Character Introduction

[twztdgirl]

I am curious as to what might be the best way to “introduce” a main character. By introduce I mean tell the reader most everything about the character. The temptation is to lay it all out in several paragraphs at the beginning. I do, however, think it is likely better to reveal them gradually … bit by bit.

How do you like to do this?

 

[onehitwanda]

Show, don't tell.

 

[StillStunned]

Personally, I don't like telling the reader *everything* about any character, and particularly not the main character. Provide only what details are necessary in the moment - their reasons for being in a particular situation and for reacting how they do - and save everything else for later. You might want to change your mind, or it might not even be necessary.

And honestly, who knows everything about even their closest acquaintances, or even about themselves? Even if you do know everything, you're unlikely to bring that information out to the forefront all the time. The details that are active in your mind are the details that are relevant to the situation. I prefer to present my characters in the same way.

Show, don't tell.

I'd say "choose carefully between what to show and what to tell." Telling few lines of background information can launch the story much faster than showing that same information organically in the story. It can provide the reader with a fixed point of reference that you can build the rest of the story on - a solid factual foundation, as it were, than the subjective "showing" provides.

 

[twztdgirl]

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

Let me clarify by “everything” I mean everything that is important for the reader to know the character.

 

[Bazzle]

I got told off for an "information dump"!

So the best way to is eek it out over several chapters.

 

[SimonDoom]

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

Let me clarify by “everything” I mean everything that is important for the reader to know the character.

Even that, you don't have to do.

Think about a "cold open" in a movie such as a James Bond movie. Another great example is the opening scene of The Dark Knight, where we are introduced to the villain of the movie, The Joker, robbing a bank with his henchman. We don't at first know who they are, what bank they are robbing, why all the henchman are getting killed off, but by the end of the scene we know a little bit about what a crazy and mesmerizing--and awesome--villain the Joker is.

Start your story with your character doing something, or involved in a conversation, that reveals just enough to interest the reader and make them turn the page (or scroll, more aptly). There's no need to get out all the information the reader needs to know for the rest of the story. Immerse the reader into the action. Reveal character and motivation as needed. Do it through action and dialogue as much as you can, rather than through description.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I am curious as to what might be the best way to “introduce” a main character. By introduce I mean tell the reader most everything about the character. The temptation is to lay it all out in several paragraphs at the beginning. I do, however, think it is likely better to reveal them gradually … bit by bit.

How do you like to do this?

If you tell your reader everything about your character up front, what's the point of reading the story? Tell them just enough to get them engaged in the story and then let them discover the rest as the story unfolds. Remember, your most powerful tool as a writer is your ability to engage your readers imagination. As @onehitwanda said, show, don't tell. Good luck. Be sure to tell us all when you publish.

 

[Writer61]

I am curious as to what might be the best way to “introduce” a main character. By introduce I mean tell the reader most everything about the character. The temptation is to lay it all out in several paragraphs at the beginning. I do, however, think it is likely better to reveal them gradually … bit by bit.

How do you like to do this?

I prefer to have some basic bio details (age, occupation, location) in a short prologue and add relevant details when needed for the story.

For example, despite appearing in several stories my main character is still without his height or hair colour being specified. He might even have green skin, but this probably would have been commented on.

 

[onehitwanda]

Here is an example of the style I love:

The bells of St. Mark's were ringing changes up on the mountain when Bud skated over to the mod parlor to upgrade his skull gun. Bud had a nice new pair of blades with a top speed of anywhere from a hundred to a hundred and fifty kilometers, depending on how fat you were and whether or not you wore aero. Bud liked wearing skin-tight leather, to show off his muscles. On a previous visit to the mod parlor, two years ago, he had paid to have a bunch of 'sites implanted in his muscles—little critters, too small to see or feel, that twitched Bud's muscle fibers electrically according to a program that was supposed to maximize bulk. Combined with the testosterone pump embedded in his forearm, it was like working out in a gym night and day, except you didn't have to actually do anything and you never got sweaty. The only drawback was that all the little twitches made him kind of tense and jerky. He'd gotten used to it, but it still made him a little hinky on those skates, especially when he was doing a hundred clicks an hour through a crowded street. But few people hassled Bud, even when he knocked them down in the street, and after today no one would hassle him ever again.

"The Diamond Age", Neal Stephenson

Enough backstory without being an infodump.

 

[AllenWoody]

Never too much at a pop, so to speak. Enough at first so the reader has *something* to attach their imagination to, but no more. Then some action, then later you can begin to fill in more.

—-

Kelly stood in the foyer, blonde hair matted and dripping from the rain, normally pretty eyes tight with irritation. “It wasn’t supposed to rain today!”

“No?” Her mother barely looked up from her book, having learned to tread lightly when her adult daughter got into a mood.

“No!” With a glare toward the umbrella stand Kelly shed the soggy sweater that had failed to protect her slim body. “And I totally fucked up that interview today.”

——

Blonde, young adult, pretty, slim, moody, living with her mom, applying for a job.

 

[AllenWoody]

Here is an example of the style I love:



Enough backstory without being an infodump.

This is an example of why I both love and dislike Stephenson (can’t say ‘hate’). The last sentence is a great hook into what is coming, but that paragraph has a LOT of detail that probably isn’t necessary yet.

But of course he’s Neal Stephenson and I’m not, so…

 

[SimonDoom]

Here is an example of the style I love:



Enough backstory without being an infodump.

