Backstory is crucial to any good character.

 It determines how they act or react to the situations they encounter. A woman who just got out of prison is going to act differently around the police compared to a man who was just saved from a bank robbery. We don’t need to see the bank robbery or recount the woman’s past ten years in prison, because that’s not needed to understand the impact of those past events on the individuals. A backstory is a necessary piece of our character’s puzzle.

Now that you understand the importance for your character’s backstory, how can you put this information into practice?  How can you write a story impacted by your character’s history? 

Before jumping into the “to do’s”, I want to tell you two things to avoid: 

1. Don’t info-dump.

This is an easy trap and common mistake. You don’t want to explain or even tell us everything that happened to your character. Despite how interesting your character’s backstory is, your reader doesn’t need to know everything about it. Your readers don’t want a biography, they want a story. 

2. Don’t communicate things that don’t matter. 

While this is similar to the first point, it’s a little harder to spot. We only want information that directly affects the plot or subplot. We don’t need to know about a man’s strained relationship with his brother, unless it affects the plot or there’s a subplot revolving around this one fact. If a woman receives a call about her aunt dying in a plane crash, you feel an emotional tug. Now, if you later learn that the aunt was this woman’s caretaker from childhood, the emotional connection deepens.

See how backstory can carry a heavy, emotional affect if used in the right way? So how do we use it in the right way? 

Let’s look at this example: 

What was she going to do?

With two kids to take care of, she needed that job. 

Did you see it? We can deduce from the picture painted, that this woman needs a job to financially support her two kids. What’s crucial, yet left unsaid, is the fact that she’s a single mom. Why is that crucial? Because a single mom without a job is more emotionally moving than a married woman who’s just looking to add some cash to the bank account. It gives us a glimpse of her backstory and immediately we feel for her. Yet not once did I say she was single.

This does not mean that you can’t directly state something pertaining to your character’s backstory. However, keep your telling limited. Remember, you can communicate something indirectly, yet still portray your point.

 Incremental hints at your character’s backstory is an effective way to emotionally invest your readers in your character’s life. 

It gives us what we need to know, while still leaving some mystery surrounding the character’s history. Your readers are not dumb. If you point to your character’s backstory and give hints about its importance, your reader will connect the dots. 

Leave a trail of breadcrumbs regarding your character’s backstory.

 Some of the breadcrumbs will be bigger than others, but they should never be too big. Don’t shove the bread down our throats, let us follow the trail and gather the crumbs ourselves.