With a new character, I usually don't spend a bunch of time on a backstory. Instead, I'll identify something that inspired me to create the character. "I want to make someone who talks like Garak from Star Trek - Deep Space Nine" or "I want a chekist-style intelligence operative utterly loyal to the local evil overlord" or "I want a thief trying to stay true to their humanity in a dark world" are all good examples (and examples of inspiration I used to create characters in the past). You don't want the inspiration to be too specific, and you don't want to spend too much time on it. It's a starting point, and no more.
One thing that's worked well, once I have that, is to come up with a few examples of something my new character might say. "Truth, like beauty, lies in the eye of the beholder", for instance. It gives you something to fall back on in those critical first hours of playing a character. That's when the character starts to gel, and when it becomes clear if you really enjoy playing them.
Note that I've spent basically no time describing the characters back story, outside of anything in their inspiration that speaks to their current state. Instead of setting that stuff up ahead of time, I'll create it as I go. The reason I do this is because it lets me create ties with other characters (C'kayah, it turns out, is a Polaali, with ties to other Polaali in game, for instance). This is a powerful tool for character development. You do have to be a little careful with it - the people you tie your character to can't be untied without a (shudder) retcon, so you want to be able to trust that you'll probably enjoy RPing long-term with those people.
One thing that's worked well, once I have that, is to come up with a few examples of something my new character might say. "Truth, like beauty, lies in the eye of the beholder", for instance. It gives you something to fall back on in those critical first hours of playing a character. That's when the character starts to gel, and when it becomes clear if you really enjoy playing them.
Note that I've spent basically no time describing the characters back story, outside of anything in their inspiration that speaks to their current state. Instead of setting that stuff up ahead of time, I'll create it as I go. The reason I do this is because it lets me create ties with other characters (C'kayah, it turns out, is a Polaali, with ties to other Polaali in game, for instance). This is a powerful tool for character development. You do have to be a little careful with it - the people you tie your character to can't be untied without a (shudder) retcon, so you want to be able to trust that you'll probably enjoy RPing long-term with those people.
