Uh, I agree that an extra effort to make the custom-made character as interesting as the origin characters, both in SP but also in MP.
In the character creation it´s showed that Origin characters have the standard backgrounds too. Lae´zel is a soldier, Gale is a sage, etc.So I do not think the background would be something that could make a meaningful difference between origin and custom characters.
I think backgrounds itself will work the same as tags in dos and Iwd dialogues. The NPC will react differently if your character has a background or feature.
I’m going to talk about the Folk Hero background first, because it was the background that made you unsure of what to do with backgrounds. When the player selects this background they should have a drop down that lets them choose what they did, in a similar fashion to selecting a deity or patron for a cleric or warlock.
1 I stood up to a tyrant’s agents.
2 I saved people during a natural disaster.
3 I stood alone against a terrible monster.
4 I stole from a corrupt merchant to help the poor.
5 I led a militia to fight off an invading army.
6 I broke into a tyrant’s castle and stole weapons to arm the people.
7 I trained the peasantry to use farm implements as weapons against a tyrant’s soldiers.
8 A lord rescinded an unpopular decree after I led a symbolic act of protest against it.
9 A celestial, fey, or similar creature gave me a blessing or revealed my secret origin.
10 Recruited into a lord’s army, I rose to leadership and was commended for my heroism.
Criminal: You are an experienced criminal with a history of breaking the law. You have spent a lot of time among other criminals and still have contacts within the criminal underworld. You’re far closer than most people to the world of murder, theft, and violence that pervades the underbelly of civilization, and you have survived up to this point by flouting the rules and regulations of society.
1 Blackmailer
2 Burglar
3 Enforcer
4 Fence
5 Highway robber
6 Hired killer
7 Pickpocket
8 Smuggler
That said, those things you mentioned about backgrounds are just guidelines (blackmailer, etc) they´re not mandatory. Most players usually write their own story but if they don´t or they do not feel inspired, the manual will give you some optional guidelines, the ones you mention, the "defining events" for folk hero and "specialities" for criminal.
You can also roll a random character: You roll a d10 and take the defining event with that number for your character. Same with a d8 for speciality and personality and d6 for ideal and flaw.
And then you write a characters based on those options if you like improv.
The thing that all backgrounds give and it´s the same for every character are the skill/language/tool proficiency of that background and the feature: criminal contract for criminal and "Rustic Hospitality" for folk hero; but his/her story is made by you.
