Backstory

Okay you know how beginning writers are told, to fill out a questionnaire on their character to get to know them?

Something like this:

1. Name
2. Favorites ( color, music, book, movie, food)
3. Age
4. What they look like....

and etc.

I used to do those and while good in many ways, I decided it didn't work for me. I sorta got to know my characters and I never remembered the details. So I have moved on to writing back storys. AND I LOVE IT!!!! I have discovered I am a lover of the backstory. I like to know how people became who they are and what events shaped them into who they are. I love to do this with any character not just  my main characters. It takes more time but I know them so much better!

How I write backstory isn't in a list form. I like to write it in their own voice. As if they took a moment to write a little bit about their life. Its not exactly a journal entry but could be, its not always on their death bed but could be. It depends on what I need to know about them for the role that they play in the story.

 Snippet Examples:

My name is Kalpernia, and I was a normal person. Just an average girl who dreamed about her life, and her goals. I knew that the test would change me. It always does. But I didn't anticipate it changing me like it did.

or

I wanted to be powerful like him. I watched him all the time as a kid. I idolized him, even though he didn't really pay any attention to me. I would lay on the wood floor watching between the crack of the door, until I fell asleep. There was nothing he could do wrong, until the day he didn't come home.

I like this because I can learn through their eyes, their feelings on what happened to them, on what made them who they are, when we meet them in the story.
Its so fun! Anyone who wishes to know their characters better my suggestion would be, write their back story, then you will really know them.