Introducing a character who is not at his best.

HourglassMemory · Feb 12, 2008

I start one of my stories where my MC is presented to the reader in his worst state of mind he's ever been in.

It's nothing really dramatic like depression or wanting to kill people.

But anyway, how do I show that my MC isn't what the readers aren't being shown? that this is just a bump in his life that he's solving when the story begins?

Could it be through things like "This wasn't usual of him. Usually he would be doing this and that. that's what people were expecting....but he did not do that. What he was about to do was going to shock a lot of people."

How do you make your MC interesting and engaging and attractive when he's not being his best?

How do I tell/show the reader that he's usually nicer?

I'm asking this because if the reader doesn't get to find interest in the character, their connection to him is lost, as one would expect.

Should I make the readers feel sorry for him? How would I go about doing that?

Neon · Feb 12, 2008

Hmm, it's hard without knowing what the actual situation is.

I'd have him doing whatever he's doing, but subtly suggest that this isnt his usual self by having him question his actions, have him doubt himself.

Then, later on when he sorts himself out and is in a good place again, it's not confusing and/or unbelievable to the reader.

Terran · Feb 12, 2008

I think introducing your MC through a secondary character, who knows the MC is not normally like this, would work good as-well.

megan_d · Feb 12, 2008

How do the people who knew him before this rough patch react to his actions?

Stormhawk · Feb 12, 2008

The character of Sam Vines in Discworld, is, if my memory serves, introduced lying face down in the street drunk off his nut.

"Not at their best" makes them interesting.

HourglassMemory · Feb 12, 2008

Stormhawk said:
The character of Sam Vines in Discworld, is, if my memory serves, introduced lying face down in the street drunk off his nut.

"Not at their best" makes them interesting.

And it's an indirect promise of better things to come. "You haven't seen anything yet" sort of thing right?

HourglassMemory · Feb 12, 2008

Terran said:
I think introducing your MC through a secondary character, who knows the MC is not normally like this, would work good as-well.

Yes I have thought about that. I might do it out of curiosity. Experimentation.

ishtar'sgate · Feb 12, 2008

Gee, I wouldn't do anything. A character at his worst can be very interesting. Let the reader follow him as he makes improvements. Seeing growth and change in a character gives depth to your story.
Linnea

TheIT · Feb 12, 2008

At the beginning of the story, what's necessary is to get the reader to turn the page. Even if the MC is not shown at his best, the situation should be interesting enough to catch the reader's attention.

Consider the POV of the writing. Is the MC the POV character? If so, he could be considering why he's acting out of character. Is the POV character someone who knows the MC well? Then the POV could be wondering why the MC is acting this way.

But overall, rather than pointing out "oh, this isn't normal, but the MC's behavior is justified", I think it's more important to set the situation such that the reader wants to learn more. As the story unfolds, the reader can decide what is and isn't normal for the character.

JoNightshade · Feb 12, 2008

ishtar'sgate said:
Gee, I wouldn't do anything. A character at his worst can be very interesting. Let the reader follow him as he makes improvements. Seeing growth and change in a character gives depth to your story.
Linnea

Ditto on this. A book is not a job interview for your character, it's an accurate portrait of his life. He SHOULD grow and change.

TV example: I think of the Andy Sippowictz (sp?) character on NYPD Blue. In the first season, he was so rotten and unlikeable that he was almost the antagonist. But watching his character grow and evolve into someone not only sympathetic, but likeable and admirable, was what totally made that show.

Terran · Feb 12, 2008

JoNightshade said:
Ditto on this. A book is not a job interview for your character, it's an accurate portrait of his life. He SHOULD grow and change.

TV example: I think of the Andy Sippowictz (sp?) character on NYPD Blue. In the first season, he was so rotten and unlikeable that he was almost the antagonist. But watching his character grow and evolve into someone not only sympathetic, but likeable and admirable, was what totally made that show.

Normaly I would agree, however the OP wanted show that the MC was not normaly like this.

Ha, I love Sippowictz.

KarlaErikaCal · Feb 12, 2008

I agree with those who said a character at its worst is interesting. I want to know what happened to them and why it happened. That will definitely keep me wanting more. Although, the only thing is, the above has to be shown to me within a few pages of a book because I'd get pretty bored by, say the 5th page.

maestrowork · Feb 12, 2008

HourglassMemory said:
It's nothing really dramatic like depression or wanting to kill people.

And why not?

Seriously. Why not start with something dramatic, push your MC off the cliff?

