We Didn't Ask So Don't Tell: Why or Why Not Reveal A Character's Back Story

Ah back story. It reveals a lot about a person, in fact, it reveals everything about a person. Motivation, personality, interests, even psychological or physical trauma all point in the direction of back story. Was it simple as daddy teaching you how to ride a bike or complicated like watching daddy teaching you how to ride a bike by pushing you into traffic? 

Either way back story is vital to what makes your character who they are and you don’t even need to reveal their back story. Strange isn’t it? But in all actuality, in your head your character  could have a traumatic back story but it may never meet the paper because your readers don’t need to know. The top reason not to give away your character's back story is that sometimes it can bring the plot to a screeching halt if it's done at an inappropriate time/was unnecessary and added nothing to the story. “But how will I know when to reveal the characters back story?” Never fear because I’ll tell you with three simple steps: 

Who: "Who", as the title implies, is who affected your character in the past that now affects them in the present. This could be something like a family/friend(s) dying, kindness of a stranger, or just generally a person or group "Who" affected this character's life. 

In the Harry Potter series, the title character had his parents killed by Lord Voldemort which later in his life became his arch enemy. Lord Voldemort had killed many people before Harry's parents and serves as the main antagonist for this series, which means a lot of other people hate him too. One reason you would need to know that Lord Voldemort personally affected Harry because since Harry's parents died that means he had to live with his horrible aunt and uncle and his upbringing and personality are probably drastically different than if his parents had lived. The more important reason for this is even though Harry is the hero and Lord Voldemort is the villain (Harry should want to oppose him because he's evil anyway), knowing that Voldemort killed Harry's parents personally drives Harry to defeat him and gives you more of a reason to root for him. 

What: This one is a bit less obvious as "Who" because it's not a person that affected your character it was an event that took place that influenced your character today. The main difference between "What" and "Who" is as different as if a character's mother died of cancer (who) or if she was murdered (what). Murder is a direct event causing her death while cancer can't be controlled and is more natural. "What" can be used a bit more freely because it directly affects the character and it can be a variety of things like "Sam is afraid of flying because he saw a plane crash". The "What" is the plane crash and the affect is Sam being afraid of flying.

In The Silence of the Lambs, FBI agent Clarice Starling must talk to serial killer Hannibal Lecter in order to catch another serial killer. Hannibal is extremely manipulative and only likes to give hints to Clarice after he learns more about her past despite being able to read her like a book due to his training as a psychiatrist. At one point we find out that Clarice ran away. Quoth the movie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102926/quotes): 

Clarice Starling: [tears begin forming in her eyes] And one morning, I just ran away. 
Hannibal Lecter: No "just", Clarice. What set you off? You started at what time? 
Clarice Starling: Early, still dark. 
Hannibal Lecter: Then something woke you, didn't it? Was it a dream? What was it? 
Clarice Starling: I heard a strange noise. 
Hannibal Lecter: What was it? 
Clarice Starling: It was... screaming. Some kind of screaming, like a child's voice. 
Hannibal Lecter: What did you do? 
Clarice Starling: I went downstairs, outside. I crept up into the barn. I was so scared to look inside, but I had to. 
Hannibal Lecter: And what did you see, Clarice? What did you see? 
Clarice Starling: Lambs. The lambs were screaming. 
Hannibal Lecter: They were slaughtering the spring lambs? 
Clarice Starling: And they were screaming. 
Hannibal Lecter: And you ran away? 
Clarice Starling: No. First I tried to free them. I... I opened the gate to their pen, but they wouldn't run. They just stood there, confused. They wouldn't run. 
Hannibal Lecter: But you could and you did, didn't you? 
Clarice Starling: Yes. I took one lamb, and I ran away as fast as I could. 
Hannibal Lecter: Where were you going, Clarice? 
Clarice Starling: I don't know. I didn't have any food, any water and it was very cold, very cold. I thought, I thought if I could save just one, but... he was so heavy. So heavy. I didn't get more than a few miles when the sheriff's car picked me up. The rancher was so angry he sent me to live at the Lutheran orphanage in Bozeman. I never saw the ranch again. 
Hannibal Lecter: What became of your lamb, Clarice? 
Clarice Starling: They killed him. 

