How to Write Character and Background Stories

"I need the background story for your character concept."

"That sounds great. Why don't you write me a little story to explain what happened, the consequences and how your character felt."

"That was the best role play! It would make an awesome story. We should write it up."

We have all had our friends and Game Masters say things like I have said above. 'Write me a story.' Those words bring fear into the heart of the most brave of Gamers. Some of us can write at the drop of a hat. Some of us sweat over every letter. Many of us, while certain (or somewhat certain) of our writing ability, get stumped at the conception stage: what to write about.

[Cue grand music] Fear no more brave authors! I shall lead you down the path of enlightenment and shall guide you to create the masterpiece of character material. [Grand music fades to the background]

OK. OK. I am just going to give you ideas on what to write about.

I am going to break this up into two sections: The Background Story (for character concepts) and The Character Story (characters already in play).

The Background Story

(Better known as: How to explain your character to the GM in such a fashion that s/he will understand and will allow it into the game.)

Decide the basic concept: Mage, Vampire, Werewolf, Fighter, Cleric, etc.

Decide what kind of concept: For this article, I am choosing WoD: Vampire. I want to be a Malkavian vampire who is a cleptomaniac and a thief.

For me, it helps to name her immediately. In this case: Margaret Banks AKA Maggie or Magpie.

Now that you have a concept and a name, it's time to start answering some basic questions:

1. What was Maggie when she was alive? What did she do? How did she interact with others? Physical looks: hair, age, weight, eyes, etc...

2. How old was she when she was embraced? Who embraced her? How was the embrace performed? Did she understand what was happening? Did she want it to happen? What was her immediate reaction to the embrace? Why was she embraced?

3. Leap to 'present day': What inherent vampire skills/abilities does she have? What skills/knowledges has she learned over the years? What are her limits? What are her strengths?

4. People, places, things: Who are her allies? Who are her enemies? Where does she stay? How does she survive? Does she have a herd? Is her family still alive?

5. Create a timeline for her life and unlife. Where has she been? Where has she visited? When did she meet her allie/enemy? When did she get that scar on her face? When and why did she earn status?

6. What is the purpose/goal of this character? Why is she here now? What is she doing? What does she want to do?

There are a lot of questions to answer with this, but as you answer each question, the character will begin to take shape in your mind. I find that as I answer each question, more and more ideas will grow and expand who the character is. For a very detailed character building questionaire, take a look at Unky Rich's 100+ Question Essay Test. It is primarily White-Wolf genre based but 90% of it can be used in making any character.

The Character Story

This is a very different animal than that of the Background story. While the Background story is an over-all bird's eye view of your character, a Character story begins to get into the nuts and bolts of your character's thoughts, actions, feelings and how others perceive her. It is a small snippet of your character's life.

What do you want to show or explain about your character in the story?

I want to show that Maggie is good thief.
I want to show how she earned Camarilla Status.
I want to show how she earned her Anarch enemy.

What is the setting?

First, a jewerly store where Maggie steals a rare opal
Second, a resturaunt where Maggie has a confrontation with an Anarch who demands the stolen jewel back.
Third, an unknown house, where Maggie gives the jewel to a woman.
Fourth, a museum where Court is being held. The woman steps up, is revealed as the Prince, who awards Maggie Camarilla Status for returning her lost property.

Fill in the details.

Be rich in your descriptions. Make the reader feel like they are there with your character.
Be accurate in your actions and as realistic as possible.
Adjectives are your friends.
Choose a point of view and stick with it. Do not mix past and present tenses.
Always outline your story ideas. Even if it is a short two or three line outline.

Tips, Hints and Tricks

No one is perfect. It is OK for your character to make mistakes. It makes things more interesting.
No one is all powerful. It is better to start small and have something to work towards. It is no fun if you can win without trying and people are apt to hand you a twinkie.
Do not over do it on the gothic, angst or melodrama. That gets silly in a big hurry.
If you are going to be evil - be smart, subtle and evil. No truly good 'evil' character honestly believes he is Evil. He simply has a different view point from everyone else.

Hopefully, this has giving you something to think about when it comes writing up Background and Character Stories. Taking a course in Creative Writing at a local college or joining a writer's circle will help and well.

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