Everyone has a past, and characters should be no different. However, this shouldn't be written as an "info-dump" of random facts (it's unnatural, and overwhelming for the reader). Weave pieces of the character's history (facts, stories, etc.) into the story in a way that makes the information useful in some way/ relevant to the main idea as a call to action that gets the story going, an influencer when the character needs to make an important decision, or a key factor of what makes up their emotional landscape in a cause- effect type of pattern.
Example:
A First Taste
We walked to the car in silence. I had to use my stick to help me as my little legs tried to keep up with my parents. My whole body ached as if I’d been hit by a truck-- make that two trucks. Not to mention how cold it was; the wind slashed right through my coat. I glanced over at a group of the other team’s players gathered by a bus in the parking lot, staring me down.
“Look at that,” one of them sneered. I knew he was the one who’d hit me first. “She can’t even carry her own bag!”
I kept my head down. I thought about asking Dad for my bag to show them I could, but I knew that at this point I’d fall over with it which would be much more embarrassing.
“Why’re they so mean?” I asked as we finally got to the car.
“They’re boys, Jamie. That’s how they are.”
“But Noah and Mason aren’t like that. They hit ‘em right back for me, you saw!”
My parents exchanged glances, and I knew they were about to lecture me on some important life lesson.
“You see,” my mom started as she popped open the trunk, “we teach you that everyone’s equal no matter if you’re a boy or girl, right?”
I nodded. “Right.”
“Well some parents don’t teach that, so when their kids see a girl on the ice, they um… treat them differently than they would if there was a boy on the ice.”
“That’s not fair!”
“You’re absolutely right,” she agreed, “it’s not fair.”
I searched for an answer. “Can I teach them?”
“It’s not your job to teach them, Jamie. You just focus on being the best hockey player you can be, and people will see that. Don’t worry about the ones who don’t. Now come on, let’s go home; I’m freezing.”
“Okay.”
This was far easier said than done. The next game one of the guys on the other team told me I play like a girl, as if that was a bad thing! It was all the same: dirty hits, pulling my hair, saying mean things; it happened every game for the whole season, and the next one, and the next one, and the one after that. Noah and Mason always put them back in their place afterwards, but I was starting to get tired of it all-- really, really tired.
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