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I have a fantasy character who has a history of being abused before the story begins, which comes up later in the story as the abusers are trying to find them, but the main point of the story is not about their past life. I don’t know how to tell the audience what happened to them before the abusers re-enter the story as they are very cagey about their past and I don’t want to use flashbacks which I think are not as relevant earlier in the story. Do you have any thoughts?

Including Character Backstory Without Flashbacks

Hi! Thanks for the ask :)

Distill The Backstory

First, I suggest that you pick out 1-3 main memories from the past you want to reveal. Character backstories can be long and complicated but if it's not relevant to the current story, it can sit at the back.

What colors/voices/words/smell/patterns do your character remember the most? What are the few things that keep coming back to them? Make it bite-size, like: the smell of fresh paint mixed with mud.

Start dropping small hints: when the character encounters a certain smell, just show how they tremble before walking on. Do this enough times, and the readers will soon catch on that there's something.

Rule of 3 (omne trium perfectum)

The rule of three is a writing principle that suggests that events or characters introduced in threes are more humorous, satisfying, or effective in execution of the story and engaging the reader.

Pick 3 details and build them into the present conflict:

-the character encounters a situation that resembles their past

-the abused character is traumatized at present due to what happened to them in the past (if you show them avoiding cinemas like hell, the readers will know that they've been abused in a cinema in the past, for example)

Drop 3 hints about how the past in BUILT INTO their present life. Given them habits that originate from their past memories. That way, the backstory lives in the present.

Mini Flashbacks

When the character recalls something or sees something that triggers their memory, mention the past briefly, in just 2-3 lines.

For example, just writing: "It was like having her arms maimed with a knife again, crying alone with the only light coming through a tiny bathroom window. No mother or father or uncle had saved her from King Darius's men then, and certainly not now." > This is enough for the reader to know the gist of what happened, and the narrative can move on describing stuff in the present.

Dialogue

If the people from their past are coming for them, you can have a scene where they mention how they enjoyed torturing your abused character, while the POV character overhears them.

Or you can have another character ask about the abused character's past. Don't make the dialogue too long, but this should give enough room to explain the jist of the backstory.

You can have the character's past abusers mentioning the past directly: "Oh, we had such fun with ropes, didn't we?"

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Never let bad grammar stop you from being a hater.

Aight I just remembered what I was gonna ask. I think It'll be my second ask because I do remember I submitted the same question I wanna ask months ago HAHA

Okay so, I'm writing a story that explores a lot of subjects, one of them is morality

So... How do you make a fictional religion feel "real" in a sense? Like I know there'll be shrines, temples, and stuff but I need to know more than just that.

Take your time and thank you! ✨

Writing Realistic Fictional Religion

Hi! Thank you for the question :)

Please refer to my posts about writing hateful gods and writing deities for stuff about writing gods! I'll talk more about writing religion in general here.

Religious Hierarchy

Think about how you'd want your religion to be structured:

Polytheism: the belief in many gods.

Monotheism: the belief in a single, all-powerful god.

Atheism: the belief in no gods. A belief in nothing is stil a belief.

Are there tiers of gods? (Gods above Gods)?

Is there a "Mother God" or "Father God" that must be worshipped over everything else?

How are religious leaders selected and trained?

What kind of actions (celibacy, vegetarianism) do the believers need to do in order to be a faithful person? Is there a consequence when they don't do this?

Religious Texts

The most important question a religious text should aim to answer is: where did the world (and therefore, us) come from?

Here are some story patterns you can use:

Creatio Ex Nihilo: God creates the world from nothing

Creation from Chaos: God introduced order into a chaotic world

Primal Couple: The first "couple" gives birth to the world

World Parent: A god sacrifices (a part) of their body to construct the world's elements.

Emergence: Before the current world, there existed another world. After a period of time is over, a new world emerges.

Earth-Diver: A deity sends over a person/animal, etc. to construct a world out of the barren land they've created.

This "Origin Story" will dicate the basic values that your religion thinks is the most important.

Religious Practices

You have the freedom to invent your own religious practices. When you are trying to invent one, consider:

The weather. Is the Sun in your world so blazing that all religious festivals are only held during the night?

What can you not do in the name of religion? Are you not allowed to have stuffed animals in your bed? Not eat blue stuff?

Who are the people that work the most during festivals/worship ceremonies? Are slaves exploited to prepare the feast? Are the women the only ones that works while the men sing? Are animals tortured or exploited in the process?

Sacrifices. What/when/how do you offer sacrifices?

You can also think about:

Who determines the kind of religious practices the other people have to follow?

Are the reliigous practice discriminatory and if yes, who do they benefit?

Religious Locations

Historically, religious lands have had the power to have its own rules and be protected. which will provide a good

One Location vs. Many: Is there a shrine in every home/street, or is everyone required to report to the city square every Saturday?

The Ruler's Castle: Sometimes, the king is considered to be the "son of god" and the palace is therefore the most sacred place.

One Unreachable Location: It can also be that in order to be ruly faithful, you need to visit a place that is so unreachable that people die trying.

A Moving Location: Does the god choose their new home every year?

A Constructable Location: If you draw a circle in bone ash, does the patch of land inside it become holy and no ghost can enter it? What if you lack faith and the circle construction doesn't work at a time you need it the most?

Question of Morality and Religion

While many religions preach equality and kindnes, it has been used to justify conflict and discriminate those who do not believe in it.

Does the deity promote such violence? Or is it the bad leaders?

Is the deity uncritical towards such behavior? Or do they actively step in?

Is the God falliable? Like the modern-day presidents, is the god's survival/power somehow dependent on the believers? Is that why they stay silent even when bad things are being done in their name?

Does the god favor rich people?

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* . ───

💎If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! 

💎Before you ask, check out my masterpost part 1 and part 2 

💎For early access to my content and priority questions, become a Writing Wizard 

I think the best way to fight this AI shit is just to support actual creators. The cat's out of the bag with AI; our data's going to be taken and used without our consent whether we like it or not, so maybe we should put efforts into holding up those who create their own stuff. Comment/interact on people's writings and art. Make it worth them posting; make it clear that what the people are interested in isn't generated stuff, but things that people have actually done themselves. It's a drop in the ocean, but showing creators that it's them that deserve the support at least serves to cut off a tiny bit of oxygen to these AI hogs - and make a difference to creatives who are trying against hope to share with a community.

My head tells me to rot for love and my heart craves for freedom.

—Farrah Randolph