(SORRY just a heads up, TW for the speedpaint on screen :'D: 4:00 - 5:42, aswell as discussions of historical war in 18:35 - 20:40) Thanks to Milanote for sponsoring this video! Sign up for free and start your next creative project: https://milanote.com/shoyuramentypeguy0626

lmk if you have any other tips you think are important when developing backstories!! :0

I finished the video and as a psychology student I can tell you that people's environnement shape drastically their developpement and how they grow up to be and trauma is subjective. Everyone's different and will react differently. Also something traumatic will not be percieved as such depending on the indivudual

I really hate the idea that "too much trauma" = a bad story when in reality it's very common for after one hard / traumatic event people tend to go througu hard times or more traumatic events.

For example: If a character gets neglected they may then struggle to exist without other's attention, so they'll seek out people / goals who will give them immediate attention or make people know them rather than build deep connections or go down a stable career path or whatever. This can make their life harder and would obviously make them go through other traumatic or difficult events which isn't a bad story or angst slop, it's how trauma directly affects how someone acts or how their life goes on.

It also feels disrespectful to real trauma survivors, the idea that if there's too much trauma it's unrealistic or just putting trauma for the sake of making a dramatic backstory is kinda weird. People just don't seem to understand how trauma directly changes someone and that often their is continous bad events or more trauma that stem from the original trauma.

20:13 "I decided to keep his parents alive" haha, creating OCs definitely feels like playing god sometimes.

Alternate title- how to doom your yaoi

6:10 I think the issues lies where people focus more on the event itself rather than how it affects the character. They want to write something tragic but don’t want the character to actually deal with the aftermath.

5:10 hey! Psych student here :)
It sounds like Renard might be under the antisocial personality disorder umbrella! This is if it was not completely instigated by his environment as he grew, because this could still just be a disconnect or maladaptation. ASPD is a shown persistent lack (or deficit) in empathy, regard for other’s safety or comfort, and anti-social behavior. If it doesn’t affect the person, theyre less likely to care about it (this is of course if there isnt any support for the disorder, plenty of people with ASPD go on to have very good lives despite the difference in empathy)

0:33 a character like this can work ESPECIALLY if a plot point in whatever story they're in is having to struggle for the first time, and not knowing how to cope - how would they react to it? would they lash out (physically, verbally, etc.), would they shut down, or what have you, and then their journey getting over that struggle.

too much trauma isn't bad,
but you gotta keep in mind how it's gonna affect your OC
for example, we've had a lot of trauma in our life,
and now we're not a single person anymore ;w;

so yeah, keep in mind that "too much trauma"' might do weird things to your OC's psyche

Something I use is what my mom says: “everyone’s trauma is the same (meaning ‘don’t devalue your trauma bc it isn’t that bad’)” While I don’t agree with her statement since it’s kinda “keep the peace” for everyone but to put it simply: person A has a hamster died, that’s their most traumatic thing, person B has been abused their whole childhood. While clearly person B has had the most done to them they both see their trauma as the worst THEY have gone thru. Everyone has trauma, but it just depends on how severe and how it changed them. Most people walk down the street the same as everyone else, even with their vast different lives, it’s how they interact with the positives and negatives during socializing and the environment that tends to be taken to extreme or the OP can’t keep consistency. It’s difficult to put yourself in others shoes, person B might’ve lost a pet also but that’s not nearly as bad as their trauma in their eyes. While person A can only assume, this is the same for real life. And it tends to make things miscommunication related or tend to be more likely to clash. Kinda ended up rambling but I hope my point comes across 😿🥀, what I’m saying is you really gotta put yourself in their shoes to make a character, not just assume how things go on a surface level.

Trauma is a good way to write a compelling and interesting character, but remember it is not the only way. You can write an interesting character without making Jane mctragic.

That first part was so RELATABLE.

One thing I found funny; I have an OC who just shares my "backstory". Her life is mine. I use her as a way to cope with my trauma, to vent, etc. I once shared "her" backstory, and was told it was entirely too unrealistic and would never happen lol

Apologies if this unwanted, but about the childhood romance part for Edward, a way you could link it to the theme of desperation is that Edward is desperate for attention and love and the landowner's child has a type of superiority complex so he enjoys toying with Edward. Could also potentionally add some drama in there. Again, this is a sugestion use it if you like it, ignore it if you hate it.

My o.c is trauma slop but she legit had an happy family. I also try to slip in at least somewhat positive memories and relationships. Trauna has impact of there are happy times.

Omg THANK YOU for having his twins not be clones of one another,me as a twin loves you for this 😭 10:13

AHHHHH OMGGG! I am OBSESSED with ur oc's!!!! i love every vid about them, their so interesting and every video you make adds more depth to them! I love it SOOOOO much!!!!!

10:37 I think you could've included it, it's common for people to latch onto romantic/physical relationships when they're lonely and desperate for affection. maybe Edward even does it to get solely attention from his mother and not out of real love for the person, but it's not a necessary addition and his story's already really strong with William and Margaret's influence on him.

0:11 reminds me of a certain purple character from a certain show...

My 'hot take' (shuhs.) is that everyone has trauma. Suffering is still a privilege of our consciousness -me taking a poop.

My point is i haven't met anyone who hasn't had any trauma. My life alone could be an edgy backstory but you know what? I'm fine-! I'm so fine i no longer NEED therapy. You can write characters post healing. In healing. Before healing and in the pain! I know no one who's gone through 0 pain. Even in the happiest families there's always something. You don't NEED to give your characters something because like me my trauma doesn't completely define me- we could go on and on but just saying i like the arts and being outspoken is enough.... Anyways I've ranted enough. I'm giving away answers to questions for an imaginary penny. Ask away

Edit: okay I'm already regretting this: I'M NOT A PROFESSIONAL. and turns out i haven't fully recovered, and i actually scheduled some more things with my therapist. 😀
Edit edit: okay after the talk I'm fine-er then i was two weeks ago. Progress baby-! Time will pass anyways so if you don't know what to do do the right thing