How To: Make An Original Character

back story

Every character has a back story, usually its some sob story about their life but I can't help but notice that they all follow similar themes. Its either 'my parents didn't care about me, they hate me etc' or 'I was bullied'. I think that interesting characters have to have very interesting back stories.

For example, I haven't read a story yet where the character has experienced a traumatic event that wasn't abuse, how about a shooting. What if they were kidnapped in their younger years and now they can't trust people. These dark themes work really well in stories as you can slowly reveal the truth about the past throughout the plot.

I feel like its mainly in Mystery/Thriller books that characters have very twisted pasts but this idea isn't exclusive to this genre. I feel like fanfiction genre especially has to come up with some new back stories that isn't parental abuse or parental rejection because every book is like that. Call me sadistic for wanting to read a book where the main character has a messed up past, but I am tired of the whole 'parent' thing tbh.