Do you think that people would root less for a character who had a reasonably good childhood and did not grew up in an environment that was toxic, abusive or just unhealthy? I am thinking about this for my MCs, for a set of sisters, and I am not sure what type of upbringing I should give them.
Depends on what kind of story you want to write. Readers will "root for" characters if they understand them and care what happens to them. This can be true for both protagonists and antagonists, for "good guys" and "bad guys." It might be helpful to know what kind of characters you want to create. What are their personalities and their psychologies? What do they want? What do they need? What are their goals? Start with character profiles, then build character bios from that.
Depends on how much of the upbringing factors into the story. The reader's engagement with the character is relatively short-lived and superficial. Meaning that the backstory lives in the back for a reason. If it was more interesting than the "now," it would be the front story. Think of real life. Most of my neighbors, who I've only known for a few years, are in their 50s and 60s. And while I find the things they tell me about their upbringing interesting, it does nothing to color my current opinions of them. My engagement with them has been short. I'm not going to root or not root for them in 2023 over something I learned they did in 1972, unless it's crazy extreme. Like being a serial killer or something.
Every character coming from a broken home is a cliche. I think it's fine to have characters with a healthy family background. There are a few things to remember, though. People with good parents still grow up with certain resentments, even if they love their family. There are a million ways to traumatize a person with a healthy home life, from bullies at school to broken hearts. Not everyone who grew up in the same family will see things the same way in retrospect.
Story 1: i have an MC from a very loving upper middle class family. They are close knit. But the MC feels pressure to conform to the ideal daughter that the parents brag about. Shes doesnt want to break the family and doesnt want her self expression to tarnish the way they see her (the conflict). This character is rebellious, but also as fearful as she is fearless (afraid of her what her parents might think about her, but fearlessly strikes out on her own regardless) Story 2: my MC is from a fictional culture based on the existing cultures that live with extended family. So family is always around. They all eat together, sleep in the same room, etc. Very close. My MC is loyal to a fault. When they suddenly leave her behind , she feels abandoned. She has to learn to make it in the world without them (conflict). This character is full of fear and resentment and shies away from others in her new community. Story 3: in this story, my MC is from a broken family. Never knew her dad. Her mom was institutionalized. She grew up in and out of fostercare. She has trust issues and abandonment issues. But she also has never known what its like to love. Like, be in a loving family. Be loved by someone. Loving someone. Her conflict is opening herself to trusting others. Shes so desperate to be part of a stable family, a fulfilling friendship, and be in a loving relationship. She just doesnt know how and makes decisions based on pleasing others. This character is angry and volatile and very emotional. My opinion: the "stable vs broken" family thing should not be the focal point. Really, the importance is the conflict you want to show and the emotional journey you want your character to go on. They should connect with each other, not feel disjointed. Mentioning that a character is coming from a broken/stable home just to mention it, serves no purpose whatso ever. But mentioning it as a reason for the current actions/conflicts of the character is important . People will root for the character based on the journey... Not the "tragic backstory"
I don't think backstory is something that can be discussed separate from plot and character arc. They're all integral to each other. It isn't a matter of "Do readers prefer this kind of backstory?" It's more about what kind of backstory creates the character I need to tell this particular story.
