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A backstory is one of the essential parts of a character. It dictates the character’s mindset, place in the world and their subsequent arc throughout a story. A character’s backstory is the key for opening the vault of character options, ideas and journeys. The reason for this principle is due to cause and effect. It is the answer for why your characters act and think a certain way. For example, Bruce Wayne doesn’t become Batman just because he wants to. He becomes Batman because of his parents death. He wants to make sure that no other child in Gotham will suffer the same traumatic event he did, so he then becomes Batman. This character is an excellent example of using backstory in writing since it uses the cause and effect method.

What is Backstory

As I said before, backstory should be about explaining how your character got into their specific state at the beginning of the story. It is merely answering the subconscious questions in a reader’s mind. Why are they acting like this? Why do they want this goal? How did they get to that specific mindset? It is a device to give a character history, so it is not like they appear out of nowhere for this particular story, but rather, they were a person all along. This principle makes a character a real person with depth and breadth.

Why is Backstory Important

Backstory is one of the key features of any character, and it should not be ignored. Backstory does not need to complicated but rather a simple explanation. A character might be struggling with parenthood. Their backstory is that they had a rough childhood that damaged the way they seek familial relationships. There. Done. All backstory needs to do is show how a character’s past has shaped their present. Not only this but backstory paves the road for character development. Backstory can provide the lie your character believes or the moral belief that holds them back from being the best that they can be. It will give you the foundations and beginnings of character development.

How to Communicate Backstory

Since backstory is events that take place in the past and not directly in the narrative, it is sometimes hard to tell your audience about it without having lengthy exposition. It is crucial to make sure that backstory isn’t revealed without context. It would make no sense for a character to start monologuing about how his parents died, and how he must avenge them when he is eating breakfast. Moreover, by pacing the release of your character’s backstory, it gives them more mystery and suspense. There are several different ways to communicate backstory while keeping suspense. You can use diary entries to communicate backstory. This concept usually has a story in a story principal and shows readers a deeper, more raw version of a character. Another way you can communicate backstory is through flashbacks or dream sequences. It is important that these sequences don’t come out of anywhere but have a believable trigger. For example, if a character is in a situation which has a similarity in their backstory, you would explore that.

Extra Notes

Hey! Hope this was helpful!!!

REBLOG: go to your blog and click the egg to see what hatches

Body Language Cheat Sheet for Writers

As described by Selnick’s article:

Author and doctor of clinical psychology Carolyn Kaufman has released a one-page body language cheat sheet of psychological “tells” (PDF link) fiction writers can use to dress their characters.

tropes i will never get tired of

fake dating

omniscient narrator who immediately contradicts the characters (“This is fine,” she said. It was, in no way, shape, or form, fine.)

deadpan jokes while swordfighting

the “I FUCKING LOVE MY WIFE” guy

oblivious pining that slowly escalates until A is going on page rants about how pretty B’s eyes are but still doesn’t seem to recognize they’re in love

Strong Leader Type having to physically fall down in order for the other characters to see how exhausted they are

funny villains who talk and make jokes with their heroes while they’re fighting them

the villains presented as the protagonists

*increasingly pulls out bigger and bigger weapons from more unlikely places*

“I said all of your weapons” *pulls out more*

“ALL OF THEM” *pulls out one last tiny dagger*

traumatized character using humor to cover up ptsd

characters going out for a break at a restaurant/movie/whatever and something bad happening

using the “*gasp* what’s that over there???” trick to avert the enemy’s attention and it working

a villain’s weakness being something totally random and nonsensical

a hero duo arguing over who’s the sidekick while fighting a villain

“don’t be silly, we don’t need [important thing]”  “you lost it, didn’t you?”  “yeah”

“what’s the one thing I told you not to do tonight?”  “raise the dead”   “and what did you do?”  “raised the dead”

“I think that went pretty well” *explosion in the distance*

I love you by Hallpen https://www.deviantart.com/hallpen/art/i-love-you-795694435

How To Get Work Done When You’re 0.5 Seconds Away From Ending It All: A No-Nonsense Guide To School When You Feel Like Death

Please reblog so others can see!!! It didn’t make it into the studyblr tag!!!

Important points are bolded for my fellow exhausted students. I see you and I’m with you.

At Home:

1. I know people have said otherwise, but studying from your bed is okay. I know how it feels to not want to get up. Sometimes sitting up in bed is the most you can do. I’ve found that getting dressed helps me feel a little more into it, but don’t go out of your way to do it if it’ll kill your vibe or make you uncomfy.

2. Honestly, if you’re not going to school, you probably shouldn’t be getting up before 8 or 9. There’s a fuckton of studies that show that that’s around when your brain actually wakes the hell up and is ready to take on the day. Don’t force yourself to get up at the asscrack of dawn if you can avoid it.

3. I’m probably gonna get shit for this, but it’s okay to skip class sometimes. Just make sure that you know what you need to do make up for it, have someone that can send you the notes, whatever.

4. For the love of god, eat. I don’t care if you have a full breakfast, a bowl of cereal, or the junk food you have stashed in your room, or five saltines, just fucking eat so you can have something in your stomach. Just take my word for it.

5. You know what’s trying to get you to be productive at all times? Capitalism. You know what also sucks major ass? Capitalism. Don’t buy into it. Take breaks and take them often. If you need to tap out, do it, and anyone who disses you for it can suck it.

