《How to Write Stories People Will Love》Question 92: Introducing characters to each other
Advertisement
asks: I have a bunch of characters who don't know each other very well. They're sort of meeting in groups of two or three, but I don't really know how to write introductions or get them to know each other. Any advice?
It may be tempting to get such introductions out of the way by one character formally (and stiffly) saying, "This is Charlie and Robin, and they are explosives experts." Unless the occasion is formal (like a dinner party or teacher's conference) we want to avoid being formal all the time. Once in a while is fine.
Just think about real life situations. When you bring a friend home for the first time, you will likely sound formal. "Mom, this is Billy. We're studying together." The level of formality is highly dependent on the situation. When the purpose of the occasion is to meet people, introductions will tend to be structured and boring, but necessary.
In the situation that HufflePicket brings up, it seems that these characters might be thrown together as circumstances arise. In these cases, it's important for you to fire up that movie projector in your head and imagine how such a scenario might play out.
You must first have a good sense of each character's personality. Each one will react to the same situation differently. Let's say two teams who have never met rendezvous at a checkpoint and have to coordinate the next move. Think about how each personality handles such a situation. Here's an example:
Sam (friendly and loves meeting new people): Hi! I'm Sam. Glad you guys made it.
Jane (aggressive and likes to take control): Right. We don't have much time. Did you bring the software?
Brent (has problems with authority and dislikes aggressive people): Hello to you too. Of course we brought it.
Advertisement
Sam: Brent is our hacker. He's very good.
Jane: Great. We brought our own. Wanda?
Wanda (wary and mistrusting): *says nothing but makes a sour face at being singled out*
In scenes like this, the introductions should feel like a natural ebb and flow of dialogue. In my short example here, the two most socially outgoing people dominate the conversation, as such people tend to do in real life. Some characters will introduce themselves. Others are happy to let others do it for them. Still other may prefer not to be there at all. Put yourself into the shoes of each character and have them react accordingly. This is a great way to handle new characters meeting each other for the first time.
Don't feel the need to push information about all the characters to the reader. Let it unfold naturally. Like in real life, we will gradually get to know some people sooner than others. Those who are more guarded will take more time to get to know. Treat it like a friendship, not a research paper. If it feels forced when you write it, then you might be pushing. Ease up and let things unfold at each character's individual pace.
Advertisement
The M.S. Fortune
John comes out of stasis aboard Starship Fortuna and is instantly made Captain by the bestest Simulated Intelligence in the Universe and then they live happily ever after, solving problems. Yeah. That’s totally what happens. Where are you going John? Why don’t you like my synopsis? I think it’s great and totally not full of lies. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Written by Vitaly S Alexius (author of Romantically Apocalyptic) and Angry Spider (author of... various). Dark comedy! Fantastic Adventure! Space! Sexy robots! Please insert more descriptive keywords! Notice of interest:This book operates on a unique concept of "Reader Causality". Meaning - every review left on it incrementally impacts the story, adding in a new, minor twist to it. If you already left it a review - then you can impact the story by leaving comments beneath new chapters.
8 75Demon slayer:Family
In this story,the Main character is reincarnated in the world of demon slayer as Kamado Tanjiro's older brother, beofore reincarnation,he gets to have 2 of his wishes fullfilled.Kamado Tanjiro, his younger sister Nezuko,and his older brother,the MC survived the demon attack on the family.Now the MC must take care of his entire family while fighting the demons. Author's note: I just downloaded a random pic for the cover,and I'll update almost everyday.
8 188T.R.E.E.S.E.K.A.I.
Get hit by a truck, die, get reborn, the same old. But what happens when you're reborn as a tree? T.R.E.E.S.E.K.A.I. follows the story of a dryad in a frontier town, watching civilizations get born, thrive, and die on her roots, under her branches.This is more of an ongoing scratchpad of writing experimentation rather than a cohesive narrative so I might do weird things with it from time to time.
8 146Special effects | tomholland x reader
She's a small sfx make up artist working in Hollywood, only working on the extras. But when her co-worker Evangeline does something stupid and gets fired, she now has to work with the big stars...(Y/N) isn't going to be happy about this.[COMPLETED](Sorry if parts are confusing, I was young when I wrote this and I am still trying to get better. Just bear with me with this one please. Hopefully my other stories are a little better and more put together😬😊)
8 196Realize
~*~*~I'm Enoch O'Connor. My peculiarity is to rise the dead, I'm as cold as the dead things I rise. Yes, I'm a Necromancer. I live in a loop with other peculiar children. Our loop is September 3,1943.There's a girl in this loop who is the only one close to me. For all the years staying in the loop with her, I realized one day I fallen in love with her. But, she's the exact opposite of me.Her name is Olive Abroholos Elephanta.She always smiles at everyone and is always nice. While I'm rude all the time. She has a firey red hair. She's a Pyromancer. She's as warm as the fire she controls. Her eyes are the amazing shade of green. She's always playing with the young kid here, sing to them, tell them stories and tuck them to sleep.Olive, you're the opposite of me, and I can't help but think, like fire and ice combining, it will be impossible for Olive to like me back. It would take years, decades, probably a century, or even more, but it would stay like that.I have a heart that is as cold as ice, while she have a warm heart.Olive, you're the fire and I'm the ice.I wish you would just realize.~*~*~"If you just realize what I just realize,Then we'd be perfect for each other, And we'll never find another." ~Colbie Caillat~*~*~
8 91Monty x Sundrop (DISCONTINUED)
As the daycare was being rebuild/remodel, moondrop was gonna get a new co-worker because he was struggling to take care of the kids alone. When sundrop was finished being build, the moment Monty had layed his eyes on him. He had immediately fell in love with him. Sundrop didn't love him at first, but soon enough he realized he had feeling for him. Read this story to find out their love journey.This book will contain:💙Soft💙💛Mystery 💛❤Some Smut❤Also this is my second story, sorry for bad Grammer and spelling mistakes. Also Moondrop will be more of a over protective big brother. And Sundrop will be sweet, and kinda shy toward others, with the kids too sometimes, but not that much toward moondrop. Also, Moon and Sun's faces will be bale to show any expression, meaning that they won't be smiling all the time, they can both move their moths however they want.Also this book will contain my OC Mark, if you've read my other story, Moon x Sun, you'll know who I'm talking about.
8 82