How to introduce your characters

Fantasy Island, a popular television show from the late 1970s, involved weekly introductions of new characters. Each episode operated with the same basic plot: Visitors seek out the island to fulfill their deepest desires, they undertake an unexpected transformative experience, and ultimately, they learn what it is they truly need to feel fulfilled.

These characters, often played by actors considered past their prime, were introduced by the steward of Fantasy Island, Mr. Roarke, and his ‘right-hand man,’ Tattoo. Mr. Roarke and Tattoo would stand on the dock as the boat of passengers arrived, and would converse with each other about the guests, providing their names and then offering a sentence or two about their backgrounds.

For a one-hour episode, the audience was given a quick rundown of each new visitor to Fantasy Island, with the remainder of the show focused on the character’s growth. Each guest on the island had to overcome an internal or external obstacle, confront their weakness (or block), and then evolve towards growth.

Since there were always multiple characters and the show was only an hour long, the initial introduction of characters had to be succinct. As the episodes unfolded, the characters would reveal more about themselves through dialogue, flashbacks, and action.

While most stories won’t lend themselves to such natural and easy introductions as Fantasy Island allowed, authors must be just as succinct as Mr. Roarke and Tattoo when they first introduce their characters. The goal is to give enough information during your introduction to anchor your readers in time and place, to get a gist of the character’s personality, and to evoke concern, care, or interest in the character.

If introducing your characters sounds tricky, it’s because it often is. While this may come naturally to some writers, for others, those initial introductions can feel clunky. Typically, it’s not until you complete your first draft that you get a solid feel for your characters’ personalities. Therefore, if you’re still in the middle of your first draft, don’t worry about your introductions until you are well into your revision phase. Completion of the first draft will give you a clearer idea of who your characters are and how you want to introduce them.

If you are a writer struggling with introductions, the following tips will help you introduce your characters in a way that feels seamless, doesn’t slow the pace, and makes your readers want to know more.

Choose the Number of Characters Wisely

Before we introduce the characters, it’s essential to determine who the main characters are and who will play the supporting character roles. Too many characters and too many names to remember will confuse and frustrate readers, so make sure every character you have in your book is purposeful.

Like a recipe, it might sound fun to throw a bunch of spices into something, but what often happens is that the flavors become muddled and indistinguishable. A sign of a seasoned and skilled chef is restraint -one who makes few ingredients shine. Likewise, a skilled author will highlight their most important characters, being sure not to pollute the pages with unnecessary information or names.

Those who write Fantasy or Sci-fi are probably stewing at the title of this section as they are known for having dozens of characters in their stories. While they have far more leeway than most other genres, generally speaking, the only characters that need a name should be characters who contribute to either the climax of the story or who contribute to the growth arc of the main character(s).

Readers’ attention spans are shorter than ever. If you give a name to a character who only appears in one scene and doesn’t add much to the story, this will slow the pace, and it will also overload the reader’s mental file box for useful information.

The average number of main characters ranges from two to seven. While you can have several supporting characters, their introductions won’t be as detailed as the main characters’ introductions. Before considering how to introduce your character to your reader, first determine who your main characters are, who the minor characters are, and whether you need to eliminate anyone.

Create a Character Sketch

Whether you like to outline your story (plotter), write as inspiration strikes (pantser), or you use a combination of planning and spontaneity (plantser), conceptualizing your characters as real people, with histories, families of origin, and personality quirks, is imperative to integrating them seamlessly into your story.

One of the best ways to achieve this is to write a brief biography about each character, also known as a character sketch. This can be as brief as a paragraph or as detailed as one prefers, just don’t get so carried away that the character’s biography becomes unintentional procrastination, and drags you away from finishing your manuscript.

Character sketches are primarily for the author, and while some information may make it into the story, for the most part, these sketches are intended to help the author understand how the character might act or react in any given situation. It operates as a compass for the character, that is, until the character evolves and reaches the ‘end’ of their character arc.

Here is an example of a character background on Annie Walker, from the movie Bridesmaids:

Annie Walker is a single woman in her mid-thirties whose bakery business recently failed, and she’s struggling financially and emotionally. Annie is living with two roommates whom she met through an online ad, and she does not get along with either of them. Unable to pay her rent, Annie moves back home with her mother. Her mother is an eccentric artist who offers poor advice and sometimes references her divorce from Annie’s father. Among all this chaos, Annie is also in a casual, no-strings-attached “relationship” with a self-absorbed man who doesn’t value her and doesn’t reciprocate her feelings. Annie and her best friend are incredibly close, having known each other since elementary school. When Annie learns her best friend is getting married, this news becomes the catalyst that sets the story in motion.

Annie is first introduced on the screen while she’s in bed with John Hamm (the self-absorbed lover). We watch as she sneaks out of bed to brush her teeth and put on makeup so that when her bedmate awakens, she hopes he will be pleased by her appearance and perhaps shower her with affection. When he awakens shortly after her return to bed, he essentially tells her to leave. She smiles awkwardly, with a twinge of pain on her face, and leaves his home.

