Greetings between distant relatives

[DreamTrigger]

My problem is that I never had such interaction.

So for example in my story, aunt's family is coming over to main character's house.
The main character doesn't know aunt or the cousin. Although his mom does know her sister/aunt but not her children.

How do I start a conversation in a way where all of them can get to "talk" and introduce each other?

What do people say before inviting distant relatives inside the house for food?

 

[KeithD]

You seem to be sinking into the weeds. This is fiction and people are different. What initial interaction serves your story?

 

[NotWise]

My problem is that I never had such interaction.

So for example in my story, aunt's family is coming over to main character's house.
The main character doesn't know aunt or the cousin. Although his mom does know her sister/aunt but not her children.

How do I start a conversation in a way where all of them can get to "talk" and introduce each other?

What do people say before inviting distant relatives inside the house for food?

You think aunts and first cousins are distant relatives? Oh, never mind.

Let the mom and sister who know each other greet first, and invite everyone inside. They would introduce their kids to each other, and it would be only slightly more awkward than meeting any other stranger.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Have them talk about things they have in common.

"Remember Uncle Louis?"

"Frieda's son?"

"Yes, that's right, the undertaker. Did you ever hear of the time he got drunk on the train?"

Just kick that kind of can down the road for a while. But Keith ain't wrong - this is light fiction, not a sociology tome.

 

[Hypoxia]

How do I start a conversation in a way where all of them can get to "talk" and introduce each other?

What do people say before inviting distant relatives inside the house for food?

Cousins are indeed distant if they're a continent away and visit rarely. What would they say? They'll likely start by yakking of their journey, foods eaten, jobs, media consumed, social obsessions (politics, sports, religion), trivia, etc. Some may be sweet, nervous, offensive, silent, insane, or amused.

They're almost strangers. How do strangers socialize?

 

[gordo12]

You can also launch the story past the point of meeting with a simple explanation of circumstances.

We were sitting in my living room talking to my long lost sister and her children... or something like that.

(Unless the meeting is really important to the entire story)

 

[Bray123]

If they are so distant that they don't know each other, there must have been a reason for the meeting.

Was it a family funeral or wedding? Whatever it was would be the basis of the initial discussion.

 

[jehoram]

Or they could trade what they knew of family history, looking for connections there.

 

[Hypoxia]

Depends on how drunk-stoned-wasted they are. Or whether they're pushing their cult. Or trying to score -- hitting family reunions to get a date. Or an opportunity to expand their multi-level marketing (MLM) network.

Side note: How to write about cults.

 

[SimonDoom]

Rather than focusing on the general issues that might arise in such an encounter, think about how your specific characters would act. The scene should only be included in the story to the extent it's driven by your characters and serves your plot, so focus on those things first. You don't want your story to get bogged down by irrelevant conversation about how long ago it was that so and so saw so and so.