Hi!
So, I have a few characters with different backgrounds (a traumatized immigrant, a bored rich kid, a nurse without family and a former drug addict, so there’s some variety) but for future oc’s I’m really struggling with coming up with backgrounds that are interesting but also not the same as you see in books and movies.
Does anybody have some tips or advice on this? (: I’d be very grateful to pretty much anything!
So, I have a few characters with different backgrounds (a traumatized immigrant, a bored rich kid, a nurse without family and a former drug addict, so there’s some variety) but for future oc’s I’m really struggling with coming up with backgrounds that are interesting but also not the same as you see in books and movies.
Does anybody have some tips or advice on this? (: I’d be very grateful to pretty much anything!
A lot of the time, I just make the personality and then work backwards to their backgrounds. Other times, it just comes up in bits and pieces as I RP, and I add those together. For some, it's both.
Sir_Grey wrote:
A lot of the time, I just make the personality and then work backwards to their backgrounds. Other times, it just comes up in bits and pieces as I RP, and I add those together. For some, it's both.
I think I prefer to write my characters background before starting to roleplay with them, but it can just be me who prefer it to do it like that!
Sir_Grey's advice is a pretty good option tbh (I also tend to preffer to make them beforehand, but it's true that a lot of good stuff can come out of letting the enviroment shape your charas!)
However, as pre-developed characters, a pretty good advise would be to pick a thing, and research how it would develop irl. In example, let's say your character has a great dislike for phisical contact. What can be the cause of such thing in real life? How does it affect those who have such dislike in their daily life? At what age is it most common to develop it and under wich circumstances?
Always have in mind that it you do pick a defined backstory for your character before using them, that will be what defines how they are up to this moment. A backstory that organically develops and explains your character's current traits and likelyhood is usually the best thing to aim for, as it will make them booth more believable and easier to write/think.
Also remember that not everyone reacts to the same experiences equally, so you can play with how do the event's on your character's life affect them in the current time and why. If they had a tragic backstory, are they motivated to make things better? If they had an uneventful life, are they annoyed or depressed due the lack of trhill on it? Those are the kind of things you can play with to add variability to your characters respecting their backstories and personalities.
However, as pre-developed characters, a pretty good advise would be to pick a thing, and research how it would develop irl. In example, let's say your character has a great dislike for phisical contact. What can be the cause of such thing in real life? How does it affect those who have such dislike in their daily life? At what age is it most common to develop it and under wich circumstances?
Always have in mind that it you do pick a defined backstory for your character before using them, that will be what defines how they are up to this moment. A backstory that organically develops and explains your character's current traits and likelyhood is usually the best thing to aim for, as it will make them booth more believable and easier to write/think.
Also remember that not everyone reacts to the same experiences equally, so you can play with how do the event's on your character's life affect them in the current time and why. If they had a tragic backstory, are they motivated to make things better? If they had an uneventful life, are they annoyed or depressed due the lack of trhill on it? Those are the kind of things you can play with to add variability to your characters respecting their backstories and personalities.
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