So what makes an effective tragic backstory? Here's eight things in no particular order that I think you should keep in mind. Also, I don't really have a target platform in mind, but this can be adapted for video game narratives, novels, short stories, screenwriting etc etc. I'll keep the advice general and only get into specifics when necessary.
1. The characterization
No likes a Mary Sue. I also hate the term Mary Sue because it's now been co-opted to mean any female character in any media who doesn't follow traditional tropes, buuuuut that's an issue for another day.
But anyway, perfect people are boring. Flaws make your character interesting. Their own self-interest, their fears, their weaknesses. And I mean real weaknesses, not caring too much or being too heroic. I mean like real, observable flaws. Racial prejudices. Homophobia. Quick tempers. Stinginess. Spitefulness. Arrogance. Carelessness. Misogyny. Misandry. Hypochondria. Naïvety. Mistrust. Jealousy. Ignorance. Rage. Alcoholism. Drug addiction. Abandonment issues. Immaturity. Possessiveness. Stubbornness.
A character is not the events that happen to them, but their actions and reactions. Their growth and regression. And you're going to make a character a lot more relatable if the bad things that happen to them are their own fault. If it stems from their own character flaw. That really hurts.
But overall, a well constructed character always evokes more emotion than a poorly constructed one. Your reader/viewer/player doesn't need to particularly like the character, they just need to care about what happens to them.
2. Don't be overly tragic
An audience can easily feel a disconnect when something is a little too melodramatic. If her mum and her dad and her sister and her dog and her goldfish died, it becomes comedy without being comedic. That's not to say you can't still play up tragedy, but less is more. It's why you cry at the end of a movie where the dog dies but you cannot find a fuck to give when Thomas and Martha Wayne die (again). Less is more. Sometimes the mundane, inevitable sad things are what get to us the most. Think about all the silly normal, every day things that are so freaking sad but we always rely on the same few tropes. Let me just list some for you. People dying of old age, or disease. Hearing mom's voice for the first time, because you never got to meet her. Getting dad's approval for the first time ever. After a lifetime of being told you're worthless, being told that you're special and wonderful. Never getting to tell your son you accept him and that his sexuality doesn't matter. Not getting to hear her voice one last time before she goes. Not getting to say goodbye. Getting at the airport too late. Trying to get her back, but seeing her happy through her window. Watching everyone drift apart slowly. Realizing that the person who meant everything, is now a stranger. Falling out of love with someone for no reason. Losing the child, after trying so hard to getting one. Explaining to your daughter what happened to her sister. Finding out he was going to kill himself, but had no one else to come to but you. Everybody holding hands and taking comfort in the fact that no one is dying alone. Finding him crying uncontrollably, because his wires are tangled and all he wants is for the noise to stop. Being pathetic in front of someone who continually hurt you. Always being told you're stupid, but then having someone tell you your ideas are valid. Knowing that it could have been forever, if you'd just held on a little longer. Finding out it never could have been, because you loved her more than she loved you. Allowing fear to take your dream from you. All your friends knowing you've got severe manic-depression and them just sitting with you, acknowledging your sadness, just quietly supporting. Feeling human warmth for the first time in years. Falling in love with someone, but then realizing you'll never ever have a chance. Unreciprocated love. Never getting that human warmth you crave. Never being acknowledged despite trying your very hardest. Being unable to overcome shame about your own body. Being told your body is perfect for the first time.
Sadness isn't always bad. Remember that it can't always be bitter. Sometimes it's bittersweet. And one of the most emotional scenes you can write is going to be one that ends on a good note. And if it rings home, if it's something that you yourself experienced, it's always going to be more impactful.
Think of Up. That film starts with one of the saddest montage of two people who just... Live. They live their entire lives pretty well, they have hopes and dreams and grow old. Technically, they win. But it's pretty unbearably sad, isn't it? How about Bridge To Teribithia? How about those feels? *spoiler alert* All of that emotional weight happens because of a swinging rope accident. How much did you feel that? And it happens off screen. *spoilers end*.
3. Catharsis and levity; You have to know when to push, when to pull, and when to just be
After a tragic event, you can always squeeze out a bit more emotion. Have your character experience something good, something that allows them to be vulnerable again. Take them to the top of a hill after the funeral, and let them see a beautiful sunset. Let them contemplate how much their loved one would have appreciated. After a massive failure in romance, let them experience paternal or platonic love. You have no idea how impactful seeing someone win can be after a huge loss.
And while this bit applies to film, sometimes silence is the most effective tool.
4. Fake-outs; Used Sparingly, they can just nail you right in the gut
Sometimes when it turns out he's alive at the end, that he did make it out, that makes you appreciate it all him all the more.
