A backstory, background story, background, or legend is a set of events invented for a
plot, preceding and leading up to that plot. In
acting
Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode.
Acting involves a broad range of sk ...
, it is the history of the
character before the drama begins, and is created during the actor's preparation.
Usage
As a
literary device, backstory is often employed to lend depth or believability to the main story. The usefulness of having a
dramatic revelation was recognized by
Aristotle
Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
, in
''Poetics''.
Backstories are usually revealed, partially or in full, chronologically or otherwise, as the main narrative unfolds. However, a
story creator may also create portions of a backstory or even an entire backstory that is solely for their own use.
Backstory may be revealed by various means, including
flashbacks,
dialogue
Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American and British English spelling differences, American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literature, literary and theatrical form that depicts suc ...
,
direct narration,
summary,
recollection, and
exposition.
Recollection
Recollection is the
fiction-writing mode
A fiction-writing mode is a manner of writing imaginary stories with its own set of conventions regarding how, when, and where it should be used.
Fiction is a form of narrative, one of the four rhetorical modes of discourse. Fiction-writing also ...
whereby a character calls something to mind, or remembers it. A character's memory plays a role for conveying backstory, as it allows a fiction-writer to bring forth information from earlier in the story or from before the beginning of the story. Although recollection is not widely recognized as a distinct fiction-writing mode, recollection is commonly used by authors of fiction.
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. , he is the only person to have won a Hugo Award for Best Novel, Hugo Award and a Nebula Award for Best Novel, Nebula Award in List of joint ...
observed that "If it's a memory the character could have called to mind at any point, having her think about it just in time to make a key decision may seem like an implausible coincidence . . . " Furthermore, "If the memory is going to prompt a present decision, then the memory in turn must have been prompted by a recent event."
Shared universe
In a
shared universe
A shared universe or shared world is a fictional universe from a set of creative works where one or more writers (or other artists) independently contribute works that can stand alone but fits into the joint development of the storyline, charact ...
more than one author may shape the same backstory. The later creation of a backstory that conflicts with a previously written main story may require the adjustment device known as
retroactive continuity
Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in fictional story telling whereby facts and events established through the narrative itself are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subsequently published work ...
, informally known as "retcon".
Acting
Actors may create their own backstories for characters, going beyond the sometimes meager information in a script. Filling in details helps an actor interpret the script and create fully imagined characters.
See also
*
Characterization
Characterization or characterisation is the representation of characters (persons, creatures, or other beings) in narrative and dramatic works. The term character development is sometimes used as a synonym. This representation may include dire ...
*
Flashback (narrative)
A flashback, more formally known as analepsis, is an interjected scene (fiction), scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point in the Plot (narrative), story. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before ...
*
Origin story
*
Prequel
References
{{Narrative modes
Acting
Continuity (fiction)
Narrative techniques
Plot (narrative)