not just an art blog

i have a lot of thoughts on writing backstories for characters 🤔

A backstory doesnt Need to lay on the tragedy to be good. as long as a backstory explains why a character is the way they are. hell in this regard. a backstory can be just "this character grew up w loving parents and never had a problem in their entire childhood" and as long as the writer knows what theyre doing that can be as compelling as a backstory that piles on tragedy on top of tragedy yk?(Which tbc does not inherently make a backstory good either)

I also get the feeling that a lot of writers are too concerned w what an audience thinks of their character so they try and get them to feel sorry for them by giving them a really sad childhood or something? But more ppl need to understand that having a tragic past doesn't excuse someone being a piece of shit in the present...