I am not new to writing but I am new to writing novels or anything of that magnitude. I am working on a historical fiction, and I am stuck at the beginning trying to introduce the characters. I was wondering if anyone could help point me in the right direction with a good web page or personal advice.
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Hey rcj! Welcome to the boards.
You will get a lot of great advice here on the boards, and you have to decide what works for you.
Okay, here's my suggestion for introducing characters.
Introduce them in action. Have them doing something, and then with their thoughts and actions, tell us who they are.
He swore as the car swerved into a tree, thinking Not again, my dad will kill me.
My Lord, he thought as his car swerved into the tree, I hope I missed that dog.
He grinned as the car swerved into a tree, thinking That will teach you buy a new car the week you fuck my best friend, bitch.
You will get a lot of great advice here on the boards, and you have to decide what works for you.
Okay, here's my suggestion for introducing characters.
Introduce them in action. Have them doing something, and then with their thoughts and actions, tell us who they are.
He swore as the car swerved into a tree, thinking Not again, my dad will kill me.
My Lord, he thought as his car swerved into the tree, I hope I missed that dog.
He grinned as the car swerved into a tree, thinking That will teach you buy a new car the week you fuck my best friend, bitch.
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Okay, here goes: don't info dump. You introduce the characters gradually throughout the story. You don't need to put them all on the first few pages, or even describe them thoroughly. A little thing like "Dave moved his large body into the driver's seat" (or something not like that!) but you get the idea. Leave a lot or a little to the reader's imagination.
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Imagine yourself at a party, and you just see this person walk in.
Unless he or she is super attractive or have odd hair and a big scar, chances are you won't notice him or her... until, he or she does something. Then you ask, who is this person?
You want to have the same reaction from your readers.
Unless he or she is super attractive or have odd hair and a big scar, chances are you won't notice him or her... until, he or she does something. Then you ask, who is this person?
You want to have the same reaction from your readers.
The visual for this killed me. I just had this vision of some guy crashing into a tremendous numeral, perhaps along the lines of a Michael Bay movie is set in Sesame Street...
Sometimes I don't think I'm all there.
Amiton.
Okay, okay, I fixed it.
This is another important lesson for rcj: you can always fix it in the edit!
Pick up the last great book you read, and see how that author did it. Were you completely aware of the characters right away, or did you learn about them as the story progressed? Did you meet them with an action scene? Dialogue? Did you feel like you knew them right away, or was it more like meeting a stranger for the first time?
Don't try to introduce too many characters all at once. ("Too many" is more than two, maybe three.)
One technique, for example, is to do your opening scene with chars A & B. In the course of that scene, they briefly mention chars C and D. (Again, not more than two or three.) Little or no detail at that point -- a name and one point of connection is enough, such as "brother Joe" or "neighbor Martha".
A scene or two later, you bring C onstage with A, while B goes offstage. Now we learn more about C and also mention char E.
Depending on what you're doing with POV, you might switch over and show a scene with C & D next. They then mention char F. And so on.
Also, don't give a character's entire backstory the first time they come onstage. First, the reader doesn't need to know everything you know. Second, once you have introduced the char with a few highlights, you can reveal additional backstory in little dribbets as you go along.
Oh, another thing, don't use a scene solely for the purpose of introducing a character. The scene needs to advance the story at the same time.
One technique, for example, is to do your opening scene with chars A & B. In the course of that scene, they briefly mention chars C and D. (Again, not more than two or three.) Little or no detail at that point -- a name and one point of connection is enough, such as "brother Joe" or "neighbor Martha".
A scene or two later, you bring C onstage with A, while B goes offstage. Now we learn more about C and also mention char E.
Depending on what you're doing with POV, you might switch over and show a scene with C & D next. They then mention char F. And so on.
Also, don't give a character's entire backstory the first time they come onstage. First, the reader doesn't need to know everything you know. Second, once you have introduced the char with a few highlights, you can reveal additional backstory in little dribbets as you go along.
Oh, another thing, don't use a scene solely for the purpose of introducing a character. The scene needs to advance the story at the same time.
Another piece of advice...don't introduce your character by having them wake up. Not a rule...just a suggestion. 
I find it easy to introduce a character with them already doing something.
It makes the reader drive into imagination right away, and you present the reader with a character.
NEVER write things like "John was a tall boy, with dark hair and brown eyes, he wore a green shirt and..."You get the picture.
This sort of description lacks action. It lacks interesting bits.
Always describe things with actions, things that happen.
Describe things in interesting ways. Don't tell, show.
It makes the reader drive into imagination right away, and you present the reader with a character.
NEVER write things like "John was a tall boy, with dark hair and brown eyes, he wore a green shirt and..."You get the picture.
This sort of description lacks action. It lacks interesting bits.
Always describe things with actions, things that happen.
Describe things in interesting ways. Don't tell, show.
