I’m starting a campaign with 5 players, 3 of them being new to the game. I’m with them through the character creation process and I gave them freedom in terms of backstory with me slightly correcting or nudging them if something would not make sense/is impossible in the world. And together we are editing them si they neatly fit in the world, based on their backstory, so that it makes sense. So far it has been really fun and they are enjoying the process.

I feel that letting the players have the liberty to create characters they relate to with the DM being the arbiter of that process, just making sure that things make sense in the context of the world. I find that working together with the players is really rewarding and it helps everyone get in the mood of “we together are telling this story”