: Re: How do I handle a backstory big enough to be a story of its own? I have an idea I'm working on, where there's a huge backstory that I'm not sure how to deal with. In my particular case,

@Welton431

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Personally, I'd be leery of writing a book with an ending in which the good guy is betrayed, fails and dies, which is your back story. If evil prevails, then I would prefer to refer to it later.

Similarly I would not write a book length backstory in which my hero is just drifting with the current and has no really big goal other than going along with others: That sounds like what happened in your backstory, since your MC was deceived and betrayed. The MC was not in control, basically.

You can handle a backstory with a new trusted companion, which it sounds like your character can have. The companion is the foil so the MC can explain their tragic history. The companion can be a romantic interest or friend or traveling companion. The backstory is told to explain the MC actions when they are contrary to what the companion expects, or flesh out the MC personality in pieces or stories told during idle hours: Traveling, bedding down for the night, pillow talk after sex, etc. You have a person to ask the MC questions. Just don't go on for pages, make sure you answer as anybody would tell their own story; two or three paragraphs that provide the details needed for the foil (and the reader) to understand the MC better.

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