Some people LOVE writing up huge, elaborate character backgrounds that describe nearly every single thing that has ever happened to their family for generations back. Honestly, for the sake of roleplay potential, I love an elaborate character background too, but it may be a bit too much for sharing with others so the choice is yours.
Just so you know, as a Dungeon Master, I do take the time to not only read character backgrounds (if written) but to find ways I can potentially incorporate some of your backstory into a future adventure, giving you a chance to do some real “role” playing that develops your characters story independently of others. I feel this makes the adventure richer for both you and me. However, keep in mind that other players may not want to hear your whole backstory read during a play session.
If you take the time to write up an elaborate backstory, I will work with you independently (and outside of official game sessions) to make sure that your background meshes with our campaign world. This may require changing the names of towns or cities to actual towns and cities in our campaign world for example. But for the most part that background will stay between you and I. If however, during the course of the adventure, you want to explain why it is you’re deathly afraid of heights for example, feel free to share that part of your backstory with us a little just like you would a close friend. But like friends, we often learn about each other slowly, over time, one little piece of the story at a time.
There are lots of great tools you can find online to help you build a rich character background if you are not a particularly creative type. One of my favorite tools actually is a book by Central Casting called Heroes of Legends.
I actually own a copy of this book (which may be out of print). It is designed for you to roll random dice and consult numerous tables to patch together a very rich, detailed, and often a little crazy background. If you’d like to borrow my book just let me know or we can even work together to roll up a character background online together.
Either way, character backgrounds are YOUR choice. While I do not award experience points or even Hero Points directly for you having written a backstory, it does sometimes make it easier for you to earn Hero Points during game play. If your character does an action or reacts in a way that I know reflects something you wrote in your backstory, I’m inclined to give you some Hero Points for making the story richer and more enjoyable for both of us!