 |
| Introducing Your Character |
 |
 |
| Think of each scene of your story as a stage or movie setting. In each scene your characters arrive and leave. You have to let your reader know who�s onstage in each scene. A grand entrance is not necessary for the start of each scene. Most times your methods of introducing who�s onstage will be subtle. When we�re watching a movie or stage play we can see the characters, their physical descriptions, and mannerisms. The writer has to introduce characters in a way that the reader can see them. We�ll cover several different methods.
Summary. You can introduce your character with a summary. In summary, you offer background information about who the character is or what he does. Here�s an example from Ann Beattie�s story, �Janus� Andrea was a real estate agent, and when she thought that some prospective buyers might be dog lovers, she would drop off her dog at the same time she placed the bowl in the house that was up for sale. She would put a dish of water in the kitchen for Mondo, take his squeaking plastic frog out of her purse and drop it on the floor. He would pounce delightedly, just as he did every day at home, batting around his favorite toy. The bowl usually sat on the coffee table, though recently she had displayed it on top of a pine blanket chest and on a lacquered table. It was once placed on a cherry table beneath a Bonnard still life, where it held its own. Here�s another example of the summary technique, but this time using a character�s impressions of another: Robert Cohn was once a middleweight boxing champion of Princeton. Do not think I am very much impressed by that as a boxing title, but it means a lot to Cohn. He cared nothing for boxing, in fact he disliked it but he learned it painfully and thoroughly to counteract the feeling of inferiority and shyness he had felt on being a Jew at Princeton. There was a certain inner comfort in knowing he could knock down anybody who was snooty to him, although being very shy and a thoroughly nice boy, he never fought except in the gym. ~ Ernest Hemingway, THE SUN ALSO RISES One problem with using the summary technique is that it�s usually all telling rather than showing. However, if used in the right places, it�s an effective method of introducing a character. Appearance. Introduce a character by describing her appearance. What details you choose to show will give your reader a certain impression of the character. They rose slowly when she entered�a small, fat woman in black, with a thin gold chain descending to her waist and vanishing into her belt, leaning on an ebony cane with a tarnished gold head. Her skeleton was small and spare, perhaps that was why what would have been merely plumpness in another was obesity in her. She looked bloated, like a body submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue. Her eyes, lost in the fatty ridges of her face, looked like two small pieces of coal pressed into a lump of dough as they moved from one face to another while the visitors stared at their errand. ~ William Faulkner, �A Rose for Emily.� Self-Portrait. In a self-portrait, the character introduces himself directly to the reader. Like the summary, this technique is mostly telling and not show. It�s most often used to show irony. Here�s an effective example of this technique from Fyodor Dostoyevski�s �Notes from Underground.� I am a spiteful man. I am an ugly man. I believe my liver is diseased. However, I know nothing about my disease, and do not know for certain what ails me. I don�t consult a doctor for it, and never have, though I have a respect for medicine, anyway (I am well-educated enough not to be superstitious but I am superstitious). No, I refuse to consult a doctor for spite. Scene. When using the scene method, you place your characters in the middle of action and dialogue. One disadvantage of this method (there�s always one!) is that you can�t supply background information without slowing down the scene�s movement. Here�s an excerpt from a scene from my novel, LIVING IN THE CITY, when Cari meets one of her new neighbors for the first time. Bill sets down his remote control and scrambles off the sofa to hug Judy against his barrel chest. He flashes us a welcome smile�his large teeth in exact contrast to his deep velvety brown skin�and doesn�t appear annoyed that we�ve entered without ringing the bell. Judy makes the introductions and Bill squeezes me against his chest saying, �Any friend of Judy�s is a friend of mine.� For a moment my ribs feel as if they might crack. Even after he releases me, I struggle to catch my breath. �I brought you some soup and bread,� Judy says over her shoulder. Dishes and silverware clank in the kitchen. �Oh, she feeds me well,� he says, patting his ample stomach. His voice is deep and thundering, like James Earl Jones�. Judy returns and bounces on the sofa beside him. �Whacha watching?� She points to the big screen television that takes up a quarter of the living room. Beside it a gun case displays an arsenal of dangerous weapons meant for killing, none resembling my Pop�s .22 he keeps in the barn. You also have the option of combining any of the above techniques. When you begin writing your scenes, let your characters guide you. Don�t manipulate them to fit some literary technique. These techniques are suggestions, but when in doubt, always go where your characters take you. |
 |