Introducing a character effectively means demonstrating them in a way that best encapsulates their character and gives the audience the impression you want them to have of this person.
There are countless ways to do this depending on how you want the character to be portrayed. But the best way? Interaction. It doesn’t have to be exaggerated or grandiose or explosive. Even the smallest moments can tell a lot about a person, and that’s what readers crave most: your characters interacting with someone or something.
Incorporating Interaction
To keep things simple and (relatively) short, we’ll go off just the main method of interaction: with another person. But first, I want to quickly go over the options of interacting with a situation and with an object, which are two other common narrative tools.
Interacting with a situation
“Isn’t everything in a story a situation?” you may ask. Well, yes, technically. But there is a difference between reacting to a situation and interacting with a situation. A character running out of a burning house and then watching their home be destroyed is reacting to a situation. It’s not telling us anything other than the fact that they have the most basic human instincts (and that their home is now destroyed).
But a character frantically sprinting through a burning house, screaming for their sibling, then kicking down a door to reach them? That’s interacting with a situation.
As in the above example, it’s pretty easy to turn a lame introduction into a compelling and illustrative one just by making a character more active in a scene. If the scene is falling flat, consider what the introduced character would or could do to interact with the situation itself that will demonstrate their character well. It doesn’t have to be as dramatic as kicking down doors; any purposeful, active effort by the character is enough to demonstrate who they are.
With an object
Interacting with an item is another technique. It tends to be the least effective but if you’re determined, there are ways to utilize this method. Your best bet is making the item either dynamic in itself (a river, a magic ball, a weaving loom, etc.), important to the character (a family heirloom, their favorite weapon, their beloved possession, etc.), integral to the story somehow (an enchanted pendant, a lost doll, a stolen loaf of bread, etc.), or all three!
Your character can also interact with an animal. No, an animal is not an object, but any interaction with a (normal, nonmagical) animal will be inherently less dynamic than with another person. That doesn’t mean it can’t still tell a lot about someone! How they approach, speak to, and treat an animal can give clues to the kind of person they are. And it’s not just a difference of cruel vs kind. A person who approaches an animal with eagerness and baby talk is different from one who approaches them with composure and a normal tone.
Incorporating Character Interaction
The most common introduction for characters in any story, and the easiest to make effective, is interacting with another person.
This is often the default for side characters by having them interact with the main character (or current POV) as their introduction. When the interaction directly involves a perspective the audience already knows and has an attachment to, it allows you to use that trust to make your audience see this new character in whatever way you want. A reader is more willing to accept the given impression of a stranger when it is through a trusted (or at least familiar) source.
You can also show a side character interacting with another person through a distance and not involve the protag directly. While the scene may still be seen through your protagonist’s eyes, the lack of direct contact leaves more room for false impressions and ambiguity, which you can use to your advantage.
On the other side of this, if you are introducing the protagonist, having them interact with someone they are familiar with will give readers a lot of clues as to what kind of person they are at their core. Or, if they’re interacting with a stranger, it can be a glimpse into what kind of mask this person puts on for the public, which is arguably as important a part of their character as their genuine self.
When deciding how you want to write a character’s introduction, consider the following to guide you:
Do you want to show the character’s most authentic self? Have them interact with someone they know. People are most authentic around those they have an established repartee with.
a) Do you want to display their best qualities? Make it a person they like.
b) Do you want to display their worst qualities? Make it a person they hate.Do you want to show the character’s artificial self? The mask they put on for the world? Then create a situation that would best showcase that side of them. For example:
a) If the artificial self is swanky and cool, establish a scene in which other characters are decidedly not swanky and cool, and it will emphasize this trait.
b) If the artificial self is caring and sweet, make their introduction happen during a distressing moment for another character, when the introductee can best demonstrate their “kindness.” (Kudo points if the introductee secretly caused the distressing moment.)
c) If the artificial self is angry and abrasive, incorporate actions or words into the scene that will make them bristle and turn on this defense mechanism.Do you want readers to be able to pick up on the fact that this is a mask the character is putting on? There are several ways to do this:
a) Breaking — a split-second drop of the façade is very telling.
b) Exaggerating — if a trait is over-exaggerated and emphasized, it comes off as contrived.
c) Body cues — most people cannot suppress primal impulses. For example, when a character is acting suave and put-together, but won’t stop fidgeting. Or acts cold and indifferent, but instinctively lurches forward to help someone tripping.
d) Scene cues — the scene around/behind the character hints at duplicity, such as a character acting calm and collected but the room behind them is inexplicably trashed.
e) Background character cues — the other characters in the scene belie the true nature of the introductee. They might act bad ass and dangerous, but the barkeeper treats them with jovial familiarity. Or they act harmless and innocent, but all the locals give them a wide berth.
This is not an exhaustive list by any means. There are infinite possibilities and combinations that you can play with. These are just extremes to give helpful examples. Most characters (and people) fall somewhere between “authentic” and “artificial” as they interact with others. These techniques still apply and can serve you well.
Common Mistakes
#1
A mistake I see often is introducing a character with a lengthy, several-paragraph description of their every physical trait.
Yes, it is important your audience can visualize your characters, but a short description of the basics is much more effective than launching into a whole page describing every feature of their face and article of clothing they’re wearing. When you start with a long description, there is no character for your audience to attach the visual to! Without an emotional anchor, descriptions (and exposition, for that matter) flee into the night the second your reader’s eyes drift to the next paragraph. This can be slightly combatted by subtle reinforcement throughout the narrative (think, “she tied up her sun-bleached curls” kind of moments), but at the end of the day, it’s best not to waste any words on something that will be immediately forgotten.
If you prefer your description in chunks rather than scattered throughout the narration, at least save that chunk until readers are familiar enough with your character to want to know what they look like in the first place. This doesn’t have to be chapters into your story (and in fact shouldn’t be, because the longer a character is not described, the more ingrained a reader’s personal mental image becomes), but a few lines of dynamic introduction before the info-dump can do wonders.
#2
Another common mistake is introducing a character during pointless action.
This is most often done when introducing the first or main character (think: starting out the gate with a chase sequence), but it can be an issue with later introductions as well. For example, instead of introducing a ship captain in the middle of a storm where they stumble around deck and shout orders, introduce them beforehand: while the protag is boarding their ship and the captain shoves past them to throw a stowaway off, perhaps shouting a few choice words after. You can see how one better demonstrates the actual person behind the character, instead of adding a personality-less prop to a scene.
It is possible to introduce a character during an action sequence and introduce them well! Just make sure that it is 1) not action for the sake of contrived stakes, a la chase sequence described above, and 2) is effectively demonstrating the character. If they just become a tool to propel action forward, there are probably better ways to introduce them and have the time and space to do it well.
Remember, you are the writer. The creator. The god! I love writing impulsively and letting the characters take me where they will, but at the end of the day, it is your decision what stays, what goes, and what gets changed completely. If a character introduction falls flat, it is up to you to revise it to demonstrate that character effectively to your audience.
It’s your story. If you disagree with anything I’ve said here, good on ya! Write what you want to write. But I do hope you gained some benefit because whew that’s a lot to read!
What’s your favorite way to introduce important characters? Let me know in the comments!