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Do it like Roald Dahl did in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
This is Charlie Bucket. How do you do. and so on. He literally introduced them to us. It was so cool.
This is Charlie Bucket. How do you do. and so on. He literally introduced them to us. It was so cool.
Or on page one, looking in the mirror followed by a lengthy description.Another piece of advice...don't introduce your character by having them wake up. Not a rule...just a suggestion.
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Or just go into a detailed description while in POV.
"Mary came into the room anxiously. She brushed her hand through her luscious chestnut brown hair, and looked around with her beautiful clear, blue eyes. Her lips are just the right shade of red, and she was tall at five-foot-eight."
LOL.
"Mary came into the room anxiously. She brushed her hand through her luscious chestnut brown hair, and looked around with her beautiful clear, blue eyes. Her lips are just the right shade of red, and she was tall at five-foot-eight."
LOL.
I think you could have fun with that, if your narrator were totally in love with the main character. A transparent Mary-Sue with a crush.
Mary came into the room, gliding gracefully and brushing her long auburn hair back, where it cascaded down her back like a beautiful waterfall that we could have a picnic near which she would like, and she looked around the room with her crystal blue eyes. Her long pale fingers had no rings on them because she wasn't married yet, waiting for just the right man to come along and sweep her off her feet, which were five-feet-ten-inches away from the top of her head, her beautiful head, her perfect head.
Anyway, she was coming to meet her boyfriend, Ryan, an ass, and although she loves him she knows deep down in her heart that she could do a lot better, she needs someone way more intelligent and loving and although she isn't thinking that as she sits down SHE SHOULD BE when she orders a glass of water, even though she doesn't need to watch her weight, it's always perfect.
Mary came into the room, gliding gracefully and brushing her long auburn hair back, where it cascaded down her back like a beautiful waterfall that we could have a picnic near which she would like, and she looked around the room with her crystal blue eyes. Her long pale fingers had no rings on them because she wasn't married yet, waiting for just the right man to come along and sweep her off her feet, which were five-feet-ten-inches away from the top of her head, her beautiful head, her perfect head.
Anyway, she was coming to meet her boyfriend, Ryan, an ass, and although she loves him she knows deep down in her heart that she could do a lot better, she needs someone way more intelligent and loving and although she isn't thinking that as she sits down SHE SHOULD BE when she orders a glass of water, even though she doesn't need to watch her weight, it's always perfect.
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I write like I'm seeing a stage. Everybody just walks on and off the stage. Simple as that. Capture their actions, their attribute, their being. Just don't over-describe them. Go into their roles as they take flesh without hitting the reader over the head with the physical attributes part.
I stride mightily through that door which you have shown me like a baby out of a womb...!
Another piece of advice...don't introduce your character by having them wake up.
Unless he wakes up as a fly.
My one WIP starts off with the MC sitting on the beach outside her house watching for her MIL to appear out of the sea. It's not a whole lot of musing before the conversation actually starts. Two paragraphs. The other begins with action. It's about the tone of the story I think. WIP 1 is slower paced overall.
In one of my novels I do have a character in the mirror thing. Not the first chapter, though. But it fits. He's a bit vain and likes to admire his Adonis good looks and his pecs. Yeah, he's an arrogant prick, but gets his by the end of the chapter, LOL.
Yeah, he's an arrogant prick, but gets his by the end of the chapter, LOL.
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My new wip starts out with my mc layed out on the ground with blood pouring out of an open wound. The story is in first person as they recollect how they got to this point. It is another page or two until you find out her name and a few tidbits about her.
My advice: Don't introduce your characters. I read too many first drafts of novels where the writer spends the first 3 chapters just telling the reader who everyone is.
Just show us the character in action at a natural point in the story. When you go back and edit it, include enough information so that we know who this person is. Please don't trot them out onstage before the curtain goes up and introduce everybody.
Just show us the character in action at a natural point in the story. When you go back and edit it, include enough information so that we know who this person is. Please don't trot them out onstage before the curtain goes up and introduce everybody.
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I didn't describe my main character at all... not really, except his father was a stud and his mother was a beauty queen.
J. R. Tomlin
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I don't "introduce" characters. They just come along and start doing stuff, hopefully interesting stuff that the reader wants to find out about.
Edit: In my last novel the only description I put in about my MC was that she was blonde and that ONLY because it was actually an important plot point.
Edit: In my last novel the only description I put in about my MC was that she was blonde and that ONLY because it was actually an important plot point.
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I introduced the first two characters together although I killed off one fairly quickly, leaving my heroine free of a pesky husband. The other characters were introduced one or two at a time as they made their apperance in the story line. In my current WIP my main character is introduced alone and others are added as I move ahead with his story. I think you have to do what works for you but it can be confusing to readers if you introduce too many all at once. Kind of like meeting a room full of people and being expected to remember them all.
By the way, as I write historical fiction I'd be interested to know your setting. What time period are you looking at?
Linnea
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