Something I have learned studying more people who declare themselves ‘storytellers’ is that they use a lot of other people’s stories to convey their own messages.
And that is fine, as long as they are careful not to misremember and begin to claim others stores as their own.
Of course, I have found that I have to be careful not to fall so in love with another person’s story that I turn it from an example of what can happen that occurred to a person I know to an example of what happened way back when to me.
Similarly, you cannot have any of my backstories. You can use bits and pieces to fill out a few points in the stories you tell, but my history is my history. It is possible you could have a similar history or have been right there beside. Even so, your story will differ from mine because two different people lived the event.
Besides, you’ve got plenty of backstories to pull from ready to use right now. You don’t need to poach from anyone else.
