Why does nobody talk about the time sink of fixing a character's backstory

I spent three hours last night trying to close a plot hole in my main character's past. It ended up taking seven hours total because every change I made broke something else in the story. I finally had to scrap the whole backstory and start from scratch. Has anyone else dealt with a backstory that just refuses to line up with the plot?

2 comments

2 Comments

richardk265d ago

Three and a half years ago I spent six weeks straight just trying to get my fantasy MC's origin story to line up with the main quest. Every time I fixed one part of her childhood I had to rewrite three other chapters. Finally I just said screw it and left the backstory vague with a few hints scattered through the book. Worked way better honestly. Readers fill in the gaps themselves and they usually come up with something cooler than I could have written anyway.

carr.xena4d ago

Yeah but vague backstory can leave readers feeling cheated instead of engaged though.