Warning: That easy character backstory prompt cost me 3 days of rework

I thought I was being clever using a quick 2-sentence prompt to generate a backstory for my protagonist, but it left huge inconsistencies in their motivation. Took me about 72 hours and 4 rewrites to patch the holes. Has anyone else burned time fixing a story because a shortcut prompt seemed fine at first?

2 comments

2 Comments

shah.olivia25d ago

A friend of mine spent a whole weekend fixing a character's backstory after a similar shortcut. The prompt said the guy was a former soldier who turned to farming, but then his actions in the story made no sense because he was supposed to be scared of loud noises, yet he ran toward explosions in chapter two. I've learned the hard way that those quick prompts are fine for minor side characters, but for your main character you just have to sit down and work through it slowly. It's like building a good foundation for a house, you can't rush it or you'll be patching cracks forever.

gavine4125d ago

Same pattern everywhere, people rush the quick fix and end up spending way more time fixing the mess later.