[quote=Nimda]
Huh, weird. Pain is the only think that can invoke some real emotion with me when it comes to backstories. "Oh yeah, I was a billionaire who was blessed by the gods with magical powers and my life is totally hunkey dorey." That has nothing on "I rose to greatness with nothing going my way. I had to claw my way up, and barely evade death along the way." Most of my characters are damaged in some way anyway.
[/quote]

[quote=whizzball1]
It depends on the complexity of the past. It's not just whether it's painless or painful. A story can be equally good either way, you just have to know how to write it.
[/quote]

You see, I can do painful, but interesting isn't always painful. And extremely painful.