If you start off with him just being a mess -- why should we read it? You need to give us something to intrigue us, so we'll be willing to go along with him and see what he's going to do, since we don't know him yet. Why not start him off a) in the middle of something big and messy, or b) have him do something dramatically uncontrollable. Make it big.

Don't start small.

And trust me, readers like it when the author puts the characters through hell.

p.s. you don't have to tell the readers OFF the start that your MC is a great guy... really, let your readers discover him. Give us a hint if you must (he gave to Save African Children foundation but he's 2 months behind his payment, for example). But you don't have to show us everything right off the bat. Let the character show his true self and grow.

KTC · Feb 13, 2008

Do you have to show that this isn't the usual him? Personally, I wouldn't show that when you are trying to show him at his worse. I'd introduce that when it was needed. Take the reader to that worst him only. If it's good, they'll read on to discover what caused that him and what the real him is all about. It kind of deflates the worseness to say, "This isn't what he's usually like". I don't want to know that when I'm being introduced to him. I want to discover that.

Qui · Feb 13, 2008

The most fun I've had writing my WIP so far was when one of the MCs was acting as POV character and being a complete snot. You don't have to spoon-feed your readers; they'll be able to figure it out.

Straka · Feb 13, 2008

One of my WIPs is similar in structure, the MC is present at the very worst point in his life where he does terrible things. Its in first person and he is asking the reader not to judge him because that terrible moment is taken out of its context. Then the stories jump a year before when he is more or less an average college student and goes from there.

DeleyanLee · Feb 13, 2008

HourglassMemory said:
But anyway, how do I show that my MC isn't what the readers aren't being shown? that this is just a bump in his life that he's solving when the story begins?

Could it be through things like "This wasn't usual of him. Usually he would be doing this and that. that's what people were expecting....but he did not do that. What he was about to do was going to shock a lot of people."

How do you make your MC interesting and engaging and attractive when he's not being his best?

How do I tell/show the reader that he's usually nicer?

I'm asking this because if the reader doesn't get to find interest in the character, their connection to him is lost, as one would expect.

Should I make the readers feel sorry for him? How would I go about doing that?

IMHO, telling the reader that isn't good enough. Readers gloss over what they're told and remember what's dramatized--so dramatize it. Readers are attracted to a character's strengths, not his weaknesses, so you've got to show them that these strengths exist, even if he's not using them at the start.

So even if his life sucks Gilbratar through a bar straw, give us some on-the-page reason to understand and willing to follow him as he reclaims what's rightfully his.

Stew21 · Feb 13, 2008

My MC isn't at his best when we first meet him either. He's a mess. How the reader knows his behavior isn't typical for him is because other characters question it - they provide indications that he was better/different previously and they like him (I hope) because they see his potential to be that again.

Elodie-Caroline · Feb 13, 2008

When the readers get to see my male character for the very first time, they will see him as an arrogant swine and quite selfish; he doesn't fare much better in the next chapter either. But I hope they will fall in love with him in the ongoing chapters, he's not a bad bloke really, he just opens his big mouth before he thinks.

Elodie

HourglassMemory · Feb 13, 2008

maestrowork said:
And why not?

Seriously. Why not start with something dramatic, push your MC off the cliff?

If you start off with him just being a mess -- why should we read it? You need to give us something to intrigue us, so we'll be willing to go along with him and see what he's going to do, since we don't know him yet. Why not start him off a) in the middle of something big and messy, or b) have him do something dramatically uncontrollable. Make it big.

Don't start small.

And trust me, readers like it when the author puts the characters through hell.

p.s. you don't have to tell the readers OFF the start that your MC is a great guy... really, let your readers discover him. Give us a hint if you must (he gave to Save African Children foundation but he's 2 months behind his payment, for example). But you don't have to show us everything right off the bat. Let the character show his true self and grow.

Lot what the character is going through is dramatic and uncontrollable, yes!!! I guess I started spot on! I surely didn't start small.
I mean, he could be going through a depression...but it's for ...curious reasons. It's not the usual stuff people get depressed about.
And I don't throw his past at people's faces right away. I knew that wouldn't do any good.

Stew21 · Feb 13, 2008

just make it apparent in his interactions with other people that he is different than before.

One of my minor characters asks my screwed up MC questions like "What is with the smoking? You don't smoke."
and his boss talks to him about his work performance.
They don't even really need to see where he was before he got this way. As long as their is the promise and potential for him to improve.
The human interest in growth and change should be enough to make the character compelling. Don't worry about them not loving him because he is depressed and pathetic. Some of my favorite characters in fiction are depressed and pathetic.

