I agree with not introducing a character with dialog. I did that with one novel and after my thousand rounds of editing, I practically had an entire scene written before the dialog started. :)
The sirens in the background near the end of the video were actually cops looking for Shaelin, to arrest her for the crime of passing along helpful writing tips.
Coming from a very picky reader, the best descriptions involve some kind of unique observation from the protagonist. What does the character you’re introducing look like to your protag? I won’t ever remember a munadane list of attributes, but if your protag compares them to something specific then I will remember that for the rest of the book
It's annoying when there's a character you really want to add, but your story is close to its end, so you don't really have time for character development.
That actually looks like a deus ex machina to me. Give some foreshadowing first in the earlier parts of the story like some side characters talking about when this character will come or something like that. I also have that kind of character, but he's dead in the earlier parts of the story. Characters argued about him because of their backstory. Eventually he's going to be resurrected. Some buildup is important too in this case.
Zail has the right idea. Assuming you can edit your story (not a serial published as you write the installments) then go back and either add the character earlier, or as Zail suggests add a reference to that character. By the time you get to the third act you shouldn't be adding any new characters. Well, maybe an Uber driver or hot dog vendor, but not someone who will have a big effect on the story. "No. No. I'm the good brain. Come to take the bad brain back to our planet where he will stand trial for his crimes." The End.
This is really great advice, and honestly something I've never consciously really thought about. Thinking back on it though I have started and introduction with a line of dialog. Too late to change it now.
One of the three main characters in my story is a starfighter pilot named Joker (no, not *that* one!) The way that I distinguished his younger self in the Prologue from his older, present self was this. Shortly after introducing him, I sent him on a fighter scramble that to his eye resembled the intro to Top Gun too perfectly to ignore. So he decided to have a little fun and do the whole upside-down middle finger to an enemy pilot. Of course it was way easier because air speed, inversion and wind pressure aren't a factor in space, and he was in a way more advanced craft than Maverick was. But that wasn't the point to him and it had him and his navigator howling with laughter. Fast forward to his present self and not only is he older, he's visibly far less energetic. He doesn't lead conversations like he used to, he seems absent minded and although he's a civilian pilot now, it's all very rote and routine for him. He doesn't seem to derive much joy from the act. Except when he happens to glance at a military shuttle about to land nearby and he briefly smiles wistfully before burning jets and taking off. The shuttle happens to contain the next main character and the POV switches to him rather seamlessly, I think.
Fitzgerald was extremely effective in using physical description to imprint a new character in the reader's mind, and to clearly distinguish them in memorable ways from other characters in the mind of the reader. I'm thinking of "The Great Gastby".
*A surprisingly eloquent bear...* A remember a video on your personal channel where you talk about describing characters. At the time I'd described my hero and heroine upon introduction, but no one else (almost). You said without a description the character may as well be a surprisingly eloquent bear. So while editing I've been adding descriptions for my characters (usually by focusing on a main plus 1 or 2 key attributes). However near the end of Act II I _did_ have a bear. And as it happens, she is quite eloquent. And at the time she was the only other character I'd bothered to describe. This is how I introduce her: ------ I stared at the sun, now half visible above the edge of the earth, and closed my eyes. The rusty cry of the jay became the warbling chirp of a red-wing blackbird, and the whisper of the breeze through the trees became the gurgle and hiss of water sliding over stone. A slender path wound between clumps of diamond willow, which screened my view of a creek. Someone wept. I followed the path around a red-stemmed willow bush, and froze. An enormous bear sat upright on a log, a human-like pose. Its brown hairs tipped with blond across its shoulders and down its broad back. Head down, it held its face in its paws and sobbed. Fear gave way to sympathy. My heart broke to hear such pain. I stepped forward and laid my hand on her broad shoulder. “Mother bear, why do you weep?” She lifted her head and looked at me. “I weep for the foolish choices I have made, little one.” The way her lips moved fascinated me. Tears soaked the fur below her eyes and she pawed at her face to wipe them away. I pulled a handkerchief from my back pocket and held it out. “Tell me. Please.” Her nose twitched. “I know you. Little Red Feather, the girl who loves a wolf.” She held her paws up. “These are clumsy. Dry my tears and I will tell you a story.” ------
