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How To Introduce A Character

  • Writer: Savanna
    Savanna
  • May 16, 2017
  • 2 min read

You always want to make a good first impression. If not good, at least interesting. When it comes to characters, it's important to introduce them in a way that will make them recognizable to your audience.

First Impressions

Whether it’s our first day at a new job, a party, or a family reunion with cousins 15 times removed, we’ve all experienced a time where we were introduced to multiple new people at once. Unless you have an awesome memory, most people have trouble remembering a ton of new names at once.

The same goes for characters in a book. You’re goal is to make your characters stand out and memorable to the audience. If that sounds like a big task, follow these tips.

Sprinkle In Backstory

No one wants an entire page of a character’s life story up until the point they are introduced. If you want a character to feel natural, let the reader get to know them piece by piece. As your story unravels, let your character’s personality and history unravel with it. The best way to do this is through action. Have their mannerisms and way of thinking reflect experiences they’ve been through in the past. For instance, if they are afraid of heights, describe the fear in their face as they ride a glass elevator to the hundredth floor of a skyscraper.

Make Them Stand Out

Along with personality, physical features are a distinctive way to help readers distinguish between characters. Does your character wear glasses? Do they have a small scar on their left cheek? Do they paint their nails in loud colors? While you shouldn’t go through a complete physical description all in one go, highlighting a few features will help your readers differentiate between characters.

Give Them Goals

If a character has nothing to do throughout an entire story, your audience (and possibly you as well) will probably quickly forget about them. One way to avoid this is to give each character a set goal. If two characters cross paths and want to hang out for an extended period of time, make sure their goals are related in some way. While the main character should always have defined goals, don’t forget about your minor characters. Ask yourself: How does this character impact the overall plot? Will anything change if they were to disappear? If the answer is no, then give them goals!

Don’t Make Them Perfect

Along with goals, all your characters should be flawed. It’s what makes them believable. No one wants to hear a story about a perfect character with no setbacks who waltzes through a story without flinching. Setbacks=story. While a flaw doesn’t always have to be anything major, something about their personality that sets them back from easily achieving their goals will make your characters stand out. Does your character want to be a famous singer but has horrible stage fright? Is your avid deep sea diver secretly afraid of drowning?

While there is no textbook way to introduce a character, these tips should hopefully help give you ideas on how to make your characters memorable and recognizable to your audience.

Happy writing!

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About The Blogger

I'm Savanna. Avid writer. College student.

Bad at bios.

 

 

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