The "What" in this case would be the lambs and as you can see it wasn't the rancher or the sheriff that affected her directly it was the lambs being killed. Though this is cryptic in its origin and you'd need some more spoilers from the movie to grasp the full concept, the "What" in this case shows this scar on the character while also showing how manipulative Hannibal is by exposing this part of her life. 

Why: "Why" is the answer to "Who" and "What" and is reserved for those special occasions when you don't reveal the character's back story. "Why" is when either the rest of the characters in the story or even the very readers question the character's motivations but know there's a reason the answer isn't revealed. Is it because it's too traumatic? Is the reason so minuscule it's almost laughable? Whatever reason you come up with will satisfy your mind if it's never revealed. 

In the manga series Death Note, the story about a serial killer who kills criminals supernaturally to become a god of the "new world", the detective who pursues him is named L. L is calculative, intelligent, and will stop at nothing to defeat Kira, what the public dubbed the serial killer. L has an incredible sweet tooth and usually gives his opinions in percentages ("I am 90% sure). Why is he like that? You never find out because the story isn't about the detective and the less you know about this genius the more mystery that shrouds this character and the more involved you are in the plot. 

10 Signs of a Mary Sue/Gary Stu

Now I'm just going come out and say it: please raise your hand if you've ever written a Mary Sue or Gary Stu character. If you're a writer and your hand isn't raised, well you're a big fat liar and you need to raise that hand proudly. Why proudly raise your hand for something heinous,unforgivable, and embarrassing? If you can admit that you wrote the evil Mary Sue/Gary Stu, that means you recognize that it was wrong and have probably grown as a writer and know better now.

Here's another question for the readers: raise your hand if you've ever read a story containing a sue/stu. Okay we've established some common ground here since if you've read fanfiction or published literature of any kind, you've endured that one story with that sue/stu that needed to die. But sometimes the authors of these horrible stories can and have gotten away with it and only until you were finished or halfway finished with the story did you realize you've been bamboozled. Fear not because after today you will no longer have to endure this BS with these helpful tips provided by a veteran fanfiction and original works author like myself:

      1. Related to an already established character (Fanfiction)- I have never seen this work in any given fic because it’s unnecessary and stupid. It’s more commonly done in the Harry Potter Archives and it will be usually something like "Harry/Hermione/Serius/Snape's long lost sister/cousin/brother" when in no way can it be possible because of how the story is set up. If it's their offspring, it's a little better but that writer must be able to pull it off to sell it because even that is walking a thin line of a plot point.

      2. Overpowered (Beauty, powers, talents, etc)- In any other post about signs of a Mary Sue/Gary Stu this is typically the top or near the top of the list. By overpowered, I don't mean the "chosen one"; I mean their breath could cure cancer and their beauty could make a blind man see. Some writers aren't that blatant and have enough "talent" to bury their sue-ish tendencies by giving them a personality (brought up in the next sign) but as soon as a hair flip causes a tornado or their band wins the talent show because the lead singer can make doves cry, you know to get out of that story while you still can. 

     3. Stock Personality/No personality at all- This sign is a little difficult to explain but it's one that's harder to spot but you'll have a better reading experience and will be able to sort through crap. Twilight (the "story" I despise with all my being) is the primary example for this sign or even all these signs.

      

      The stock personality is basically like "dumb blond", "shy nerd", "jock", "drama queen", or any character from High School Musical. Also when the author describes the character not through dialog with words like "oh she's hyper" or "she's shy with strangers, but once she gets to know them she's really nice" is telling you, but not showing you, that this character is that because you told them their personality. Bella's "clumbsiness" from Twilight is the best example of this. 

