Well, if you look at L'yhta's wiki page and her 100 Questions, you can see that I tend to write really long character backgrounds. I personally feel that where a character's been is often very informative as to where they're going, and writing a background from birth to the present day forces you to think about things like family relationships, how they feel about morality and different races, why they've chosen the life of an adventurer, how their personality developed, etc. Usually, I write backgrounds in 3rd person omniscient, which I realize is out of vogue right now, but it works for me.
In terms of what I like to see in others' backgrounds? That they have them, naturally. Beyond that, I like to see reasons why their character chose their current path and no big deviances from lore. If it's in first person, I especially like it when the character isn't the most reliable narrator of their own past, as people often forget, intentionally omit, or simply lie about their life story. (Astute readers may notice this in differences between L'yhta's wiki and L'yhta's 100 Questions.)
Really, though, just having a background is the important thing. You can be less detailed now and leave some blanks that you can fill in the future as you come up with ideas or want to add hooks or connections to other characters.
In terms of what I like to see in others' backgrounds? That they have them, naturally. Beyond that, I like to see reasons why their character chose their current path and no big deviances from lore. If it's in first person, I especially like it when the character isn't the most reliable narrator of their own past, as people often forget, intentionally omit, or simply lie about their life story. (Astute readers may notice this in differences between L'yhta's wiki and L'yhta's 100 Questions.)
Really, though, just having a background is the important thing. You can be less detailed now and leave some blanks that you can fill in the future as you come up with ideas or want to add hooks or connections to other characters.
The Freelance Wizard
Quality RP at low, low prices!
((about me | about L'yhta Mahre | L'yhta's desk | about Mysterium, the Ivory Tower: a heavy RP society of mages))
Quality RP at low, low prices!
((about me | about L'yhta Mahre | L'yhta's desk | about Mysterium, the Ivory Tower: a heavy RP society of mages))