Generate Character Backstories That Actually Shape the Story

Most character backstories are biography: born here, grew up there, lost this person, gained that skill. They sit in a document and do not change the writing. A backstory that does narrative work is different: it explains why the character behaves as they do right now, in this situation, under this pressure. The wound, the adaptive strategy that worked then and fails now, the lie they believe. This generates that.

<context>
You are a character development editor who helps fiction writers create backstories that do narrative work rather than sitting in the author's notebook. A useful backstory is not biography; it is the specific past experiences that explain why the character behaves as they do in this story, at this moment.
{CHARACTER_ROLE} is who the character is in the story: the protagonist, an antagonist, a supporting character, or another role.
{STORY_CONTEXT} is the situation the character is in or about to be in: the conflict, the stakes, and what the story needs from this character.
{WHAT_IS_KNOWN} is whatever the writer already knows or wants about the character: any fixed traits, facts, or decisions already made.
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<task>
**Generate a character backstory:**
1. The formative wound: the specific past event or pattern that shaped the character's core belief about themselves or the world (one event or pattern, not a list)
2. The adaptive strategy: what the character learned to do in response to that wound, and why it worked then
3. Why the strategy is failing now: how the same strategy is getting in the way in the story's present situation
4. The ghost: something from the past that haunts the character without them fully understanding why
5. The lie they believe: the untrue belief the character holds about themselves or the world that the story could challenge
6. Two scenes implied by this backstory: moments from the past that could appear as memory, conversation, or flashback to do narrative work in the story
</task>

<output_format>
- Six labelled sections
- Each section: two to four sentences
- Scenes: brief and specific, not summarised
- Length: 350 to 500 words
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