Don't you hate writing characters backstories?
I'm trying to re-write a definitive profile on each of my characters...
I hate feeling like there's too much drama in there, but at the same time, if you wrote about your life so far would it not be full of drama? I mean the things that have happened in my life sound dramatic, my friend's lives sound dramatic, my man's life sounds dramatic...is it so wrong to have a dramatic history?
I still feel like they end up seeming Mary-Sue style...
Like 'Oh, really, that happened to them? They really went through that? They really lost that person? How tragic...' like been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.
But that's life. It happens. Life really is like a drawn out soap opera.
I know it's only a few of my characters that have these kind of histories, but it still feels bad.
Fuck it.
Atleast Raegan isn't Satan's step-daughter cursed to live on earth to earn her way back to hell by shaking her booty in every face she sees. Though...
Mary Sue characters are boring because it's always the same generic back story, like their parents died in a horrific accident so they got adopted by a celebrity and so they're rich but a tortured soul and grew up to be stunningly beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy writing back stories because it's the reason your character exists and the reason they are who they are. But I know what you mean, sometimes you need to rein it in otherwise they become unrealistic. There was a checklist somewhere that rated whether your character was realistic or not, I'll try and find it for you. It rated one of my characters as too realistic bordering on boring and I was like "okaaay...not sure how to feel about that."
Yeah it could be worse, Raegan could be a succubus vampire who flies an Avril Lavigne broomstick ;3
I think I remember doing something along those lines before, can't remember where I found it though! I don't mind my characters being 'boring' so much because they're meant to be normal human beings, no magical creatures and other worlds, just every day Joes. But I guess there seems to be a fine line between boring and over the top lol. But I agree, it's nice to shape their personalities by giving the reasons behind them :)
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