When we’re writing a story, we have to often bring in new characters. But doing so can be a bit of a challenge.
There’s a fine line between spending too much time describing a new character vs. too little. Not to mention the fact that you have to do it in an interesting way; no one wants to just read a list of characters traits and then move on with the plot.
With that in mind, here’s four general rules that can be helpful for introducing a character:
When introducing a character…
1) Show what they LOOK like, but remember, less is more.
(Ironically, the more that you describe them, the harder they are to see.)
Ex: She was six feet two inches tall and had brown hair on the right side of her head and orange hair on the left side, separated by a black line that went done from her chin to the other… (Too much! It overloads the reader. Just concentrate on the few important things.)
2) Nothing beats a good, unique image.
(ie: a simile/metaphor, anecdote, identifying feature)
Ex: Tom was built like a bear and twice as hairy. (We don’t get his exact dimensions/colors, and that’s perfectly fine. The reader can fill them in themself.)
3) Show who they ARE like through their interactions
(Don’t just TELL us they’re nice/a bully/whatever, show us.)
ie: Jeff was a bully. [BORING]
ie: Jeff strolled up to me with a smug look on his pimply face and shoved me in the chest, just like he did at the beginning of second period every day. [INTERESTING]
4) Show what the narrator/MC thinks about them through their interactions/feelings
(Don’t just TELL us that they have a crush on them/they hate them/whatever, show us.)
ie: I had a crush on Jeff. [BORING]
ie: I sat at my desk, drawing hearts in my notebook as I stared at the back of Jeff’s head. Was there ever a more perfect head of hair? No, all six-thousand eight-hundred and forty-one of Jeff’s strands were perfect. I knew. I counted them all. [INTERESTING]
After going over all that, chat voted for us to introduce this character: an android trying to fit in with humans. The main character/narrator would be a teenage student whose best friend is that android.
Here’s what we came up with:
I opened the door and K33277 was smiling back at me, holding a birthday present in her hands. It was like having a Pixar character standing in my doorway. Her teeth were blinding white, her hair was made of blonde plastic, and it was impossible to tell what was going on behind her wide, green eyes.
“Oh, hey K33277,” I said, trying my best to return her inhuman grin. “You’re, uh, early for the party.”
Her face contorted into a frown, but it wasn’t natural like a human. I could almost feel each motor moving every inch of her fake skin, algorithms calculating exactly which positions each facial pore needed to be in to convey the right emotion: confusion.
“What do you mean?” she asked. Her voice was one octave too high to be natural. “It’s your birthday party. You were born at 11:39 a.m., correct?”
“Yes,” I grumbled. “But that doesn’t mean the party starts at–”
“Also,” K33277 interrupted. Her face was now a rigid scowl. “Please don’t call me K33277, call me Kathy. Otherwise the other guests will think I’m not human.”
Other guests? The chances of anyone else coming today were about as much as Kathy passing for a real human. The only reason we were friends is because we were both outcasts. We’d met a week ago at the start of the school year, when she was sitting at my table during lunch, the one far away in the corner. She wasn’t used to eating yet, and she was worried about making a mess around other people. Which was pretty justified since she was tearing open chocolate milk cartons with her teeth and getting puddles of it everywhere. I brought over some napkins, sat down, and suddenly she was my best friend.
I might be pretty antisocial, but at least I knew the rules of being a human, even if I didn’t always follow them. But for Kathy, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the idea of her thinking she’d ever have any hope of blending in.
“Yes, laughter!” Kathy said, misinterpreting my reaction, as usual. Her face massaged itself back to an orthodontist’s dream. “That is what parties are all about. Here, take this present. I will help set up.”
I don’t know about you, but I feel like I really know both these characters! Best of all, we weren’t told all of the information like a laundry list. We got to experience it through their interactions and anecdotes.
Will Kathy help the main character overcome his social-ineptitude? Will he do the same for her? Will he abandon her if he gets a real girlfriend? I kind of want to find out!
After that, chat voted that we write this prompt created by WarwickIs4Noobs: Your life has been getting stranger for the past few weeks. One day, your friend knocks on the door, except it’s not your friend, it’s the fucking vending machine again.
If you want to join us and help write a story by trolling in chat, or share your own writing for feedback, then we’d love to have you. We stream on Twitch every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday at 7:30pm-10:30pm (U.S. Eastern Standard Time).
And you missed the stream, you can still watch Rubbish to Published, the writing exercises, or the writing prompts on YouTube, or watch the full stream reruns.
Hope to see you next time, friend!
Featured image: Pakutaso