#Backstory

[official-dnd-posts]

me trying to convince my players to go crazy with their backstories

official dnd post

"can i do this"? yes.

"can i have this"? yes.

"can this happen"? yes.

"can i manifest this"? yes.

the answer to literally any and every question is yes.

it doesn't matter what you're asking about. magic? marriage? money? doesn't matter! the answer is yes.

what you assume to be true is true. that's it. that's the law. there's no clause going "except for you and except for these things". it's literally always yes. stop doubting yourself. stop doubting the law. if you want it, you have it.

[ren-is-real]

You know when

[27nox]

CW: Blood!

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He's the Mafia for a reason. 👁

(It should be “Im part of the Mafia” but whateves, I made mistake and I cant undo it 🥲)

[undead-knick-knack]

Not the dick drawings 😭

[ooctlt]

nona, what are your thoughts on the gang?

[croquicat]

if phantom is the ghost of a dead person

how did he die?

[bootpoot]

how they met + jakes room design

[dingodoodles]

✨🐓MORE ROOSTER BACKSTORY! 🐓✨ Time for some scarf origin story >:3c

[seraphinitegames]

Hello! I've got a question about Rebecca I've been dying to ask for ages! I've thought about this on and off for a long time while playing through the books, especially when deciding how my MC should feel towards their relationship. Did Rebecca purposefully drown herself in her career to avoid being a mother to the detective (choose to neglect the MC), or was Rebecca really unable to escape work? (Sorry this is long, I've had lots of thoughts brewing) The first seems the obvious answer to me. Considering that the MC is at least in their mid 20s, it's been over twenty years since Rook's death. And it is clear in the books that to this day just the mention of Rook weakens her to her knees. It seems to me that his death was so overwhelming, she didn't have the energy to be a mother to the MC, and overworked herself to avoid processing and thinking about her pain, abandoning her child (to a nanny)... and then did that into the MC's adulthood. It was stated sometime in the books, maybe book two or three I don't remember, that working with Unit Bravo, and simultaneously Rebecca, has been the most time the detective has ever spent with their mother. And that speaks volumes! Now, it was never mentioned that Rebecca was forced to be a handler and work away from home all the time. She had the power to step down from the council. So, she could have chosen some sort of stable job within the agency that allowed her to still be an active mother. But she didn't. She didn't even take a single holiday off to spend time with the MC (mentioned in the holiday book) and left them to the neighbors for Christmas! And this fact hasn't been mentioned explicitly, which is why I wonder. (Excluding the holiday book stuff obvi since its not in the main canon technically) The MC can express being upset because Rebecca was absent many times, but the main issue the story focused on, at least in book one (which makes sense for that point of the story) was how the MC felt about Rebecca lying to them about the nature of her job. Which I feel is a reasonable lie. I feel my MC would care more about why she was absent rather than that she kept her career a secret, though. Or, to make myself more clear, I feel the issue of Rebecca keeping secrets and lying about her career was discussed more in depth in the books rather than why Rebecca was absent, and whether it was a choice, and I wish I could express that in the story and be angry about it. And have Rebecca own up to it and apologize for being absent. But maybe we'll get to that later in the story, idk. If this is the exact reason for Rebecca's absence, that is. Thanks for listening to my ted talk. And for your response, if you end up doing so. And thank you so much for writing the Wayhaven Chronicles! I've enjoyed it so much, and I look forward to book 4 and the following future books! (I wanna marry Morgan so bad T_T)

This is such a good question, as well as reasonings!

You've actually hit it all on the head pretty perfectly! :D

Rebecca's reason for being absent is grief, for sure, and this is coming into play in a MAJOR way sooner than you might expect, and something you can tackle.

Rebecca would prefer the focus on the MC's upset or annoyance (if their is any for the MC, depending on how you're playing them) than on the fact that she lied to them about the Agency than even touch on the reason for why she threw herself into her work. But that can't last…

I hope this makes sense, but it certainly will as we go deeper into the books!