6. Fuck the “no zero days” mentality. If you need a day to recharge, or you’re just having a really shitty day, don’t feel pressured to be “productive”. If you feel like absolute hell, the most productive thing you can do is give yourself time to feel better. Please, please take my word for it.

7. I know you feel miserable. I do too. But if push comes to shove and you’ve got deadlines coming up and you’re not ready, sometimes it all comes down to just sucking it up and getting it over with. However! It doesn’t necessarily have to be top quality material. Why? Because a 50 or a 60 is still way fucking better than a zero.

At School:

1. Slader has answers for hundreds of textbooks across lots of subjects. Your book might not always be there, but if you’re lucky, it might save you a fuckton of time on that homework. It’s a blessing. Just make sure you actually read over the answers so that you at least kinda understand them.

2. SparkNotes and Shmoop. For the love of god, don’t just use one or the other. Use both. Shmoop gives easy, casual, quick-to-remember plot summaries, and SparkNotes gives good analysis so you look like you actually know what you’re talking about.

3. Try to have at least one person you can lean on in every class. Whether it’s to get help on homework or to vent about how much the class is killing you, I swear, it helps so much. If you can make a groupchat with people, the more the merrier.

4. There’s probably someone willing to just give you the homework answers, no questions asked. Most people get it. People understand when you’re tired and not into it. If there’s a class you’re good in and you can help them out as well, then it’s even better, because there’s a give-and-take.

5. If you have time during or in between classes, try to get a little homework done. I know the minute I get home, my motivation to do anything school-related drops 644747457%. Try to get a little done while you’re in the groove. Future you will fall to their knees in gratitude.

6. Find a comfort item you can bring to school with you. Doesn’t matter what it is. Bonus points if you can wear it or if it fits in your pocket. Pick something that makes you feel a little better whenever you look at it or hold it. I wear jewelry dedicated to my gods, but it can really be anything.

7. I know people say that grades are just a number, and they really are, but if you’re like me and still stress over them anyways, for whatever reason, it’s okay. Just remember that someday in the future, there will be a time when that shitty grade will not matter and will never matter again. You’ll get to move on with your life, and no one will care that you failed some class or some test or whatever.

8. If someone is giving you hell for not liking or not being good at a certain class, tell them to fuck off and move on with your life.

I hope this post can help people like me who are this close to rock bottom but still need to muddle through. Please know that this too shall pass. Please stay alive today. Know that if any of you ever need anyone to talk to, I’m right here.

Hey

HEY

HEY

A cool technique for time management.

Hand Prompts

For all you writers out there…

Hand holding

Hand kisses

Playing with each other’s fingers

Running a thumb over the other’s hand

Hand SQUEEZES for comfort during a stressful situation

High-fives

Poking each other’s hands playfully

Hands resting beside each other, barely brushing

SCARS! ON! HANDS! (Tracing the scar with a fingertip, as the other stands, motionless.)

Dancing, hands linked according to the proper hold (but the touch is just a little too gentle, or too tight, to be routine)

Sign language

Morse Code, where one taps a message against the other’s hand

Sliding a bracelet onto the other’s wrist

Sliding a ring onto the other’s finger

Applying! Bandages!

Warming the other’s hands with their own

Fingers interlaced

Covering the other’s hand with their own

Tracing the patterns of the other’s hand and wrist

Hands brushing as they walk beside each other, each hoping the other will close the gap and take their hand

One with extremely soft hands, the other with extremely rough and calloused hands

BOTH with calloused hands

Holding hands while saying Grace

One with tiny hands, one with huge hands

Comparing! Hand! Sizes! By! Pressing! Palms! Together!

Fingers brushing as they hand each other things

Reaching for something at the same time, hands brushing, pulling away like they’ve been burned

Not noticing that they’re holding hands until friends point it out

Hands that turn to lifelines, connecting them together

One holding the hand of the other, who is unconscious, silently pleading with them to wake up

Bonus: The slow, weak squeeze when the other one finally starts to wake up

H a n d s

So you might be saying: Lion why a guide on drawing black people? Well young blood it’s because a lot of people cant…seem…to draw…black people..Amazing I know. 

Racist (caricatures) portrayals of black people have been around forever, and to this day people can’t seem to draw black people like they are human. If your artwork resembles any of the above even remotely your artwork is racist and offensive. If you try to excuse that as a stylistic choice you’re not only a terrible artist, but racist too!!! Congrats.

Whitewashing is also a problem. A lot of people refuse to draw black features on canonly black characters. While this example isn’t colored, lightening the skin-tone of a character is also considered whitewashing. So lets start with features!

Now all black people have different noses thats a no-brainer, but black noses tend to have flatter bridges, and wider nostrils. Please stay from triangular anime noses and small button noses. Your drawings should not depict black people with abnormally large noses. (Especially if you do not draw other characters this way)

If you feel like the way you draw lips on black characters is offensive or resembles a caricature,it probably does and you should change it. ABSOLUTELY AVOID PLACING LIPS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE FACE. 

Hair is so diverse! Please get used to drawing braids, locs,kinks and coils! If you can learn to draw ringlets and long waves you can learn how to draw black hairstyles.

Add clips! Learn how to draw baby-hairs and never be afraid to add color Pinterest and Google are free my dudes! Also try using square brushes for blocking in coils.

OK THAT’S ALL YOU GUYS

P.S Take a screenshot of hate/ ignorance in the comments and dm it to me for 10% off a commission 

V.E. Schwab’s advice on creating memorable characters.