want as you go along, as long as it's set within the boundaries of reality that you have set for the world. Whether they be ones you made yourself, or ones that are preexisting.

Now before you say "But things like character background must be planned and outlined!" If you're thinking that, then you're partially right. When I say make it up as you go along, you can't just say "Oh he was once a banana that carried a fishing pole with a turd sandwich attached to it. Now he's a successful business man." (Someone write this)... That just doesn't work. You have to create a basic outline of what you want for the character's background. You can make up the details as you go along, as long as it isn't completely stupid.

Okay now that that's out of the way, let's start talking about the three musts of character background in detail.

Detail.

There are two easy methods to putting detail into a character background, write it down as you go, or memorize it. Though memorizing it only works if you have one story and one OC. Otherwise you'd have to be a savant to accurately memorize everything about your characters. I suggest practicing this with Roleplay. A simple exercise where you create a template for a character and make things up as you go with a friend. I guarantee this will improve your writing greatly. (And for the love of God, take your RP seriously. Unless the character itself is not serious.)

Reality

Come on this should be obvious. If a character's background is not believable, how is the character going to be believable? Try to stay in the boundaries set for the world the character comes from. We're honestly I'm bit tired of seeing all these stories where a character was a unique person where they come from. Whatever happened to the ordinary becoming extraordinary? For example, Far Cry 3. Jason Brody started out being a whiny little nuttbugget until he was put on the path of the warrior, by the end he was a strong killing machine where the jungle was his playground. he went from "I can't do this man!" to "I'll kill that son of a bitch!"

A character needs to grow, or else the story is going to be BORING. Every story has a moral that a character learns from and so can you, it's not always obvious, but it depends on how hard you look for it.

Consistency.

This is what a lot of TV shows these days suffer from, inconsistency. Something will happen in one episode, whether it be someone gets a new car, or someone saves the universe. And it's completely forgotten the next episode, or maybe gets a mention later. A character has to grow from their past, whether it be for the worse or for the better. If something happens in a character's past, they must be effected by it in the present somehow. Or there's no point of even giving that part of their past a mention. As well as something happening in the present, it must effect them in the future, or the story will have no structure. Believe it or not, this is a thing I've seen before.

ALRIGHT, time to move on to part two of this blog. LORE.

Whether it be history of a land, or how a certain machine works. The reason why lore is even being mentioned in this blog, is because it follows the same three tenants of character background. Should I go into detail about this?... No?... Well too bad.

I'm not going to just list things like normal, because all you TLDR butt nuggets will just assume i'm repeating myself.

The more fleshed out a world or land is, the more interesting it's going to be. Just look at Socobeck, what I've showed of that world in Power Windows is simply a tip of the iceberg. And people seem to be intrigued by what I have to offer for said world. It's because I've spent a lot of time and work into making it an interesting world. Giving it detailed descriptions of unique places and people, the one thing you should always do when creating something unique. Is detail, now before you guys go saying "No, originality is!". What makes a creation original is how different something is to the norm that people have set. Well how would anyone know if something was unique if you do not tell them why? Case closed.

But always make sure it's believable. Now we all know that humans cannot create things that are not inspired by something, because we can only create based off what we are given. Every form of alien ever created by the human mind has been based off of something or things from Earth. No if, ands, or buts. A place or world has to be believable, it has to be explained and thought out. It can't just be like that awful show that just came out on Cartoon Network called Uncle Grandpa. They just throw you into the world and expect you to not ask questions. If you do that to your readers, you're just treating them like crap. Then you sit there wondering "What did I do wrong?" well that... that right there is what you did wrong. Exposition is your best friend... in moderation of course. Kind of like that friend you rarely get to see and love being around, but realistically if you were to live right next to them, you'd hate each other.

And lastly, be consistent with what you tell people. Once you've established something in a world, you've got to stick with it. Unless you have a PERFECTLY reasonable explanation as to why something is changed. The best way to do that is to have it happen as a plot point of the story. Rather than it happening behind the scenes while the hero is out adventuring and breaking pots. Changing things out of the blue isn't even acceptable in rewrites, because once people have learned about a world. They don't want to rediscover it, they want to discover more. So when you show your readers something, be sure it's what you want.

And finally we reach originality, well I already talked about it. See above. Now before you call this a cop-out, just read what I've been saying this whole time. (Basically I implied "Don't copy other people! But it's okay to be inspired by something. (Socobeck was inspired by The Witcher universe mixed with Avatar: The Last Airbender. Don't judge.))

Do you have any thoughts or questions for me? Or just want to call me a douche bag? Let me know in a nasty or lovely reply. I read every single one, and I try to answer all questions to the best of my ability.

And remember, all of this is, and always will be, my opinion and thoughts on the subject.

(TLDR crap: Read the damn post you lazy sluggard.)

2452467
Wow...that was very informative and I appreciate you posting this!

I know you said it was only your opinion, but I feel like this will help me out in my next attempt to write a story! So thank you, and Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays!

2452904

Hi!

2452909
Hi there!

2452941

Fancy seeing you here

2452947
well, my writing is mediocre at best, so I figured why not join?

2452904 You're quite welcome, as an admin for this group i'm here to try my best to help anyone and everyone.

2453067

Thanks again! BTW, if I'm not mistaken, I could post a story here so long ad the like/dislike ratio isn't too steep, correct?

2453139

2. Posting of stories is encouraged, but only those that need improvement and constructive criticism. Stories with high like/low dislike ratio (1,000 likes to 20 dislikes for example) will not be approved, since these are the stories that can cause the self-doubt this group is here to relieve.

Taken from the front page.

2453165 You. You sir. Could I have you preread my first chapter when it's finished?

I'm nearly finished.

2453301 I'd love to, but be warned, i'm brutally honest but only want the best for your story.

2453310 Hmm, how honest will you be? I need you to read it twice. I would like you to read it now. And tell me everything... well as far as questions I ask for and ultimately if it's something that someone would read if were to start reading at all. And I would need you a second time after it's fully finished and written out. Are you up for that?

This story I want in EQD, so I need you to be flat out real in every sense of the word. I don't want the world telling me how poorly written the story is. Lastly, I actually want an author who played a role in inspiring me to write MLP fanfics in the first place to read it because she for one had a big role in the inspiration of this fic. So yes, I need all your thoughts on it now, and when it's complete. So... you up for it friend?

2453375 I suppose, but i can do it after tomorrow.

2452467

Just kidding, I've read it all. One thing, I didn't understand, however, is this:

The more detail put in the more fleshed out will become, even if it's just something as simple as "What time does this character brush his teeth."

As well as something happening in the present, it must effect them in the future, or the story will have no structure.

My question is: Is brushing of teeth allowed only if it will have some meaning in the future or can it be just thrown in even if the story could do without it?

2479310 I'd say the first one, but it doesn't have to be extremely important, just something that could be worth mentioning. I believe you should only mention something if it has opportunity to fill up space in the story later in a natural way, rather than being forced or just for the hell of it.