Background

[yamamura]

I could of posted this on the DH#31 thread, but I felt it was enough of its own question it deserve its own thread. Maybe I have a case of background envy or at the very least wanting my backgrounds to have more depth, length and pizazz. But I find Hermit's, Bill's and some other people's ability to write background amazing. So a simple request from me (and maybe others), anybody willing to give any tips for background writing?

[Curufea]

Re: Background

 

Yes

Ripoff other media

 

Take a paragraph (or just an idea) from at least 3 different books or movies...

[Dr Divago]

Re: Background

 

So a simple request from me (and maybe others)' date=' anybody willing to give any tips for background writing?[/quote']Few time i've written some very long background (11 page for a Tremere Former Ghoul Vampiress, 9 for a lone Elven Archer for D&D, 8 for Reporter in Cyberpunk...) but my average background is 4 pages long.

I cannot say if are "amazing" but sure is "long"

 

I will be glad to give you some advice, but i'm not a writer, my background's quality is'nt so high (in the average), and i lack of sufficent "selfness" and presumptuousness to give advice...

but i can try (cute face like your avatar's pushes me to try )

 

I first came with idea and with story for Character, before thinking how to put this in system stats; i came with an idea, a story, something that drive me and like me; i draw a mental picture of character, i think some situation wich can be the cause of his/her mental status. If has some distinctive feature, how can this be made, even former enemies, friends and like.

I think about his physical aspect, what dress are wearing sometimes and if has some particular aspect (tatoos always means something, even wrong turn in the past), i think about "how he/she react in some situation? He/she has faced this situation in his/her past" and like.

Important is that there's no "premeditation"; i write driven by some "inspiration". Background written without inspiration are few, and especially "poor". When i got a beautiful idea, i'll put black-on-white (i'll write down, sometimes on paper, sometimes on computer, of course).

 

Last but not least, i write background in some "direct" style. I mean, not aseptic description of past events; background can be a character's journal, some news articles about him/her past; recurrent figure is some extranous figure that tell reader, maybe a troubadour chanting his/her past adventures, a tavern customer chatting in front of a pint of beer, or wrong enemy searching about his nemesis to find some weak point. This help, imho, to put some suspension of disbelieve (if something are not correct, well, maybe just a narrator's exaggeration... ) and make more "real" this work

 

Inspiration? of course are something that inspire me; novels, film, telefilm, anime, comics... i like serial and history who put accent on "character" rather than on "history" (like Star Trek or "Whedon's serials" to name someones) and i think this is long inspirating: when i write down background i try to focus on "my character's past history" instead of "my character's past history" (hope this is clear)

 

Yes i know, i've written only banal consideration, but i cannot do more...

i hope this help.

[fredrik_nilsson]

Re: Background

 

I don't claim to be an expert (or even an average) writer, but this is how I do it:

1. The Beginning: How did the character’s life start? Only tell the essentials. If the childhood was uneventful, or to plain to be of interest, don’t bother to write about it. Just write about it if you feel the reader will get a better understanding of the character. It’s quite common that the beginning is skipped, and the background starts with the first key event.
   
2. Key Events: On a piece of paper, write down the major events in the character’s life. Try to stick to those events that molded the character into her present form. It’s easy to begin to write to many events, but try to avoid that. You want the character’s background to be focused, not a memoir.
   
3. Life Path: How did the character move on from key event to key event? Try to briefly describe how the character evolved between each major "life crisis".
   
4. Lens: Now that you have the basic layout of the background, you have to decide how you want to tell it. Has the character lived a happy life, or is it filled to the brim with traumas? Try to promote those feelings you want to evoke.
   
5. Who: Many writers say that a text feels more alive, if it’s written in a personal form. Therefore you should avoid the classical mistake of writing the background as if it were a history book. Often this is accomplished via the use of a storyteller in the text. Who tells the story? Is it the character, or another person? If the story is told by another person than the character, is it told by a friend or a foe? Were the other person a spectator to the events, or were the story told to her?
   
6. When: When is the story told? Does the background story unfold while the reader is reading the text, then the all the text should be written in present tense? Is the story told after the action, then the past tense is what you should use.
   
7. Where: Where is the storyteller? The milieu in which the story is told can have quite an impact on the background story if used correctly.
   
8. Senses: Finally, don’t forget that you can use more senses than just sight. If the character were wounded, describe the feeling. I guess you get the idea.

[fredrik_nilsson]

Re: Background

 

As an experiment I once did a character’s background story in a totally different way from what I proposed in the previous post. I started out in the usual way (key events, and so on), but instead of wrapping it all up I wrote down all the parts of the story as “journal notesâ€. Sometimes I wrote it from the character’s perspective, and sometimes from some random spectator’s perspective. To help the GM, I put dates on all notes. The end result had the feeling of a collage, or pages from someone’s diary. Even if the GM didn’t appreciate it much, I personally liked the end result. Several of the other players said they liked it too.

