How Much Is Enough?
Backgrounds should cover your character in enough detail to justify your stats, to give Staff an idea of how you will fit into the MUSH, and to demonstrate your skill at creating a believable character. Brevity counts. Don't spend two paragraphs talking about how the scent of a madeleine led your PC onto a journey of the senses, unless that particular instance holds some kind of great import for your character.
As a rule of thumb, a single background section is usually enough for mortals or normal-level preternaturals. If you want an Leadership slot, you will need to write substantially more.
How Should I Write It?
Aim for a journalistic feel, not a literary or biographical one. If a journalist were asked to describe your character's past, how would the journalist write it up?
I Want To Write Something Long.
Please don't. It is a pain in the posterior to read pages and pages of text when it's displayed in a TinyFugue window. However, if you absolutely must, you may email your background to us in PDF format only. All other formats will be thrown away unread. Staff will then put a copy of your long-form background on a file server where only Staff has access. Your long-form background will become part of your official character application. You must also set “&long_form me=yes” on your sheet.
Where Should I Put It?
Background information belongs in &background_1. If you need more room than that, use &background_2, &background_3, and so on.
Please bear in mind that your +sheet will be compared with your background, so please include all the good stuff or we'll be sending you back into CG to bring your +sheet more in-line with your background.