Any writer knows that backstory is important; it tells readers what happened in the characters’ lives before the story began. It's much like personal history, detailing something that happened in the near or distant past that had an impact on the character.

It isn’t just important to the reader, though; it also helps the writer understand what their characters fear and what motivates them.

It Helps You Write The Story

The backstory tells of events that have an impact on the motivation and behavior of a particular character in the story. It adds a certain amount of depth to the story and adding a rich backstory lets you pull in certain details to improve dialog and character actions.

Character stories bring history and information to any story, and, as a writer, it's up to you to create the right backstory to match your character and explain their behavior. So, make sure that you give your characters significant events in their lives. That could include:

Abuse as a child

The best, most loving childhood ever

Death or rejection

Mentors who made a significant impact

Personal or professional triumphs

Personal or professional defeats

Use those backstories to trigger an emotional response; whether it’s a story of personal struggle or something good, it will determine how your characters respond to certain situations. Some reactions could include:

Fear

Sadness

Anger

Retreat

Nostalgia

Comfort

Let’s say that one of your characters is shy. You can show this through their speech patterns and actions. She may be shy because her father bullied here emotionally; she felt humiliated throughout her childhood, scared of speaking out. It's down to you, as the writer, to know what made her shy so you know what triggers the behavior patterns.

Is your character continually repeating actions because they never learned the first time they did it? How does your character break away from the past? Your backstory highlights all of this, and, as the story unfolds, it changes.

The Impact Your Backstory Has on Your Characters

A decent backstory, rich in detail, will help give your characters realistic, human characteristics. It is these characteristics and the actions that go with them that will help your readers to have a good understanding of your characters, so that they can relate to them, empathize and sympathize with them where necessary.

The personality your characters react to a situation with should be appropriate enough to ensure your story moves on, not stagnates, going nowhere. If your readers can develop strong and emotional ties with your characters, they will keep reading until the end, and that engagement is built through the actions each character takes through the story.

This could include:

The way your characters respond to others

How your characters speak

The relationships forged between characters

The backstory is important to bring your main story to life and the most important part of it is how you bring it out in your story. Do you bring it out in bits and pieces or do you drop it on your readers in one huge hit? That’s what we’re going to find out in the next part.