 

I guess the lesson to be learned from the experiment is that from a storytelling point of view, it was interesting, but from a GM’s point of view it was hard to use. Had I learned my lesson earlier I might have added some kind of summary, or time line, to help the GM.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Background

 

As an experiment I once did a character’s background story in a totally different way from what I proposed in the previous post. I started out in the usual way (key events, and so on), but instead of wrapping it all up I wrote down all the parts of the story as “journal notesâ€....

 

(snip)

 

Do you still have that origin around? I think that would be a cool read for anybody interested in a different take on character background.

 

I have always wanted to do something like that. I also wanted to include faux newspaper articles and the like to spice things up too. I just never was able to get it to sound okay enough for me to want to submit it and, well newspaper articles are pretty difficult to mock up and look authentic. Maybe in an online forum a simple image file with the appropriate filters would make it easier.....hmmmmn.

 

Anyway cool thread and possibly useful to more people than just Yamamura. I for one, would like to see as much advice as possible.

 

Thanks.

[CourtFool]

Letters Home

 

I once used 'letters home' to flesh out a character's background and personality.

[yamamura]

Re: Background

 

Some good advice so far, thanks.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Letters Home

 

I once used 'letters home' to flesh out a characters background and personality.

 

Another good one.

 

It strikes me that you would have to be either really familiar with the GM's setting (say a pre-published one) or familiar enough with the GM to "know" the kind of things that he does in a long-term campaign. I found it rather amusing when one of my players recently made a bet that they would fight the evil undead thing with no form (or somesuch) within the first five sessions of a new campaign attempt. All from knowing what my style of play tends towards.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Background

 

I don't really know how I do it. I guess I'm not introspective enough to dig that deep. I jump around a lot -- I write a couple of sentences of Personality, then I write the Description, then I write a few paragraphs of Background, then I go back to Personality, then I write a quote, and so on. I also delete and re-write whole sections if I'm not happy with them ("Never fall in love with your words," I always used to tell my writing students).

 

Stephen R. Donaldson once said that all writers get asked that magical question: Where do you get your ideas? He says that the only honest answer is, "I don't know."

 

Bill.

[fredrik_nilsson]

Re: Background

 

Do you still have that origin around? I think that would be a cool read for anybody interested in a different take on character background.

No, I don't have the character anymore. I have this bad habit of throwing all the writings I produce. I really hate myself for doing it, but that's the way I am. If there's an interest, I can try to recreate the character in this forum.

 

I have always wanted to do something like that. I also wanted to include faux newspaper articles and the like to spice things up too. I just never was able to get it to sound okay enough for me to want to submit it and' date=' well newspaper articles are pretty difficult to mock up and look authentic. Maybe in an online forum a simple image file with the appropriate filters would make it easier.....hmmmmn.[/quote']

When I did the character I didn't spend that much time on the layout. I see myself more as a writer, so I just went for content. If you really want to do this well, suggest that you take a look at Aberrant, Adventure or Trinity (all are RPGs from White Wolf).

[CourtFool]

NPCs - From Cube Farm to Headlines!

 

Stephen R. Donaldson once said that all writers get asked that magical question: Where do you get your ideas? He says that the only honest answer is' date=' "I don't know."[/quote']

 

I have always heard, "You write what you know."

 

I still have not mastered the art of the NPC; something that I think is vital to a great game. Next time I run, I am going to try to incoporate 'what I know' into my NPCs. I will take my co-workers, exagerate their personalities for effect, and use them as my NPCs.

[OddHat]

Re: Background

 

I agree with much of the above. Just from a personal POV:

 

I usually start with the core idea from a mix of favorite older stories. The richer the source material, the better.

 

Then I work out the mechanics of the character.

 

I then write the new story out and see where it takes me. Often I'll re-write the mechanics to match anything that emerges from the story (this is often how I figure out disadvantages).

 

As I write, I try to think from the point of view of the character. My strongest backgrounds were not first person, but I always asked why he did what he did; I presented him or her as fully as I could. When possible, I base the character on someone I've known, and on aspects of my own personality.

 

The backgrounds that are weak (Night Hunter) come from not respecting the character as I write, or not taking his life seriously. Terry Prattchett makes the point that, while the lives of Discworlders are absurd when viewed from the outside, they are not absurd from the pont of view of the character. For my best characters, I remember that.

 

Research plays its part as well. I'll often base locations on places I've been, or look up exactly how a particular job is done, where a trader-route ran, etc. It adds depth to the story.

 

After it's all done, I sometimes read it again a few days later and make changes. Writing is re-writing.

[fredrik_nilsson]

Re: Background

 

The characters (both PCs and NPCs) that I've liked most have been created simultaneously as their background. Sometimes I tweak the system, and sometimes I change the story.

[yamamura]

Re: Background

 

Stephen R. Donaldson once said that all writers get asked that magical question: Where do you get your ideas? He says that the only honest answer is, "I don't know."

