The heart of the narrative is in the characters. you have done the work of thinking of them and giving them an interesting and compelling inner life. The next thing to do is get these characters out of your head and into the heads of your readers. In fiction, as in real life, first impressions are important, so how you introduce characters can make all the difference in making sure your reader continues on from chapter one. In this article, I’ll explain how to introduce characters in a story, provide examples of strong character introductions, and give you my top tips for effectively introducing characters.
character introductions examples and tips
The purpose of a character introduction is to get the reader interested in the character and engaged enough that they want to keep reading. If you can present a character in a vivid and memorable way, they will appear in the reader’s mind fully formed and ready to go. so how exactly do you achieve that?
You are reading: Best character introductions in books
give your characters one or two memorable traits
what’s the first thing you want people to notice about the character? Is it because of the way they wear a kaftan and wellies? Is it the cunning of his expression? whatever it is, describe it and let your readers build their own image of the character from there. it can be tempting to describe your character’s physical appearance in detail. resist the urge!
all you have to do is provide the reader with a few touchpoints and they’ll fill in the gaps (often with details you wouldn’t even have thought of). If there’s anything unusual about the character’s physical appearance, or something that will be important later, mention it.
Below is one of my favorite character descriptions. we can imagine the whole grandmother, only with that description. It’s also worth noting that the choice of words is entirely in keeping with the kinds of things a kid george’s age would say.
“george couldn’t help but dislike grandma. she was a selfish and grumpy old lady. she had pale brown teeth and a small, puckered mouth like a dog’s butt.”
describe your characters by the clothes they wear
Clothes can say a lot about a person. at the very least, they can give you an impression of the kind of person he is. see description below. by the end of the paragraph, we have a clear mental picture of the kind of person shoba is, even if we don’t have a description of her actual characteristics.
“’It’s good to be warned,’ shoba admitted after reading the warning aloud, more for his own benefit than shukumar’s. he let the strap of his file-filled satchel slip from her shoulders and left her in the hall as he walked toward the kitchen. She wore a navy blue poplin trench coat over gray sweatpants and white sneakers, looking, at thirty-three, like the kind of woman she once said she would never look like.”
introduce your characters by their voice and behavior
If you’re writing in the first person or “deep third” (where you’re immersed in the thoughts of your third-person narrator), it can be difficult to describe the character. People don’t often think about the color of their eyes or the bounce of their curls. however, you can tell the reader what kind of person he is by the way he describes his surroundings. show instead of tell.
A happy person and a sad person would look at the same scene and focus on different things. a sharp character would describe things differently than a mild and gentle one.
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is trying to give the reader an idea of the character instead of a perfect description. so presenting characters in a story highlighting their characteristics can be really effective.
In the excerpt below, while we have no idea what’s going on (and neither does tom, really), we do have a good idea of tom’s state of mind. also, that he has done something that could lead to his arrest. It takes the reader a while to understand what’s going on with Tom Ripley, but even on the first page, we get the idea that there’s something dangerous and a little reckless about him.
“tom looked back and saw the man come out of the green cage and walk towards him. Tom walked faster. there was no doubt that the man was after him. Tom had noticed five minutes ago, watching him carefully from a table, as if he wasn’t quite sure, but almost. He had looked sure enough that Tom had hurriedly downed his drink, paid and left.
At the corner, Tom leaned forward and jogged down Fifth Avenue. there was the roaul. should I take the risk and go in for another drink? tempt fate and all that? Or should I go to park avenue and try to lose him in some dark doors? he went to raoul’s house”.
introduce characters through action
this is my favorite way to describe people: by the things they do. this is very common in film scripts. Probably the best example of this is Darth Vader in Star Wars: A New Hope. he enters and examines the dead with an attitude of annoyance. then he goes on to strangle someone. when he speaks, we already know that he is the villain and that he is very powerful.
introduce characters through dialogue
If your character has a distinctive voice, you can give the reader a sense of who they are simply by having them talk. In the example below, the narrator (and the reader) get a picture of Holly Golightly before they even see her. note also how capote introduces movement into the scene by the sound of her voice changing as he walks up the stairs.
“the voice that came back, bubbling up from the bottom of the stairs, was silly, young, and funny. Oh honey, I’m sorry. I lost the damn key.’”
and then a few sentences later:
“‘oh, don’t be mad, dear little man: I won’t do it again. and if you promise not to get mad…’-his voice was getting closer, he was going upstairs-‘maybe I’ll let you take those pictures we mentioned.’”
introduce them through another character
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You can use other characters’ impressions to introduce your character. make your reputation precede you. For example, before meeting Sherlock Holmes for the first time, we heard Stamford describe him and his habits to Dr. watson.
“young stamford looked at me rather oddly over his glass of wine. “You haven’t met Sherlock Holmes yet,” he said. “perhaps you wouldn’t like to have him as a constant companion.”
‘why, what is against him?’
‘oh, I didn’t say there was anything against him. it is a bit strange in his ideas, an enthusiast in some branches of science. As far as I know, he’s a pretty decent guy.’”
Stamford goes on to describe various aspects of Sherlock Holmes, so that when we finally meet the man, we feel like we already know him.
Introducing First Person Characters
The introduction of characters written in the first person deserves a separate section because it is difficult to describe them without falling into the cliché of “I looked in the mirror”. here are some methods you could use, in addition to those described above.
- allow them to present themselves directly to the reader. this may seem a bit old-fashioned now, but it is effective.
- make the narrator introduce himself to another character. the risk of ‘information downloading’ is high with this one. try and make sure you say enough to convey the information that is essential.
- presents the character next to another and describes them in contrast. this is a good way to include physical descriptions of her. For example: ‘Unlike my tiny and dainty sister, I was tall and had broad shoulders. no one had ever called me delicate’; that kind of thing.
character introductions: general tips
As a general rule, the more detail you provide about a character, the more important the reader expects it to be. your main character needs a name, an age, and some description (even if it’s vague). From there, the amount of detail you provide should be proportional to the importance of the character in the story. if you’re introducing a character that will reappear later, you can give them a name. for someone who appears once and has no real effect on the story, like a cashier serving the character, just call them “the cashier” and move on. there is no need to delay and give details.
Introduce your protagonist from the beginning. this not only moves the story forward from the beginning, but also tells your reader who he is supposed to support. other main characters may appear later, but your main character should appear in chapter one. if you’re writing romance, you need both the hero and heroine to appear in the first two chapters of the story.
When you’re in the early parts of the story, your reader is still new to the world, so make things easy for them. Make it clear who is speaking, either by having people call them by name or by using a simple “John said.”
Giving a bit of backstory for your character is fine, but avoid trying to tell them everything from the beginning. this is known as “information downloading”. you will know a lot about your characters. think of all that knowledge as an iceberg. you just need to tell the reader the bits that are relevant and visible. if you can hint at things that are submerged, then that’s great. if it’s hard to do that, then exercise restraint. you can always filter the information later in the story, adding layers to your character. the intro is just the first glimpse of your character. the reader has a whole book to get to know them better; And if you’ve presented your characters convincingly, the reader will stay the course.
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