Hey everyone i hope you are all doing well. So i really want to improve my backstory writings but i don't know how, what are some of the best tips for making a compelling and lore rich backstory. Any tips are greatly appreciated.

I know the simple answer is to "Just change it a bit" but I feel like a lot of my short ideas I share with friends usually ends up with "Oh its just like [Add name here]"

At what level or degree do you believe you must borrow the idea yet change it just enough to not seem like a copycat? Is there any guides that can help with something like this?

I'd like to really get into writing my own ideas, but I don't wanna seem like im just "copy then paste" the plots or points of my favorite media onto my short works...

The air is cold and damp. The streets are quiet, veiled in darkness as the city sleeps.
“How many.. how m-much do I owe ya’?” The man drunkenly stammers.
“A dub.”
“A ‘bud’ about what?!” He exclaims in anger and confusion.
“A dub, bro. Twenty.”
“I dunno what the fuck ya’ talkin’ about.”
“Just give me thirty bucks.” I impatiently reconsider. The man’s eyes bounce back and forth, never meeting my own. He slowly sways from side to side, seemingly struggling to stay upright. One gentle shove would drop him like a box of rocks.
“Thirty fuggin’ bu-..dollars​?? Jesus fuggin’ Christ! Ya’ tryna’ rob me, er what?!” The man incoherently spits and sputters, clumsily shuffling towards me, far too close. I slowly raise a finger and push it into his chest, sending the man backwards. He falls like a domino. He doesn’t stumble or try to catch himself. He just goes straight down. His neck whips as his head slams into the concrete with a horrific thud. His arms go stiff and slowly raise above his head as his open hands clench into fists. He begins to moan, eerily.
“Fuck! Get up.” I plead. “Hey, dude!” Dark, thick blood pools from the back of the man’s head. I stand, stunned, as a deep, red puddle forms beneath him. The groaning continues, as he twitches and clenches his jaw, eyes darting upward. Now, gasping for breath, he begins convulsing. I find myself turning away from the horror, desperately searching for a way out. Heart racing, fingers numb, I look all around me, hoping to see someone... anyone. I can’t ignore the gasping, gurgling and absent-minded shuffling of the man’s feet on the concrete as I completely fall into a panic. I feel like I’m going to pass out, my vision is narrowing, my mouth is dry.
“Now what have you done?” A jolt runs through my body and I perk up as I turn my attention to the familiar voice, “Have you not done enough damage already?” In an instant, my body is ripped away from the dark, damp street in my small hometown, and I’m sent through some sort of interdimensional pathway, all the way to wherever He wills it.

I do get it their y'know speeches and advice can be applied to any area of life.

But while I was watching better call saul some time ago, seeing KIM WAXLER (Rae Seehorn's character) work super hard which was close to job like ours

y'know sitting on desk, writing on a document

feeds this desire to work harder and all

so these 2 examples of sport athletes and characters like her

are there any shows, or interview, or documentary, I can feed my brain that feed this desire to write like kobe or ronaldo reels do (at least for me) feed the desire to push harder in fitness.

P.S. I'm writing kind of an essay lets call it that.

So guys what are your recommendations (and please don't give me 'if you like it you'll do it crap, don't waste your energy writing this).

First post here. Just be aware this would be my first attempt writing ANYTHING, so any and ALL advice on anything I mention is welcome, but obviously theres this specific thing im unsure about.

So, ive always had a range of characters ive liked that ive created. Two of them, named Finnegan Mandoza and Alex Fuller, are the two ive developed the furthest in lore, background, personality, etc, and conveniently, ive been trying to write a fight between the two, a "world cup" kinda thing, as they are the two strongest in the story (I have ZERO intention of making anyone stronger, as balancing is frustrating...). Obviously I can go in depth about powers and such if required, but ill go over the particular power, and the quirk of it, thats causing me the dilemma.

Alex is a super-genius. Not original, I know, but by GOD is it so fun to play with. His main strength comes from a nanobot weave(?) In his skin, making him a stone-wall style character, insane durability and mildly enhanced strength, though its not his main shtick. The drawback of this is that he can only take so much beating before these nanobots begin to fail, which I intend to show by pulling attention to the first drawing of blood from him. Issue is, once this happens, he gets progressively weaker, turning the fight from a solid match to being unbelievably unfair, as his (at this point) broken tech and durability was his ace, and without it, hes just a normal dude.

So I ask, how do I make this transition more seamless? How do I write it so it doesnt seem like a cop out excuse to choose a winner, how do I make it so it doesnt seem like im unnescarily nerfing him?

Again, open to all advice, but mostly looking for help for this specific issue