In this brief introductory scene, we learn that Annie is insecure, willing to put up with poor treatment, and lacks self-respect. We get an immediate sense of who she is and what she’s struggling with, and most importantly, we are left curious as to why she is the way she is. We also feel sorry for her as most people can empathize with unrequited love, humiliation, and tolerating poor treatment.

Given Annie’s background, we understand how a failing business and living with one’s parents as an adult might squash someone’s confidence and lead to some of Annie’s choices, such as ‘dating’ someone who doesn’t treat her well.

This is an excellent example of how having a background of your character can help you introduce them to your audience in a way that showcases their personality, is interesting, and pulls the reader into the story.   

What types of information should you include in your character sketch?

·  Gender (however you want to define this), age, socioeconomic status, job, education, and current close relationships.

·  Hobbies or talents

·  What are their values regarding religion, politics, family, the environment, children, and society?

·  Do they have a mentor? Do they have a role model? Did they have either of these in the past?

·  What are their family of origin dynamics? What were their caretakers like? How did they get along with siblings? Was there a family tragedy or a family secret? Was there abuse or neglect?

·  How would their friends describe this person? How would their boss describe them? How would family members describe this character?

·  Who would this person go to for help?

·  Do they have any attachments to a particular object, like a favorite painting or a piece of jewelry?

·  Do they have any quirky traits like playing with their hair when they’re nervous?

·  What is this person’s most significant obstacle? What do you think they need to overcome this obstacle?

·  What is their most painful memory?

·  What is their greatest strength?

·  What is their sense of humor like?

·  Are they generally trusting or mistrusting? Are they cynical or sheltered? Are they optimistic or pessimistic? Are they introverted or extroverted?

·  If there was an emergency, how would this person react? What would they do?

·  If this person witnessed someone getting bullied, how might they respond?

·  Do they have a strong moral and ethical compass, or do they break the rules from time to time?

·  What does their personal style say about them? How would this person dress?

You don’t need to answer all these questions to get a good sense of your characters, but this demonstrates how developing a character sketch helps bring a character to life and how it provides ample opportunities to introduce them in unique and interesting ways.

Start with Empathy

Empathy is defined as “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another,” according to Merriam-Webster. As writers, we want the reader to place themselves in the protagonist’s shoes and live out the story vicariously through them.

While empathy may sometimes be interpreted as a compassionate feeling towards another, the cornerstone of empathy is the ability to relate to another. Can I relate to what this person is experiencing? This is what we mean when we discuss empathy in writing.

Therefore, it’s worth noting that characters don’t have to be likable to find some aspects of them relatable. Take the book, Gone Girl, for instance. Most people wouldn’t want to have an intimate dinner with Amy, the protagonist of the story, and yet, I’m guessing most wives who have been cheated on can relate (empathize) with wanting the type of revenge Amy sought.

Introducing your characters in a scene that allows them to reveal a vulnerable aspect of themselves offers an opportunity for empathy between the reader and the character. In The Silence of the Lambs, Clarice is introduced to us during her training at the FBI academy. We see her running and sweating among a male dominated cohort, and then we watch as she anxiously awaits her superior in his office. We can all relate to feeling as if we don’t belong and we can all relate to being with a superior we both admire and fear.

From this brief and early introduction, we can infer that Clarice is willing to sacrifice comfort for her career. We know she’s probably worked hard to get to where she is and has likely had to overcome gender bias. She has thick skin, and she’s earned it. We learn that she prefers challenging assignments, and she’s unlikely to say no to any assignment she is given. We learn a lot in a short amount of time and with little drama.

Some Do’s and Don’ts

There are exceptions to every rule, but these guidelines are generally applicable. Pay careful attention to what agents consider clichéd these days and avoid them if possible.

Putting it all Together

There are countless ways in which to introduce characters, and once you get the hang of it, introductions will become more natural with each revision, draft, and subsequent manuscript.

In the meantime, while you practice and refine your skills, here’s a trick to help you decide how you want to introduce your characters, and that is to write three different introductions, three ways. For example, perhaps one scene shows the character in action, doing something, while another scene shows the character out in the world, observing their surroundings through internal insights, and a third scene shows the character interacting with other people.

There’s no need to prepare for writing these scenes. Write what comes to mind and spend no more than forty-five minutes writing each scene. At the end of the exercise, you should have a good idea of what direction you want to go and how to refine these scenes.

Another helpful tip is to ‘work backwards’ and review your query letter and synopsis to determine what characteristics are most compelling about your protagonist and main characters, and then ensure those qualities are apparent from the first introduction.

One final tip to get you on your way is to consider how you would introduce these characters if they were alive in the real world and use that information as a template to showcase their personality.

For instance, think about a character who is emotionally wounded. If you took them to a therapist, how would you describe that wound? Now, how would you show that wound in your introduction of them? If your character is a superstar athlete, how might you describe them to a scout or recruiter – now show those qualities.

With a little bit of practice, you will be able to introduce your characters seamlessly and with ease. Keep writing and remember, as modern-day authors, we don’t face the same frustrations as earlier writers who had to edit and revise on typewriters. If you don’t like something, it’s easy to change and improve, so keep on keeping on, play around with your introductions, and most importantly, finish your manuscript.