Character Introduction

[madelinemasoch]

I am curious as to what might be the best way to “introduce” a main character. By introduce I mean tell the reader most everything about the character. The temptation is to lay it all out in several paragraphs at the beginning. I do, however, think it is likely better to reveal them gradually … bit by bit.

How do you like to do this?

As others have said, we don't need to know most everything about the character. Much better not to tell us.

NEVER lay it all out in several paragraphs at the beginning. It's awful.

If you have something that's absolutely necessary to reveal, do it poetically and in a way that's embedded in either 1. dialogue or 2. action.

 

[HordHolm]

I am curious as to what might be the best way to “introduce” a main character. By introduce I mean tell the reader most everything about the character. The temptation is to lay it all out in several paragraphs at the beginning. I do, however, think it is likely better to reveal them gradually … bit by bit.

How do you like to do this?

Here's a slightly different intro for comparison. It's from something I have going live tomorrow:

Luke Bailey eased his hated Astra off Harefield Road and into the car park, out of the drizzle. He hadn’t beaten the morning park-and-ride rush, and he had to circle for nearly five minutes to find a space, waiting as a young mother loaded her little girl into the safety seat after dropping off the sibling in the pre-school down the street. Finally, he was able to get out and stretch, then reach in and grab his two laptop bags (one with laptop, the other filled with varied reading material, lunch, spare chargers and detritus).

He exhaled heavily and grimaced, blowing off the morning cobwebs as he looked at the silver Astra, with its creaky front suspension as not advertised. However much he didn’t like it, he needed it, an accessory which confirmed who he was, just like the cheap suit and tie, and his hair, which he had been forced to grow from his usual shaved look into something that required shampoo instead of a razor. A month ago, he’d looked like a bad-ass, toned in the gym and even a touch younger than his thirty-three years. Now he looked like nothing more than a drone, a desk warrior, softened by inactivity.

 

[twztdgirl]

“Thanks for the advice and suggestions” she typed into the reply box. Sitting back she took a sip from wine glass and hit Post reply. I have some work to do she thought.

 

[Whanmore]

I am curious as to what might be the best way to “introduce” a main character. By introduce I mean tell the reader most everything about the character. The temptation is to lay it all out in several paragraphs at the beginning. I do, however, think it is likely better to reveal them gradually … bit by bit.

How do you like to do this?

Read examples in mainstream literature. There are so many way to do it but rarely in awesome stories is the info about the main character the most important so its usually not the first thing we see. Its usually setting. Think Opening of Alladin, or Gatsby or the Bible most Authors don't just lay it all out. Snoresville

 

[CockSparrow]

I’ve been a professional writer for almost 65 years.

My first professional editor told me that characters reveal themselves by what they say and do. ‘Get them saying and doing stuff as early in the story as possible,’ he suggested.

It usually works.