Thank you so much for the ask and the amazing message! <3

[starbase777]

When you have the desire to write four paragraphs of deep lore about your OC's history including a fine combination of angst and character progression but have no energy to do it

[justinepush]

Guess you have to marry her now.... i don't make the rules ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

Backstory (kinda.) Somebody asked me if Loid and Yor know each other's identity and the answer is yes!

Ramble: They're around 18-19 here and found Anya at 21 so when she turns 6 it's still faithful to their canon ages (assuming they're both 27)

[pikavani]

Those three sketches (part of the QnA session on Insta) deserve their own post, because they are relevant to her Backstory. And also my personal favorites

1. What does Outono do in her free time if she has nothing else to do?

- I loved that question a lot! Because in her free time she likes to go back home and spend time with the people she's most close to. In this case it's with her caretaker "Masha". Masha is the head-maid in the castle and also the one who rescued Outono from the streets. She helps her with Chores, tells her stories or sings to her.

2. How did she end up as a royal Jester? Was it something she wanted to be?

- unfortunately, no. Outono was left quite traumatized from that event (also the same day she was introduced to the King) During her daily chores as a maid, she and a few other maids were in the kitchen having fun, cracking jokes and chanting folk music. Outono felt good and was singing the loudest! But suddenly the door swung open and the Royal Counselor himself was standing in the kitchen, glaring into the room. The shock was immense and left the girls trembling in fear. "Come with me" he demanded, pointing at Outono. Without a word and no explanation they left the room and she was escorted to a changing room where Outono was dressed in her iconic Jester Outfit.

3. How did Outono get her name?

- on the day she was introduced to the King and Queen, she was urged to perform. So she started singing. First it was a slow Ballade but once she found her confidence, the tune shifted to a more upbeat song. During this, the King listened quietly, seemingly enjoying it, drifting off somewhere, until he raised his hand, telling her to stop. "Your name is Outono" he said. That was it! ;) Outono was too stunned to speak but once she was escorted out of the Courtroom, she couldn't help but smile.

[zelda-the-sacred-realm]

"A terrible Fate"

Finally after a long time I found some time to color this piece, of which I showed you the draft some time ago

It's a really dark piece, but since it's the moment when Time knows he's about to die, it couldn't be otherwise

I wanted to recreate an atmosphere like that of a distant memory, but still quite vivid, where Time actually hated Hylia for the fate he thinks she has reserved for him

And the rain, he really hates the rain...

[27nox]

📸~

(Silly doodle here ⬇)

(Mb for my handwriting lol also I didn't get to censor the first swear so next time I won't be doing it anymore xd)

[writingwithfolklore]

Backstory is Revealed When You Need It, Not Before

                Recently I shared my first 30 pages with my writing mentor, and now I'm sharing her advice with all of you (This is part 2! Find part 1 here). She told me my beginning read very slowly because I was giving backstory before it was relevant in the story, rather than intertwining it with the action.

                What I mean by that is, I was giving a lot of exposition on my world just through my character noting it to herself. I worried that if I didn’t lay down the basics right away, when I did mention it later it would come as a bad shock to readers.

While that might have a logic to it, it's very slow to read just exposition on the world. To get these details through naturally and when they're relevant, while still conveying them in the beginning, we needed to create a conflict for my main character to react to right away.

This way, I could spend the first couple pages revealing the essentials of my world and main character without halting the pacing to a stop.

                Okay, consider these two examples:

Character A avoided the alleyways as they travelled to the store. The city was overrun by gangs who liked to lurk in their dark corners, jumping out at unaware passerby’s for coin or favours.

                Vs.

The back of Character A’s neck prickled as they passed an alleyway that swallowed all light. They were steps away when they heard a raspy voice, “don’t you know you gotta pay the fee to pass through our turf?”

                How this character resolves this conflict will betray who they are as a person. Do they cower? Do they fight back? Do they reveal they have connections to another gang, or the police?

                This little conflict, as well as establishing a vital part of your world and character, should in some small way connect to the bigger conflict up ahead, aka the inciting incident.

                In this example, this specific gang would probably be where the main antagonist is from—or the consequences of how they deal with this follow them into the inciting incident in some way.

                Backstory only when it’s most relevant, not to anticipate when it will be important later.

                Good luck!