Character Background - Bringing the past to present
Character Background - Bringing the past to present
Once you have your character defined, you have given them the
appropriate tags, personalities, and built them a background,
how do you reveal the knowledge they posses from the background
into the present? How much of the past do you reveal to your
readers at one time? No more than is needed to make your reader
understand your character's emotional state of mind. If you
think back into your own background, you will see that attitude,
and behaviours have been set over long-time conditioning. Just
as fears have been set from past bad experiences. You need to
tie your characters attitude to a key element from their past.
You can try bringing that part of the past through a mental
picture that flashes into your characters mind.
Example: Your character has an absolute fear of snakes. Perhaps
they were bite as a child. One way you can reveal this
information is the present is: Cara shone her flashlight into
the mouth of the cave. Everything looked ok but she couldn't get
rid of that dreadful feeling in the pit of her stomach. Making
her way into the cave, she suddenly froze. Snakes! In a flash
she was back in the blackness of the dessert so long ago -
feeling the sharp sting just above her ankle; the feeling of the
dry scaly coil wrapping itself around her leg, slowly moving
upwards. Cara's control exploded. Staggering backwards, arms
thrashing, she screamed; a raw, incomprehensible, garbled cry.
A fragrance of fresh baked apple pie could transform a character
from the place they are back to a time spent with their mother
or grandmother. The familiar scent of a perfume that has a
calming effect on a child.
Abruptly there was a loud crash. My eyes widen with fear.
Stretching as far as my seat belt would allow laughter fills me
at the sight of the tiny people walking away. A loud roar wipes
the laughter away. All the fear hiding inside me is suddenly
back as we take off. I grab my mother's hand tightly and squeeze
my eyes shut. My small body is pushed into the softness of the
blue seat, as we gather speed. Unexpectedly, the pressure is
gone. My head spins towards the window as my eyes fly open.
Wispy streaks of white fluff fly by as we race through the light
blue sky with no feeling of movement. My mother's smile says,
everything is fine. I close my eyes filled with a peaceful calm,
the fear of the unknown chased away by the comfort of love and
the familiar smell of perfume. There is no reason to provide
background for every little thing your character does or knows;
sometimes it is enough that a character has a fear or a love for
something. However if it is an important part of your characters
trait you now have one way to express that background in order
to handle the problem or situation.