But other times, it sets up false expectations.
The Vampire Diaries is particularly guilty of this. By the end of it's final season, death meant nothing. And when a perma-death actually occurs, it has no punch. Nothing. The imagery on the screen is bleak, but you're fucking annoyed. Maybe you really liked that character.
Just remember that after the umpteenth time, it stops working. So use very sparingly. After a string of deaths, have one fake-out. Show that someone makes it out alive.
Sometimes, having a fake-out but then immediately turning that fake-out around your character can also work. It's the man who needs to deliver a letter but doesn't have a stamp, who then finds one at the post-box, but realizes it's the wrong day, and it's far too late for his letter to ever arrive on time.
Just be sparing. It's far to easy for the audience to peek behind the curtain these days, and they'll know if you're doing anything for reasons that don't serve the story, ie. pressure from publisher to establish a franchise, etc.
5. Beware plot-armour
Game Of Thrones saw itself being successful because no one is protected from death or tragedy by mere virtue of being vital to the plot. Anyone can die, anyone is fair game. When you have a set cast of main characters that always make it out of scrapes, you're going to take a lot of emotional punches out because the viewer knows they're going to live in the end, otherwise the continuity will be broken. Like Harry Potter in The Deathly Hallows, you knew he wasn't going to die because, well, he's Harry Potter. Sure, this can be avoided, look at The Great Gatsby (but Nick in this case can now never be put in mortal danger because who tells the story if he dies? Then again... That'd be hella interesting.)
Beware of plot-armour, because it creates predictability. And predictability can work against your audience's engagement.
6. Use vulnerability
I love it when expressively unemotive or stoic characters drop their guard. Blindside your reader. People who are characteristically unfeeling or just always happy letting their defenses slip just the tiniest bit, that's always riveting. But beyond that, every character has a state they don't want to be seen in. Everyone scream-cries. Sometimes you do something pathetic, or futile. It's when they keep trying CPR but it just doesn't work. It's the forth press of the defibrillator long after the pulse died.
And this is where your perspective can come in handy. Novels written in the first person can experience these events as an outsider. They don't necessarily have to happen to the main character. The omnipresent third person narrator can also describe things that might be awkward to fit into the inner monologue of the first person narrator. But first person narrators can also describe events personally, things that are happening or have happened to them, and this can make your reader really feel it. So keep that in mind when deciding how to tell your story.
7. One tragic backstory does not fit all
Personalize your character's history. Dead parents don't fit everyone. Everyone now has dead parents. And for the love of god, rape is not an acceptable tool for drama. Rape for the sake of tragedy is tried and a little offensive actually. Rape for shock value is also not acceptable, as writers we have to do better. I remember making this mistake and learning the hard way. Sexual assault needs to be approached with tact and nuance and it is so very easy to butcher so please, please, please, thinking it over several times before you use it.
Also, things other than death is sad. I remember watching Re:Zero and getting so annoyed by Rem's backstory. It was over the top and overly tragic and it was sad to the point of comedy, but I'd already seen it before. Be careful of repeating tropes of the past, and just because something worked then does not mean it will work now.
Things we don't explore often enough are issues of mental health. We're good at covering depression, but seem to lose a lot of our nuance when speaking about anxiety. Humans are anxious creatures. And for some of us, it can be crippling. When your wires are tangled and everyone else seems to have them connect right, that's an awful feeling. We definitely need to talk about that more.
We also don't talk enough about disability. Losing a sense, or the ability to walk is something that can happen to anyone, and we often take it for granted. Being born with a disability can also make for a very interesting character, and it's relatively unexplored territory lost among the piles of white male protagonists of first time novelists.
8. Through the eyes of a child
Everything becomes decidedly more bleak when you look at it through the eyes of a child. It's like experiencing these things for the first time. It's sometimes even mimics our own experience. Use this! You'd be surprised at how much of the cruelty of society you can reveal when it comes through the eyes of a child. Death isn't just death, it's now the sudden realization of your own mortality. Divorce isn't just divorce, it's the sudden realization that people who love each other very much still can't make it work, despite trying their very best. Losing a friend is like the first time you've ever lost a friend. Now it's not just any dog that dies; it's your first dog. The one you had as a kid.
Our childhood memories are powerful, and we can use them to evoke real emotion.
I don't know if this list is all encompassing but I hope it helps. Far too often we see poorly constructed backstories that just don't hit their mark, and are small blemishes on what would be otherwise great works. Do it right, and you might even be able to repeat those emotions on subsequent reads, or playthroughs, or watches.
I think we just have the ability to make people feel through our respective arts, and pushing that emotional connection to it's limit sometimes makes all the difference.
But either way, happy writing.
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