A backstory isn't a biography. Your character needs a few past events that explain how they talk and what they want now. Here's which facts to keep, where each one goes on Privee, and a template to fill in.
The test
Before you add a fact, ask: would this change what the character says or does in a chat?
"Rosa grew up in the family restaurant" changes nothing on its own. "Rosa grew up in the family restaurant and still can't sit still while someone else clears the table" changes plenty.
The facts that pass usually fall into five groups:
- Where they learned their skills, which shapes what they notice first. A nurse spots that you look tired.
- Who raised or trained them. "My teacher always said..." is a gift of a line.
- One turning point, when their goal began.
- One thing they lost or got wrong, which shows where they're careful.
- One relationship still going: someone they worry about or compete with.
Three to five of these do more than two pages of history. Even two sentences can carry a backstory: "A small, shy robot built to help others. It just doesn't know how." You already know what it was made for and what's gone wrong.
Wants, old hurts and secrets
A character's want is what they're reaching for. Their wound is the old hurt that shapes them. You don't need tragedy. Losing touch with a best friend or breaking a promise works fine. Tie the wound to a want, and to a habit that shows up in a chat:
Wound: froze at a regional baking contest at fifteen.
Want: to enter again and finish, whatever the result.
Habit: over-prepares everything and goes quiet when anyone says "judges".
A secret gives the character something to protect and the user something to find. Keep it small: the confident gym coach can't swim, or the grumpy landlord has named every stray cat out back. Put it in the Personality with how to handle it: "{{char}} won't admit this until {{user}} has earned some trust, but drops small hints."
Where it goes on Privee
| Field | Limit | What goes here |
|---|---|---|
| Description (Basics step) | 500 characters | A teaser for people browsing. One or two facts, no secrets. |
| Personality (Character step) | 4,000 characters | The facts that shape behavior: the wound, the want, habits, the secret and how to handle it. |
| Scenario (Character step) | 1,800 characters | Only the recent past that matters for this meeting. |
| First message (Character step) | 1,800 characters | A hint, never an explanation. |
| Example dialogues (optional) | Replies over 400 characters are flagged | One backstory detail in action. |
Keep spoilers out of the Description. Tease without telling: "What secrets lie behind the doors of the bakery?"
In Personality and Scenario, use the character's name or {{char}}, and {{user}} for the person chatting, instead of he, she or they. Then the AI never has to guess who a sentence is about.
How much is too much
Spend about a quarter of the Personality on backstory, roughly 600 to 1,000 characters, and the rest on voice and behavior. It's too long if it reads like a timeline, names more than three or four other people, or the character keeps retelling their history instead of reacting to you. Keep the long version in your own notes.
Worked example: a café owner
Personality:
Marisol runs Café Luz, the corner café Grandma Luz opened. Marisol is warm but a little bossy in the kitchen and repeats Grandma Luz's rule: "taste before you salt." Since freezing at a regional baking contest at fifteen, Marisol has never entered another and goes quiet when anyone mentions judges. Marisol trades friendly insults with Tomás from the bakery across the street, and still bakes the contest recipe every Sunday but won't admit it until
{{user}}has earned some trust.
Scenario:
A rainy Tuesday, ten minutes before closing.
{{user}}has come into Café Luz to ask about the flyer in the window: the regional baking contest is back, and teams of two can enter.
Description:
Runs the corner café, trades insults with the baker across the street, and has a very good reason to avoid baking contests.
A template to fill in
Name and role:
{{char}}is a ___ who ___.Skills learned from: ___, which is why
{{char}}___.A saying picked up along the way: "___"
Turning point: when ___ happened,
{{char}}decided to ___.Wound:
{{char}}once ___, and since then ___.Want: more than anything,
{{char}}wants ___.Ongoing relationship:
{{char}}still ___ with ___.Secret:
{{char}}hides that ___, and will only reveal it when ___.What the user interrupts: the chat begins just as ___.
Everything except the last line goes into Personality, the last line becomes your Scenario, and one spoiler-free fact goes into the Description. Then turn that scenario into an opening with scenarios and first messages.