Case and point.... my brother and i are 2 years apart. my experiences and memories of our family are more positive than his (One of my best memories is my dad sitting with me in 2nd grade every evening because i was behind on homework, and he would sit there and help me through it until I got caught up. My brother remembers it as "That was punishment! you couldnt even go outside until you were done!" I remember it as "my dad helped me with my homework!") His memories are always negative ("mom and dad would always punish us" he'd say.... i'd say "no, they'd punish YOU because you were always getting into trouble. And all they did was take your videogames. its not like they beat you." him: "but those were MY videogames and they shouldnt have taken them in the first place. remember the time mom punched my tooth out?" Me: "i was there. you got mad she took took your game, so you bucked at her like you were going to hit her, but Mom's reflexes got you in the chin. your BABYtooth was already loose anyway.") [I will say, our parents never "beat" us. Dad was not into disciplining and left it to my mom. mom utilized groundings and taking away our favorite things as punishment... like brother's videogames/TV, and my books and art box. I'd improve my behavior in order to get my things back. my brother always took it as an offense/disrespect and would act even worse]
he's doing... better. For a long time, he felt entitled to respect because he was "an adult" He went to a barbershop once and got offended when he inserted himself in the conversation of some guys. the older men there assumed he didnt listen to "old school jazz" and told him to "ask your parents about [insert musician]" (he felt like they were condescending and making fun of him). my mom and i got an earful of his rant after it happened. This got better after he started dating his partner.... who is significantly older than him. its like, everything my mom, dad, and I was trying to tell him all these years suddenly made it through his thick skull once someone he liked started saying it to him. you know how that goes
Whether people root for a character or not has less to do with their back story, but more to do with how they treat others. There are two ways to guarantee your character will not be well-liked in your story: Constantly making things worse for themselves (bonus if they fault other people or "society" as a whole) and mistreating other characters. The latter can include anything from rude sarcastic slights to blowing up and "educating" others over perceived offenses. These problems are compounded when the author tries to frame these very obvious character flaws as "virtuous" or as the main character being overall better than others or their behavior goes largely unexamined and unchecked by other people.
But doesn't today's society judge people on the past, and if it doesn't conform to the latest wokeism, cancel that person? Pre-millennium, the way people behaved towards specific topics was very different. Back then, people had a sense of humour, and we could laugh at ourselves. I found folk more open back then. Now, every conversation is sanitised unless you somehow offend when none was intended. So I wonder if the parent's behaviour impacts the sisters' outlook on life? Does their upbringing impact the story?
On a media, society of the masses level, yes. But on the regular interpersonal, neighborhood level? Meh, I don't see it much. That could just be me though. I dont worry much about potentially offending someone by saying regular truthful things. I've got your wokeism right here! And of course there's the extreme stuff... the serial abusers and killers and other shitbags. That's its own category.
It's all in the growth of the character and how they face situations of emotional or physical endurance. It shouldn't matter if the character is from a privileged upbringing or not, as a good story is going to effect them regardless. And just my opinion, but there is no better way to destroy the intelligence of a conversation than bringing up the work 'woke.' It has come to mean too many things to too many people, and often with too much malice.
The more there is about a character shown the more possible a reader's connection to that character is. I don't really start with a backstory when I have a story starting off. It generally builds up as I write further about characters. But there are things about them besides that could have them that interesting for possibility of a reader's connection, I work to show that.
I ran it the other way around. I wanted my characters to have certain hangups and tendencies and I thought, "What about it? What in their upbringing and background resulted in this?" And no, having a loving, intact home doesn't mean no hangups. My female protagonist, for instance, had a bad habit from childhood of not confiding in her parents when she went through traumas outside the home, on the principle it'd hurt their feelings if they knew, and she has to protect them from it. As an adult she still isn't quite over that tendency, and she's exhibited some of that in her relationship with the male protag, keeping things from him "for his own good."
My main character of the novel im currently writing once lived in a royal district of wealthy family of a larger city. Although she felt the need for adventure so she traveled to a much larger city that the one she grew up in. Thus leaving her previous wealth behind.
I think you can do a lot with any kind of background, as long as we get to see how the character interacts (or even doesn't interact) with their own specific stuff! You can have two characters grow up in a calm, healthy environment and yet they'll react in totally different ways due to the mess of specifics, attitudes, families, behaviours, even historical events around them. It's fascinating and I can never get enough of it - it's like drinking from one overwhelming fountain. Go for it, but remember the specifics!!!
The sad backstory is cliché, yes. But a backstory is supposed to explain WHY a character is the way he or she is. Some may have sad ones. Some may have boring ones. But people tend to slide toward sad, because it's more interesting. Also, people think that boring characters have no motivation and stories are meant to have conflicts or obstacles.
Only true to an extent, though. If one said he was a die-hard Nazi who hung Jewish children up by their thumbs and beat them like pinatas with rebar, would your present opinion of them still not change?
There may be something about a character's values, or a character's motivation, that was hidden, and not revealed until later, and this may impact the story further on.
