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In narratology, a back-story (also back story or backstory) is the history behind the situation extant at the start of the main story. This literary device is often employed to lend the main story depth or verisimilitude. A back-story may include the history of characters, objects, countries, or other elements of the main story. Back-stories are usually revealed, sketchily or in full, chronologically or otherwise, as the main narrative unfolds. However, a story creator may also create portions of a back-story or even an entire back-story that is solely for his or her own use in writing the main story and is never revealed in the main story. In role-playing games, a character’s back-story is usually called his or her background. The dramatic revelation of secrets from the backstory is a useful term for forming the story, recommended as far back as Aristotle's Poetics.
Examples of back-stories Peculiar attributes of back-stories In a shared universe more than one author may share the same back-story. The later creation of a back-story that conflicts in some way with a previously written main story may require the adjustment device known as retroactive continuity. See also | ||||||||
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