HourglassMemory · Feb 13, 2008

DeleyanLee said:
IMHO, telling the reader that isn't good enough. Readers gloss over what they're told and remember what's dramatized--so dramatize it. Readers are attracted to a character's strengths, not his weaknesses, so you've got to show them that these strengths exist, even if he's not using them at the start.

So even if his life sucks Gilbratar through a bar straw, give us some on-the-page reason to understand and willing to follow him as he reclaims what's rightfully his.

Yes, dramatize it. To dramatize things I usually just tell. I seem to forget that sometimes.
To show is to let the reader get the conclusions and not have them handed out on the plate. It's no fun like that, right?

jst5150 · Feb 13, 2008

Great question. My detective is at his almost absolute worst when my novel starts. And he doesn't get much better through the entire manuscript. The idea of showing foibles -- the half empty bourbon bottle, the flawed thoguht processes, the rationalization of things that are worse for him then better -- are all part of portraying him that way (which, I think, goes to your question).

To others' points, the MC is most engaging at his/her worst. People don't care that 99 percent of airplanes land safely. No one cares about the millions and millions of people who move through TSA screening unfettered. Very little about people getting to work on time interests us; rather, we want to hear about the wrecks and, in fact, human nature slows us down to look at them (and I can prove this if you'd like to drive with me on the I-75 North to Atlanta). In any case, delivering the worst piques our interest. Magazine sales and TMZ viewers confirm it.

Within that, you also have to associate the character with "us." Not that you have to show him as good; just that he's one of us. We have to have some association with him. Or, you can flip that and extoll about the things he has or does that we cannot but want to.

Again, I'm not sure it's about feeling sorry for him. It's more about how we can associate our lives and tribulations with him. Or see something within him we want to connect him with us.

Sassee · Feb 13, 2008

ishtar'sgate said:
Gee, I wouldn't do anything. A character at his worst can be very interesting. Let the reader follow him as he makes improvements. Seeing growth and change in a character gives depth to your story.
Linnea

maestrowork said:
And why not?

Seriously. Why not start with something dramatic, push your MC off the cliff?

If you start off with him just being a mess -- why should we read it? You need to give us something to intrigue us, so we'll be willing to go along with him and see what he's going to do, since we don't know him yet. Why not start him off a) in the middle of something big and messy, or b) have him do something dramatically uncontrollable. Make it big.

Don't start small.

And trust me, readers like it when the author puts the characters through hell.

p.s. you don't have to tell the readers OFF the start that your MC is a great guy... really, let your readers discover him. Give us a hint if you must (he gave to Save African Children foundation but he's 2 months behind his payment, for example). But you don't have to show us everything right off the bat. Let the character show his true self and grow.

QFT

Straka said:
One of my WIPs is similar in structure, the MC is present at the very worst point in his life where he does terrible things. Its in first person and he is asking the reader not to judge him because that terrible moment is taken out of its context. Then the stories jump a year before when he is more or less an average college student and goes from there.

Mine starts out near her worst as well. She's drunk off her ass and dives right into bed with a stranger. You don't find out this is unusual until chapter 2, when one of her friends thinks she's going insane.

IMO, if you're bothering to make this guy your central character, I'm already assuming there is some sort of redeeming quality to him or I wouldn't be reading it in the first place. A lot of readers enjoy seeing the transformation of a character from "bad" to "good." Don't feel like you have to spell it out for us. Just go with what's natural.

The Scip · Feb 13, 2008

I think its ok to start with the MC not at his best. The character will grow throughout the story. The readers won't take a single snapshot of the character and hold onto that, they will grow to know and understand the MC as the story progresses.

Introducing a character who is not at his best.

HourglassMemory

Neon

Terran

megan_d

Falling in the milk

Stormhawk

Angry Bunny Girl

HourglassMemory

HourglassMemory

ishtar'sgate

living in the past

TheIT

Infuriatingly Theoretical

JoNightshade

has finally arrived

Terran

KarlaErikaCal

YA romance writer in love with love

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live

Qui

Straka

Bored Fanatic

DeleyanLee

Writing Anarchist

Stew21

Elodie-Caroline

HourglassMemory

Stew21

HourglassMemory

jst5150

Vorpal Comics. Weekly Podcast. Twitch Artist. Vet

Sassee

Momma Wolf

The Scip

...walks this way.