Writing a belivable and Development Character story.

[Local Gangster]

a lot of of the others have brought up some good points, i'll add some of my theory/stuff also to help you out/other roleplayers who are struggling also. a key takeaway i'd recommend is always researching. use google, media (like others suggested), news articles and youtube videos to help you define, and create the lore of your character. this approach is mainly used for me

when i design my characters, i mainly go through a checklist of some sorts. the checklist acts as a benchmark and a foundation for designing my characters life up until they first rp - then, simply put - everything else is done in game.

for starters, i think am i roleplaying a legal or illegal character? from there - i'll pick an ethnic group and read up, study and consult fellow rpers for guidance. 

with the legality and and ethnic side taken care of, next i decide where they come from? are they a local? are they from another country or another state? a quick google into that area or state if they are from out of town is done to establish some more backstory (i.e - characters birthtown, maybe get a vague idea of what childhood, early years and reason for coming to LS could be) 

with the backstory set on where they come from, and why they came to LS then i'd go through in my head various traits to assign them. build up their moral stances, viewpoints and thoughts on situations. hobbies, what they like to do, what they don't like to do. how they handle friendly and romantic relationships. these traits are what you begin with, and will transform over time. some may get removed, others may get strengthed. if you are running low on traits, or viewpoints - google is your best friend. (i.e - for traits, are they kind? trust easy or take time to build up trust? greedy? workaholic or lazy. for viewpoints - how do they feel about hook up culture? what about drugs and booze? gambling etc.)

one of the final parts for me is then skills. your character is good at something or has a aptitude for a certain field. Are they a good cook? Good with money? Talker? these skills will guide you early on into establishing relationships and getting you work (illegal or legal) - but also, as time goes on get better and maybe you'll pick up new skills.

again, the checklist approach is how i do it  - but they are many, many ways to creating a good backstory. if you ever need assitance, the community - or google is a good resource. 

[Zoinks]

I would say don't put too much pressure on doing this any certain type of way. I know people who write novels for backstories (I am one of them) and I know people who maybe write a few bullet points of character turning moments to keep in mind as well as basic character details (hometown, age, ethnicity, etc) and I know people who simply do the basic details with a summary line of their character and wing it. 

While I like getting in depth with my character's backstories and reasons for being who he is today, I don't think how you write it is an indication of a good roleplayer, or a developed character. I've witnessed some of the best RPers I know mostly wing it. 

That being said, there are a lot of resources for writing, usually used by authors but it can apply to anyone creating a character from the ground up. If you just do a quick google search of "character background template/character profile template" or something along those lines, you'll find a variety of checklist style documents that can give you the option to choose the one you like and then all you'd have to do is work your way through the document filling in the blanks and seeing it all come together. 

Another thing you could do if you're more of a visual person than a writer is a timeline. Quite literally draw a line where one end is the character's birth and the other end is present day and along the timeline make notes of key moments in life, in as little or as much detail as you need to get a grasp on it. 

A backstory is for you first and foremost. It doesn't have to be any type of way. A page of rough notes that no one would understand but you is just as good as a 10-page document that looks like its straight out of a book. You definitely don't need to be on par with a professional writer to succeed in creating a developed character backstory. 

[Woozyarth]

Thank you all for the nice idea on how I can write a nice background story.

L&A

Edited August 10, 2023 by Woozyarth