In a new post on Writers Helping Writers, Becca Puglisi takes a deep dive into backstory, examining emotional wounds and trauma to build your characters. “The wound is a fascinating and vital piece of your character’s past that has lasting, formative effects on who they’ll be at the start of your story,” she says. “Whether you’re building characters from the ground up or they come to you fully formed and you just have to figure out their backstory, it’s imperative to identify this important event.”
The wound can take a number of forms. It can arise from ongoing life situations, such as growing up in poverty or racism. It might be created by repeated trauma, such as ongoing bullying and abuse, or a single awful moment, like an accident or dramatic loss of a loved one. Whatever its source, the event creates fears that drive the character’s behavior and choices. A new persona develops around your character to protect him from re-experiencing the fears or pain associated with the original trauma.
Seems simple, but how to dig down to uncover this wound? Puglisi shares a brainstorming method involving different kinds of wounds. “It can be difficult to examine these events closely, but knowing the categories and asking some pointed questions about your character can help you figure out which kinds of trauma are a distinct possibility,” she writes. “The list of potential wounds becomes much more manageable.”
Puglisi examines a number of potentially wounding events, including traumatic events, misplaced trust and betrayals, injustices and hardships, and failures and mistakes. She also suggests a number of questions to ask to help narrow down the event, who was involved, and how the character was affected in the moment.