 

Bill.

 

Coming up with ideas is generally not my problem, it is getting it down on paper and bringing it to life is where I believe I stumble.

[fredrik_nilsson]

Re: Background

 

Coming up with ideas is generally not my problem' date=' it is getting it down on paper and bringing it to life is where I believe I stumble.[/quote']

Maybe you could publish one of your creation, and we could see if we could rework it together on this thread?

[BobGreenwade]

Re: Background

 

Not to disparage fredrik's list, but the majority of I write in the way of character background is an answer to the question, "Why?" The rest is, "Therefore...."

 

So I delve into the reasons Lt. Tsamliew is such an unpleasant person, or the reasons (completely disparate) that the Fanboys are interested in proving the one-time existance of superhumans. They are shaped not only by their observations and philosophies, but by the events and life situations that formed and shaped them.

 

Combine all that with a rudimentary understanding of psychology and personality theory, and you have the start of a well-rounded character.

[fredrik_nilsson]

Re: Background

 

Not to disparage fredrik's list' date=' but the majority of I write in the way of character background is an answer to the question, "Why?" The rest is, "Therefore...."[/quote']

Well, the list wasn't that official anyway.

[Onyxclaw]

Re: Background

 

I tend to look at the backstory as, well, writing the narative of one's life. The most fun I ever had writing one was for an abused character who did not understand the world into which she was dragged.

 

Every few paragraphs or so her story switched between her view of how her life was and why people did things to her, and the view of the most influencial part of her life at the moment. Unfortunately most of these people were cruel beast tamers, but it made for a great way for my GM to get inside her mind and understand exactly where some of those disadvantages that I had given her came from.

 

There was a classic scene where she killed her master's dog and brought him back the head expecting him to proud of her for getting rid of something she thought was a drain on his resources and a weak link in his pack. From her point of view all you can hear is triumph and how proud she is and how happy she is to wait for his praise.

 

On his end you have the disturbing reality as it would have been seen by almost any human, the trailing of the blood, and finding your pet dragon on your desk trilling happily as it's perched on the head of your dog. And the panic and fear that this thig is real, it's not just a novely pet, it's dangerous.

 

It made for a very compelling story, as that's definately not the end of it. Guess I should have finished it. But after 5 pages I figured he got the idea, and school work had cought up with me.

 

I still feel that the narative is the best way to approach a person's life. Don't just describe them, tell thier story.

[CourtFool]

Re: Background

 

I am not a writer, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

 

If you have the ideas but can not get them down on paper, how about just jot down the ideas however big or small they may be. Then add details of Who, What, Why, Where, When and How. This should not make any sense to a casual passer-by, just brainstorming. Once you have a few sheets of scribble, you should be able to start writing something down in a more cohesive manner. Review, edit, repeat.

[Onyxclaw]

Re: Background

 

I am not a writer, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

 

If you have the ideas but can not get them down on paper, how about just jot down the ideas however big or small they may be. Then add details of Who, What, Why, Where, When and How. This should not make any sense to a casual passer-by, just brainstorming. Once you have a few sheets of scribble, you should be able to start writing something down in a more cohesive manner. Review, edit, repeat.

 

that's also a good method, besides, you really don't need that elaborate of a bakcground for most NPCs or even PCs, just a basic idea of what they are about.

 

If you don't know what they did 10 years ago, who cares? As long as you have enough to keep them from drifting toward all the others you've made you're fine.

 

Edit: I can never manage to stick to this method, and usually end up in over my head

[arcady]

Re: Background

 

Well for the right genres, you can use a generator.

 

I've got a Cyberpunk one ready here:

http://home.pacbell.net/arcady0/SciFi/lifepath.html

 

You could use it as a launching pads for ideas.

 

Given time, I would adopt a fantasy version as well.

[Agent X]

Re: Background

 

You could try concept mapping. Write down aspects of your character on paper in "clumps" then draw lines between the clumps that have something to do with each other. Write over the lines why they have something to do with each other.

 

Oh, and for practice you might want to start off with an established, published character that you know quite a bit about. Maybe writing up a background for such a character that has oodles and oodles of little details that you know about from being entertained by him/her/it will help you understand how to frame your own character's background.

 

That Why thing is definitely important but the trick is to know what the "Whys" are. One of the things that will help out in writing background is if you nail down what your character's supporting cast looks like. Enemies, Allies, Friends, Family, Rivals, Co-Workers and the like are part of your character's background. If you write down a small paragraph description of each and what their function(s) are in telling the character's story then you have done a great deal to establish a background with great depth.

[Dr Divago]

Re: Background

 

You could try concept mapping. Write down aspects of your character on paper in "clumps" then draw lines between the clumps that have something to do with each other. Write over the lines why they have something to do with each other.

You means doing a sort of "Flow Chart"?

[Agent X]

Re: Background

 

You means doing a sort of "Flow Chart"?

Yes.