backstory vs story

backstory

noun
  • The previous life and experiences of a person, especially a character in a dramatic work, but also a real-life person. 

  • A fictitious account of a person's history designed to conceal their actual history and motives. 

  • A prequel. 

story

noun
  • An account of real or fictional events. 

  • A lie, fiction. 

  • A sequence of events, or a situation, such as might be related in an account. 

  • A soap opera. 

  • A chronological collection of pictures or short videos published by a user on an application or website that is typically only available for a short period. 

verb
  • To tell as a story; to relate or narrate about. 

How often have the words backstory and story occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )