In my last article about this subject, I laid out the various things I like to use in a back story, elements that I feel are absolutely essential to make a good back story.  Liambic touched on back stories a bit in his article from earlier today.  In this article, I’ll discuss the pros and cons of various narrative forms that can be taken, and who should try and use them.

First, we should establish what those narrative forms are.  There are really only two basic types, first person and third person narratives.  However, there are what I call “subsets” of the third person that relate only really to RPG back stories.  They are the story form and the basic form.  Yeah…I got creative with the names.

First Person Narrative

As you may remember from school, the first person point of view is written by the character.  The use of pronouns like “I” and “me” are the tell-tale sign.  It’s an interesting story telling device, and can work well for a back story if used properly, but it’s not without its limitations.

For example, it’s difficult to write about the actions of others.  If the king tells his advisor something, and your character isn’t there to hear it, you can’t really write about it easily.  Instead, you’ll have to use some other tool in the writer’s tool box to get the information into the story.  This can be problematic, to say the least.

Also, there are many people who can’t write first person narrative well.  Writers tend to have what’s called a “voice”; basically it’s a style to their writing.  Unless your voice lends itself to first-person narrative, this might not be the best route to go.

Third Person Narrative

Third person basically just means that it’s written from an outside perspective.  This is how a lot of fiction is written, as it’s a more natural storytelling form that people tend to be a bit more comfortable with using.  However, there’s two ways to use it, and there’s upsides and downsides to each.

The Basic Form

The basic form is simply the “Joe Friday approach.”  It’s just the facts.  There’s little fluff or flower, a minimal use and adjectives, and only covers the basics.  The upside is that anyone can write with this approach with an acceptable level of success as back stories go.  You can lay out all the basics, even with what I tend to think of as being necessary in a back story, without having to hurt yourself.

There is a downside though.  The basic form doesn’t “wow” a soul.  If you’re hoping to really make the character come alive before the first session, a basic form back story won’t do it.  It’s basic for a reason after all.  While it is enough for covering the basics, that’s really all it’s good for.

The Story Form

My personal favorite is the story form.  This style, along with the first person narrative, is really the best opportunity to really breathe life into your character before your first session.  You can really pull out all the stops and make things really pop!  There’s a reason that a great deal of fiction follows this form, and your character’s back story is most definitely fiction.

However, it’s not without it’s limitations as well.  It can be harder to describe character emotions with this form, though not impossible.  Also, it takes up more time than a basic form back story, which could be fine depending on your goals.  Lastly, if you’re not a fan of writing in general, this will probably not yield good results for you.

Conclusion

Each back story is unique.  No matter who writes them, they should give the DM something to draw upon later in the campaign as well as make a great reference for you later one.  There is no one “right” way to make one, and there never will be.  What’s right is that it be your character’s story and that it guide  your character for sessions to come!