Back story for characters.

[SinderellaSin]

With a series I've tried to develop certain characters. Im wondering if others have decided to write the characters back stories even adding pictures to help aid the readers imagine the characters within the series?

 

[Bazzle]

With a series I've tried to develop certain characters. Im wondering if others have decided to write the characters back stories even adding pictures to help aid the readers imagine the characters within the series?

I wrote a few origin stories for my characters before...I dont think it helped anyone, but me.

 

[SinderellaSin]

I can understand that, it helps you develop the characters in your mind at least.

 

[Lifestyle66]

With a series I've tried to develop certain characters. Im wondering if others have decided to write the characters back stories even adding pictures to help aid the readers imagine the characters within the series?

Writing the backstory for the characters helps build their motivations. But trying to publish the story with imbedded pics would put your story in the "Illustrated" category.

 

[Bamagan]

Pictures in your story are probably a no-go outside of Illustrated (which may be defunct now), although there's at least one SF/F series that had some, so I guess it's possible you could get an exemption or whatever.
Publishing character backgrounds is probably not a great move, unless maybe you can make one or more actual self-contained stories out of them. Opening with a lot of backstory tends to be tedious and risks driving away readers before they can care about the characters you're describing. Including them as an appendix or whatever might be a nice treat for any readers whom you've really hooked, but by the end of the story you've probably already revealed anything that was really important to the tale.
As a purely preparatory exercise, though, sure. I tend to keep 'dossiers' on characters from long works, so they can definitely be helpful for keeping organized and consistent.

 

[TheRedLantern]

I have basically 3 main characters in the series I'm working on. I think I have about 100K words in backstory for them. I have reference images that I use when I'm stuck for description, a year-by-year timeline that details the main events in each character's life during that year, and includes events in the lives of several side characters while they're part of the setting.

That's before I wrote my first word for any Lit story.

No one's ever going to see any of this unless they want to do a collab with me. This all goes into what I call my "setting bible."

I come from trying to write fantasy/sci-fi, so when I decided to try my hand at Lit as the first place I would share anything I write, I created a setting the same way I would if it were an epic fantasy or a sprawling cyberpunk story. I actually think I originally came up with the idea for the setting as a place to set some Lovecraftian-inspired horror stories, but somehow that turned into the Interracial Love stories that I published.

 

[MrStill]

I wrote a few origin stories for my characters before...I dont think it helped anyone, but me.

Interesting that you published them?
I've written extensive back stories for my Mailgirls Down Under series. And a lot of other stuff to help me with continuity. Never ever thought of publishing any of it though.

 

[ChuckWolf]

For most of my stories, the protagonist (usually a young-ish dude) has usually had minimal life experiences, so that their backstory is generally unremarkable.

In published stories and those I'm working on, most of these involve a famous or semi-famous antagonist (always female) and her background gets revealed by her and other characters in the story, including the antagonist.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I add a very limited back story to my characters by weaving it into the story.

She's a widow and her late husband was a good man and she misses him. But it's been two years and she needs a man in her bed. I seldom go deeper than that.

 

[NotWise]

With a series I've tried to develop certain characters. Im wondering if others have decided to write the characters back stories even adding pictures to help aid the readers imagine the characters within the series?

It's common writer's advice in non-erotic and erotic literature to let readers use their own imaginations to picture your characters. That way they can build an image that appeals to them, rather than whatever it is that you want them to see. There are exceptions when a character's appearance plays a role in the story.

What you're asking about is the exact opposite.

 

[SinderellaSin]

Thank you for all your thoughts and a lot of very good points for me to consider and that's why I asked.

 

[Bazzle]

Interesting that you published them?
I've written extensive back stories for my Mailgirls Down Under series. And a lot of other stuff to help me with continuity. Never ever thought of publishing any of it though.

Yes, I did!

I world built with - Smoking Paradise Islands a place for people to escape and smoke.

https://www.literotica.com/s/smoking-paradise-island

Then provided a back story for various inhabitants.

https://www.literotica.com/s/smoking-paradise-origins-marion

https://www.literotica.com/s/smoking-paradise-origins-martha

https://www.literotica.com/s/smoking-paradise-origins-tanya

Why would sensible people leave everything they have to end up on a sandy 'hedonistic' island full of drunk smokers?

That was the aim, to give characters a different reason!

B

 

[TheLobster]

I actually think I originally came up with the idea for the setting as a place to set some Lovecraftian-inspired horror stories, but somehow that turned into the Interracial Love stories that I published.

