A Character's Childhood

[Diana]

When you're typing up the Background History for a character, how often do you think about their childhood? The events that happened when they were a kid, the family dynamics, or even what the world was like during that period? When you think about your OWN childhood, there's lots of little things that occurred that still have an affect on who you are today. The same would be true for any character!

So, answer me this...!


What was your character like as a child? What was their life like? Are they anything events in their childhood that still have a huge impact on their current life?

 

[ViralFiend]

I've never really delved too deep into the childhoods of my characters. Though I've always assumed they shared similar experiences. I think on subconscious level I liked to see how people from similar backgrounds would progress and how different they'd become.
Or I was just lazy and gave the same character situational face lifts...

 

[Sakura]

I always go deep into the history of my characters. I think I use it as a backdrop or explanation for certain things they do or certain behaviours. Most of the time, my characters have either of the extreme histories. Happyhappychildhood or sadlonelychildhood. Sometimes I'll throw in a rebellious twist due to the type of childhood and other times, I'll blame the meek attitude because of being ignored as a kid. Either way, I'm using the background I've created as fuel for whatever actions I want to take in the present.

Also, in the rare occasion that I need to bring an rp back to life make a scene, I'll use something like a childhood fear or nightmare or memory to bring some kind of feeling to life and create some drama. Perhaps she's still scared or still scarred by that memory. Or perhaps she can't shake off that nightmare as of yet.

I think the background you create gives more depth to your character and makes the rp seem a lot longer than it is.