Do all side charcters need a backstory?

[Manasa]

i have always wondered whether i need to put backstory on each side character or not .What your opinion

[IndigoShirtProd]

It really depends on their importance to the story and if that background is relevant to the story and their character development. If it's a side character that's seen once in the whole story, you really don't need to spend much time on them. But if they are a recurring character, you should consider spending a fair bit on their backstory and how it affects the present plot.

[darthmongoose]

A backs tory?

I'm not sure a UK Conservative party backbencher is that vital a part of your cast of side characters, no.

Silly jokes about the thread title aside... It's fine for some side characters to literally just be "shop keeper" or "nosy lady who lives next door". You don't need to give them a whole family tree or know their favourite food or how they came to live where they do.
As a Dungeon Master myself, I'm pretty used to only detailing out the roughest details of NPCs, leaning on archetypes and only fleshing a character out if I really have to (often making it up as I go and just writing it down to remember later.

[Manasa]

hmm yeah i noticed that mistake just now changed ut🤣🤣

[powerplantanimations]

Honestly? I would recommend it. If they're going to have a main focus somewhere down the line then yeah, do it. It also adds character to them even if you aren't going to use them too much (makes the world feel lived-in). Adding all these angles is important.

Obviously, you don't need to do it. It's an option, but it's something I've been doing.

[RobertBMarks]

i have always wondered whether i need to put backstory on each side character or not .What your opinion

It really depends on the character, and the role they will be playing.

As has been pointed out already, a good general principle is that the more time you are going to be spending with a character, the better it is to give them a backstory. Unless they are supposed to be an enigma to the reader, in which case the mystique of the character can actually be ruined by giving them a backstory.

There are also cases when you will get your best effect by not giving them any back story at all. One way to make an evil villain or minor antagonist terrifying is make their backstory a mystery - this gives the reader nothing to cling to, just the absoluteness of their malice. The Joker in The Dark Knight is one of the most terrifying villains I've ever seen on the screen, in part because the moment you think he's given you a backstory to explain his scars, he then gives you a different one.

So, I think what you ultimately need to consider are:

1. Is this character supposed to be sympathetic?

2. Is this character supposed to be mysterious?

The first leans more heavily towards creating a backstory, while the second leans more heavily towards not creating a backstory.

But, as I said, it all depends on the character and their role in the story.

[NickRowler]

I think it depends how much hype there is around your characters. If people really like a side character, then it would make sense to give more info on them.

Tho in general, I would say no. Giving backstory to every character will slow down the narrative and could get annoying if the character doesn't add much to the overall story. I feel like this is something Naruto Shippuden suffered with later on in the series. Some new character would just show up and they start trauma dumping on Naruto.

[cherrystark]

Not necessarily. I think it depends on how active their character is in the story. The MC's third best friend? Not so much. The MC's half brother who sacrifices himself to save his sibling, maybe. If the backstory helps flesh out the main plot without slowing down the pace of the story, go for it.

[JaveCraze]

Note: Just because a character has a backstory doesn't mean you have to show it. Even the most minor of characters can have "back stories" because you don't always have to do an anime flashback sequence.
This being said, it's good to think about the context of characters. This can make minor characters with little screentime stand out more. For example, you could have a boring shopkeeper (which is fine btw), or they could've been a mercenary in the past and so they accept the sale of weapons or comment on your MC's weapon. Bad example, but you get my point.. hopefully

[SargentAlchemist]

Well, its not a question of NEED... but if you want that your story has a trascendental development, is a good point

[NellieVP318]

I have a lot of characters in my story, while some of them were able to have some backstory shown. Most of them haven't got all their backstory out because their backstory isn't important to the main plot. I think if you wanted to show a backstory of a side character, it depends on their relationship with the main character.

[Lensing]

Everything you don´t show the reader is the backstory.
And you know the backstory as detailed as you need to know it to write the story.
When you don´t know details then you decided that it´s not important for your storywriting.

Backstory can be helpful to know when you want to know how a character reacts. When you
have difficulties imagining that then think about the backstory of the character. When you already
know how the character reacts then you already know him well enough

[DualDragons]

I don't think so. I'm fine with not knowing the backstory of a character if it isn't relevant.

I think it's cooler if the character actually undergoes things during the story and we get to live those moments with our (main) character. With those moments then becoming the backstory of the character.

The backstory grows past more than just lore and actually becomes history with events that we witnessed in the story.

[XiuLyn_12]

It depends, I guess.
If their back story has the MC involved in it, then it's great to give a back story for your side characters.
Also, some authors like to have more than 1 character conflict in their story, and as a reader, I enjoy reading side stories too!
But even if you don't make a back story for them, I don't think it affects the whole story.

[system]

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