Sounds odd, but I could totally believe that. Some of the stuff that gets published in IR does evoke in one’s mind images of eldritch horrors.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

It usually gets woven into the story and revealed over time.

I recommend that you take a look at my "How-To" on literary techniques. Allusion, Characterization, Exposition, and Frame Story are all examples of technique that you might be able to incorporate to provide the character backstory with it seeming "clunky".

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Not so much backstory as person-building. Early on in the writing of a tale, I almost always browse the net for photos. If my MFC is a chubby ginger, then I'll google that and find one or two pics which seem to me to have the right character and appearance. Those photos go in a small reference chart giving any pertinent info such as height, freckles, hair, etc. None of this gets published (except when woven into the story), but it serves to keep me focused.

 

[Britva415]

even adding pictures

To the story? Or to your unpublished "character sheet" you use for your own reference while writing?

to help aid the readers imagine the characters within the series?

Are you talking about publishing the backstory for the readers to access separately from the story?

The things you're talking about could "aid the readers" by helping the author write the story more clearly and evocatively, but, they are aids for the author to do their craft, not aids for the reader to refer to while reading.

 

[THBGato]

Im wondering if others have decided to write the characters back stories even adding pictures to help aid the readers imagine the characters within the series?

This is very much the thing on Wattpad. Lots of stories start with this there, though, after trying a few, I now tend to skip them. If the writer isn't good enough to weave such info into their story, then I'm probably not going to enjoy it.

Besides, discovering/working these things out for yourself is half the fun of reading. Don't spoil it!

 

[Britva415]

This is very much the thing on Wattpad. Lots of stories start with this there, though, after trying a few, I now tend to skip them. If the writer isn't good enough to weave such info into their story, then I'm probably not going to enjoy it.

Besides, discovering/working these things out for yourself is half the fun of reading. Don't spoil it!

I completely agree. And, here, "spoil" has two meanings.

One is, discovering something outside of the actual narrative is "spoiling" story elements. Unless they aren't - if they aren't "story elements" as in something directly related to a plot point, either a cause or a consequence of something which actually happens as opposed to something which is just description with zero narrative effect, then, maybe it isn't a spoil since it doesn't make any difference to finding out what happens in the story. But if this is the case, why is it necessary to provide it at all? You aren't providing it IN the story, so, why bother providing it outside of the story?

The second "spoil" is that it simply calls attention to the inadequacy of the writing. As a reader, one of two things could happen: Either I read the story without consulting any of the off-screen, fourth-wall-breaking supplemental pieces, and I find that there's shit which doesn't make sense because that information isn't in the story, in which case that's inadequate storytelling. Or, I read the story and the "appendices" too, and the experience is ruined because I'm expected to fill in the blanks for myself instead of just being able to know it from the story narration. Maybe the story is still understandable, but it forces one to ask why this stuff is provided at all if it wasn't important enough to include in the story. Again, it leaves the feeling that something was inadequate.

Now:
We all know that there are stories which include appendices, maps, maybe other images or even a glossary separately outside of the story narration. I'm not saying all of that is automatically bad or spoiling. But the successful examples are the ones where those materials are provided for the reader's convenience, not the writer's, AND they aren't necessary to the telling of the tale. A reader could consult them or not, without impact to their understanding or their impression of the happenings. Additionally, there seem to be a particular kind of story and a kind of a critical mass which calls for this: At least 200,000 words or a couple/few volumes - with allowances for audience age. The Hobbit is one volume under 100,000 words and has a map, but it was written for younger people.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Thank you for all your thoughts and a lot of very good points for me to consider and that's why I asked.

The only time I use an illustration is in the New Stories Advertisements section of the Story Feedback Forum. However, I don't attempt to show a character, even if her appearance (it's usually a female) is based on an online photo of someone. The picture will usually be some real-life setting I used in the story. I know I've used the now closed but landmarked Loew's Paradise theater in The Bronx at least twice. The interior and exterior architecture of of the place were so striking that it makes for a great setting.

https://live.staticflickr.com/3087/3150195457_a262990e27_b.jpg

 

[SinderellaSin]

Great points thank you. I infact wrote a w story based on just single words making the reader imagine what was going on. People imagined there own stories, there own interpretation.
So after your responses I think I write them for myself to use as reference. Thank you for all your thoughts x

 

[ronde]

I write enough backstory to explain a character's motivations. Anything more is just filler to build word count.

I usually write that backstory using the character's thoughts or in dialogue and it comes out a little at a time. That's how real people would reveal their inner self to someone else so it at least is plausible.