Backstory
In a narrative, a backstory or the background is a set of events that establishes a character's past or that precedes and leads up to the main plot. In acting, it is the fictional history of a character before the main plot events that a performer creates during their preparation for the role.
Usage
As a literary device, backstory is often employed to lend depth or believability to the main story. The usefulness of having a dramatic revelation was recognized by Aristotle, in Poetics.Backstories are usually revealed, partially or in full, chronologically or otherwise, as the main narrative unfolds. However, a story creator may also create portions of a backstory or even an entire backstory that is solely for their own use.
Backstory may be revealed by various means, including flashbacks, dialogue, direct narration, summary, recollection, and exposition.
Recollection
is the fiction-writing mode whereby a character calls something to mind, or remembers it. A character's memory plays a role for conveying backstory, as it allows a fiction-writer to bring forth information from earlier in the story or from before the beginning of the story. Although recollection is not widely recognized as a distinct fiction-writing mode, recollection is commonly used by authors of fiction.Orson Scott Card observed that "If it's a memory the character could have called to mind at any point, having her think about it just in time to make a key decision may seem like an implausible coincidence... " Furthermore, "If the memory is going to prompt a present decision, then the memory in turn must have been prompted by a recent event."