backstory
Sign in to saveAlso known as background story, back-story, background, character background
In a narrative, a backstory or the background (information) is a set of events that establishes a character's past or that precedes and leads up to the main plot. In acting, it is the fictional history of a character before the main plot events that a performer creates during their preparation for the role.
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
6 sectionsContents
- Usage<!--'Main story' redirects here-->
- Recollection
- Shared universe
- Acting
- See also
- References
In a narrative, a backstory or the background (information) is a set of events that establishes a character's past or that precedes and leads up to the main plot. In acting, it is the fictional history of a character before the main plot events that a performer creates during their preparation for the role.
==Usage== As a literary device, backstory is often employed to lend depth or believability to the main story. The usefulness of having a dramatic revelation was recognized by Aristotle, in Poetics.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “backstory” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.