How brutal should your character's backstop be?

[CrimsonGenius]

Enough to offend and cause despair to the reader?

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Backstop?

 

[CrimsonGenius]

Backstop?

Backstory. Wrote from my phone.

 

[AYM]

It is whatever you decide to write, but it can be unnecessary depending on what and how it is written. I wouldn't give a fart if you said the main character was an orphan, became crippled after a disaster, and was tortured in 9999 ways for 999999 years in chapter 1.

 

[Kalliel]

Ask yourself a question, will those brutal experiences contribute anything to the character's mental down the line?
If yes, write it.
If no, don't bother.

 

[Jerynboe]

It’s exactly as brutal as you need it to be to make the person you are writing about. It’s a little jarring for your hardened borderline sociopathic contract killer to have a loving family and a successful business as a pastry chef in the capital, with no history of violence to speak of, but if you can make it work you do you.

 

[Akaichi]

You get everything in the first page for free... That's the rule. You can be as creative as You want, but you better make sure that every line you introduce in the back story has a satisfying ending.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Why should a backstory be brutal?

 

[QuercusMalus]

As long as it makes sense with the story and the character, go as dark as you need to. If it is too out of place it can be very jarring and break the readers immersion.

 

[RepresentingPride]

Why should a backstory be brutal?

It's the easiest way to connect the readers with a character or have the reader empathize with it I think.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

It's the easiest way to connect the readers with a character or have the reader empathize with it I think.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

It should be able to stop a fastball of at least 200 MPH without a chance of accidentally bouncing off into the crowd.

 

[TheKillingAlice]

Enough to offend and cause despair to the reader?

I'd rather say: Enough to explain a characters opinions, life choices and virtues.
A person is made out of their experiences. If these experiences are horrible, they would have had an impact on the character and life choices of said person. Nobody "should" have a brutal backstory, people can lead absolutely normal lifes and still hold important values based on their normal experiences. Just write whatever you need to, in order to make it make sense.

 

[Guri256]

It's the easiest way to connect the readers with a character or have the reader empathize with it I think.

Not for me:

I find that the physical doesn’t hit nearly as hard as the emotional. Also, too many bad events will often just feel depressing (which means boring and off-putting).

This means stacking too many bad things can cause lack of interest instead. Or in extreme examples, I start to think, “Hey author, we get the point. Her life was shit and she wants revenge. Could you please start the story now?”


For example, Elydes. The author was so busy keeping things on the plot rails that I never really cared all that much about the bad stuff, and I got dragged though 9 chapters while not caring, because I wanted to get to the promised story.

Melody of Mana told the same arc, but did a much better job at it. The character had enough agency to make the fall feel like an interesting struggle rather than the author repeatedly hitting the MC with a stick.

Edit: I’m talking about a front loaded brutal backstory. One where you start the story by slowly dragging the reader through it. Nothing I’ve said above was meant to apply to the MC having bad things in their backstory that are later revealed.

 

[Succubiome]

Enough to offend and cause despair to the reader?

Could you give more context?

Like... presumably this is the main character? What are you trying to do with this story? What's it about?

 

[laccoff_mawning]

Tragic backstories are for edgy teens. Just forget about one and write the story.

 

[TheKillingAlice]

Tragic backstories are for edgy teens. Just forget about one and write the story.

While I'm unhappy with forcing things, this is also not a good take. Because first of all: How do you define a "tragic backstory"?
I have once read a novel, in which the MC started the story feeling guilty as hell, because she killed a person - accidentally, but she saw herself at fault. What had truly happened? Protagonist invited a young woman she met at a Weight Watchers meeting to ride home with her, because she found her respectable, hitting her goals and such. They talked in MCs car, it was about some random soup recipe that supposedly helped Weight Watchers woman, so she took off the seatbelt to grab her purse from the back and fetch the recipe (or something to write it down on, I kind of forgot about that bit, it's been like 15 years). Right at that moment, the truck in front of them lost cargo, because it wasn't closed correctly - it was a moving truck or delivery for a furniture store or some shit, at least I remember they were hit by a kitchen cabinet. Tomato soup woman flew right through the windshield when they rolled over, while MC was hurt, but alive and well in the end. Nobody found her guilty of anything, but she herself felt guilty and the victim's family wasn't fond of her either (understandably). The whole story then hinges on her idea of fullfilling a bucket list the mid-twenty Weight Watchers woman had, as MC was older and going to turn 30 soon and the list was about things to be done before 30. In the midst of this, she may or may not fall in love.
Now, the book is definitely one that would be put in the "Jousei" category if it were a Manga, so it might not be to your liking, but this is definitely something I would consider a "tragic backstory". The entire story is all about it as well, with the MC trying to work out the trauma of what has happened and move on from her guilt, with the bucket list as her medium to get to work, hence why the novel is called "The Wishlist".
Do you consider that "for edgy teens"?

Backstories are everything that has happened before the plot starts, no matter how old the character might have been. Every character needs a bit of backstory, otherwise it won't have a character with motivations. Of course, there's backstories that are meant to break the limit of how much can be possible, but even that, if incorporated fully, serves a purpose. I would even go as far as to say, in order to get a certain type of character in the main story, with specific goals, personality traits, set values and capabilities, you will have to make his backstory considerably "tragic", in order for it to even work. Because "backstories" are nothing but experiences, and sometimes, you need experience for certain things, even if it's just the old: "I've experienced a certain amount of pain, which is why this won't stop me, thus I will be the first one to make it, for I have lived an entire life already and don't have to do this as my first experience, only to be unable to cope and die, like the others."

 

[sanitylimited]

their is a thick line between a brutal backstory and a ok, we get it, aids infested rats cralled up his ass to eat his poo daily...now can we get to the current storyline? backstory.

as long as you dont pull a naruto and retcon the terrible childhood to white wash the village the protagonist wants to protect.

 

[georgelee5786]

Depends on the story. Not all protagonists need a brutal backstory. My protagonist has suffered nothing worse than his father's death in my book because he doesn't need to suffer anymore as it would add nothing of value

 

[J_Chemist]

As brutal as needed to fit the story. Don't overcomplicate things or you'll leave a hole somewhere and look stupid.