     

      The character having no personality is trickier to spot but it definitely won't bother you as much as the above one will.Having no personality is basically when the character is going through the motions of the story and interacting with the other characters. It sticks out more when they're paired up against someone who does have a personality. *cough* Bella Swan *cough*.

     4. Fan Art-Anytime the author says "I have fanart of {insert character's name here} on my profile" shows that the author may be obsessed with this character and this character may be the author's avatar for wish fulfillment. This doesn't always apply but it does a good chunk of the time. 

     5.You’ll find your sue-y senses going off/you’re becoming increasingly annoyed with the character-Usually more seasoned authors or readers a like have this amazingly helpful sixth sense. The main description of this is when you get that twist in the pit of your stomach or your hand is itching to click the back button on the computer or put the book down, you know something's not right. Trust your instincts so you don't waste your time!

     6. Looks are described like: “her lips look like Angelina Jolie” or “(describes dress) link to dress on my profile”-This is almost strictly for fanfictions or stories posted online. The title of this sign really tips it off and so when you see this just turn back because you're not going to like the rest of it.

     7. All important characters end up liking/hating/lusting after the Sue/Stu- This one is confusing in the sense where it's like "well duh! Why wouldn't the characters that matter the most have an opinion about this character?". Think back to your favorite book. Are you thinking about it? Okay, now think about the main character. Got it? Now here's the real thinking: do they interact with every character in that book series or just that book alone? 9/10 times they won't and that's usually because there's no reason for them to interact with those characters or the plot makes it impossible. If they are able to interact with every character that usually means it's either a small cast or there's nothing happening within the plot.

      8. “Angsty” Back Story- To say you've never read a story that has this "important" plot point in it means you either read and followed the instructions in How to tell a Fanfiction is going to Suck before you Waste your Time and never stumbled across it or you're incredibly lucky. To spot this is usually when the entire story comes to a screeching halt and usually the Sue/Stu is crying and then explains why because of their angst ridden past which causes them/excuses them from what they do in the present (explained in depth in next point). This "tragic" back story is usually the generic dead family, traumatic event (rape, murder, etc.), or lost love. Some authors can pull off the generic back story by deepening it and having an amazing character or plot but don't hold your breath on every author being competent.

      9. Gets away with sh*t no one else can- Let's take a stroll down memory lane for a moment: You're ten years old and you broke your mom's favorite lamp because you were playing soccer in the house (sidenote: did the Berenstain Bears teach you nothing?). Your mom finds the broken lamp and for the sake of the flashback you are an only child, the soccer ball is laying by the lamp, and you're in a soccer uniform. You're expecting your mother to scold you and possibly spank you but instead she says "oh that's okay, I understand why you behaved like that". Now you're thinking "I don't remember getting away with that when I was younger" and that's because you probably didn't. In a real life situation you shouldn't have gotten away with that and so there is no excuse in any story for a character to get away with some variation of that. Usually the variation is saying a below the belt comment ("Your mom's dead!", "You've never loved me", "I hate you!") or doing an inexcusable action (sabatouge, murder, some sort of crime or something heinous within the story's lore) and the character it affected will usually get very mad like a real person. If the opposite happens and they let it slide, it's time for you to slide out of there as well. 

      10.The Sue/Stu is exactly like the character they are trying to woo- This sign is beyond creepy and you will never look at that said character the same way again if it's done to the extreme. The lesser case is the exact same personality and mannerisms which is eerie within itself but the extreme is when they look and dress alike. Now that's just plain creepy, not to mention lazy. 

      

      If this article still wasn't enough, here are some links to some more information on this literary epidemic:

      http://www.onlyfiction.net/ms-test.html- This has helped so many characters of mine become three dimensional and it will certainty help yours as well. 

      http://www.englishchick.com/badfic/msinterview.htm- Maybe all Mary Sues aren't all bad but judge for yourself in this groundbreaking (and hilariously truthful) interview with one.

      http://mhari.fateback.com/sues.html- This was the one species that Steve Irwin never got a chance to investigate or wrestle with but the encyclopedia covers all types of Mary Sues/Gary Stues in all fandoms.