I'm with AllenWoody on this one. This seems like too strong a dose of Stephenson-speak for me to start a story. I'd prefer to see an exciting description of Bud skating, with the backstory on how he achieved it woven in later. I get tired of Stephenson's need to immerse us in technical explanations of everything. One of the things I liked about Snow Crash is that we could read about the fun effects of the technology without having it overdescribed to us. Since that book he's been much more indulgent--overindulgent, I think--in technological mumbo jumbo. But then, I'm not a technical person by background.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Here is an example of the style I love:



Enough backstory without being an infodump.

 

[RIPAphrodite]

When I introduce a male main character I always start with his ass

Come to think of it I do that with all my main characters…

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Just start your story, then when a detail about the character becomes relevant introduce it.
Does it matter how tall she is? Not until she's trying to get something off the top shelf at the market.

Contrast:
The 5ft 2in tall girl was wandering the aisles at her local market looking for dinner ideas.

With:

Tammy stood on her tiptoes, stretching out trying to reach the last bottle of saffron on the top shelf.

We've established she isn't very tall with both, but one definitely flows better.

The whole root of "show don't tell."

 

[onehitwanda]

I'm with AllenWoody on this one. This seems like too strong a dose of Stephenson-speak for me to start a story. I'd prefer to see an exciting description of Bud skating, with the backstory on how he achieved it woven in later. I get tired of Stephenson's need to immerse us in technical explanations of everything. One of the things I liked about Snow Crash is that we could read about the fun effects of the technology without having it overdescribed to us. Since that book he's been much more indulgent--overindulgent, I think--in technological mumbo jumbo. But then, I'm not a technical person by background.

Snow Crash is a fun read.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Just start your story, then when a detail about the character becomes relevant introduce it.
Does it matter how tall she is? Not until she's trying to get something off the top shelf at the market.

Contrast:
The 5ft 2in tall girl was wandering the aisles at her local market looking for dinner ideas.

With:

Tammy stood on her tiptoes, stretching out trying to reach the last bottle of saffron on the top shelf.

We've established she isn't very tall with both, but one definitely flows better.

The whole root of "show don't tell."

There are some interesting points being made here and there is a part where they discuss the show don't tell.

 

[Naughtylit81]

I try and weave it into the narrative rather than use an exposition dump.

In one story the MMC was out running (intruduces that he is athletic) and checking his times (he takes it serious) he literally runs into the FMC so now there is the description of what each of them sees. This transitions into the introduction of his wife entering the scene (he is married) and making a scene (she isn't nice) where he apologizes for her behavior (he is).

 

[SimonDoom]

Snow Crash is a fun read.

I love the pizza delivery scene at the beginning of the book. It's madcap and ridiculous, and enthralling in this "you've got to be kidding" kind of way, but by the end of it you know something about Hiro Protagonist, YT, and what the world they live in is all about. All because of a drive to deliver pizza. THAT is a creative writer.

 

[onehitwanda]

I love the pizza delivery scene at the beginning of the book. It's madcap and ridiculous, and enthralling in this "you've got to be kidding" kind of way, but by the end of it you know something about Hiro Protagonist, YT, and what the world they live in is all about. All because of a drive to deliver pizza. THAT is a creative writer.

What I love is the fan theory that YT from Snow Crash becomes Miss Matheson in Diamond Age. After all, Stephenson's done stuff like this before - Enoch Root from Cryptonomnicon being the same Enoch Root from the Baroque Cycle and also, quite possibly, Solomon.

 

[AllenWoody]

Snow Crash is a fun read.

Cryptonomicon is one of my favorite books of all time. It’s long, but completely worth it. I mean, there’s an entire chapter dedicated to eating Captain Crunch. What’s not to like?

 

[onehitwanda]

Cryptonomicon is one of my favorite books of all time. It’s long, but completely worth it. I mean, there’s an entire chapter dedicated to eating Captain Crunch. What’s not to like?

Bobby Shaftoe's death made me ugly cry.

 

[SimonDoom]

Cryptonomicon is one of my favorite books of all time. It’s long, but completely worth it. I mean, there’s an entire chapter dedicated to eating Captain Crunch. What’s not to like?

I think that's his masterpiece.

Stephenson does a memorable job of introducing many of his characters. The way he introduces Enoch Root, Daniel Waterhouse, Ben Franklin, Isaac Newton, Eliza, and Half-cocked Jack Shaftoe in The Baroque Cycle. Bobby Shaftoe, Goto Dengo, and Randy Waterhouse in Cryptonomicon.

 

[Hypnobitch01]

I am curious as to what might be the best way to “introduce” a main character. By introduce I mean tell the reader most everything about the character. The temptation is to lay it all out in several paragraphs at the beginning. I do, however, think it is likely better to reveal them gradually … bit by bit.

How do you like to do this?

Slow reveals are so much better, and letting readers come to their own conclusions based on the character's actions.

 

[yowser]

I like to pretend that my story is a 'first date.' I don't want my date to get the core-dump before the waiter brings the first glass of wine. I'd rather drop enough hints about my nature to get them asking questions. 'What an usual sport he indulges! What will he think when I mention my own obsessions? Those eyes, so dark and intriguing! Are they always like that? Does he have a temper?'

There are, of course, stories when it works to have the characters come at each other full-frontal, and there is more than one way to create interest, but usually setting the stage to make the reader want to know more in increasingly ramped up ways benefits the story. Questions that come up for the reader are good: why? how? what motivates this person? what's going to happen next? Just make sure you answer some of them in an interesting way.

Seduce your reader, string them along with promises, then deliver on those promises, and make them want to be your new best friend.