Physical descriptions for a POV character in a 1st person novel are a challenge. In my WIP I open with my MMC and the introductory line that he's in love. 2nd paragraph the FMC's action gives the start of a description for him: *Little Red Feather stroked my back, running her fingers through my fur.* 3rd paragraph he describes her-how she looks and smells. Toward the bottom of the page she calls him doggy and he wonders at her naïvaté (a three-dollar word he learned at college), and marvels that for someone living at the foot of the Montana Rockies she doesn't know a wolf from a dog. She names him Cowboy: *She stroked the side of my face. "Mmmm, cowboys. Rugged, heroic, manly, and oh so hot."* On page 3 the FMC's BFF shows up and never having seen this girl the MMC gives a description of her: *Horse and rider came into view and I relaxed. It was a girl. Still in her baby fat. Her round face framed by bobbed hair and her plump arms poked out the sleeves of a baggy Blackfeet Nation tee-shirt.* I switch POVs to the FMC and through dialog between FMC and her BFF we see more of him: size, fur color, ear shape, etc. With a detailed description of his eyes, which one key to the plot: *"What’s wrong with his eyes?” she asked.* *“It’s just the way they are.” I thought his eyes were pretty. Both had narrow brown lines radiating out from his pupils, like cracks set in golden yellow. But the left had a brown zone on top, almost like a pie wedge. “He has crazy eyes.”* 3rd person descriptions of POV characters are _much_ easier.
When I write characters the first sentence describes the passion of each - and that shows the reader what are their main interests, thus who these characters are.
I would like three examples of great introductions along with a breakdown of how those intros set up the character and the story as a whole. Otherwise, this sounds like fine advice.
Admittedly, I have to introduce 4 characters at once in the beginning of my book, but they are arguing at the time, which shows their distinct personalities due to their points, how much they talk and their speaking style.
Thats a very interesting way of introducing characters having all there views be challenged all at once and in the process revealing who they are as a character
I writing about a character who had a pretty picture perfect life, and then she contracts Tuberculosis. I'm having trouble starting the intro and then shifting to a more grave note.
I have a new main character I'm going to be introducing in my next big animation project and the trouble and fear I've been having with introducing her is I'm not trying to make her a stereotypical character and want her to have an interesting and compelling arc to her like in my head I would think like she starts off being a very shy a quiet person to a kind a noble hero to those around her as time goes on
Agatha Christie had a habit of introducing too many characters at one time and that's really my only complaint with her books, it got way too confusing too fast.
The MC looking at a person subjectively and despising him/her, because they are a type of person the MC has a trauma on is going to be the premise of two of my most important characters in a multiple POV story.
I agree, though take this advice with a grain of salt, especially if you are making a manga/comic and not a novel, for instance "dont introduce a character with dialogue" really doesnt apply to a visual story, as you can see who is speaking, and so you dont really get confused
One thing that I find kinda annoying is when they infodump about the character’s roles or past so casually at the initial dialogues in the story, it always feels forced. Like why always need to conveniently over specify certain details at the beginning of the story when they are having a normal conversation? It is often the most obvious stuff in a in-story POV too (like stating someone social status) They could easily just show character’s details and traits as the story goes on if those traits ACTUALLY serve a role in the scene and plot.
Drives me nuts when literate people use the term 'disorienting' as a replacement for 'disorientating'. I know it's pedantic but I'm old, and you're a writer. :-)
In both looks and personality, the love interest of my story is a human cinnamon stick. Like, that comparison just sums them up so well, and I can't get it out of my head. So I'm trying to introduce them and my brain keeps getting stuck on "CINNAMON STICK!! CINNAMON STICK" it's really annoying actually, I'm writing 1st person so i want to convey the main character's mesmerised attitude towards them and that's very hard to do calling them a human cinnamon stick. Tall, slender, sweet but a little spicy, with curly black hair and cinnamon coloured skin. LITERALLY A CINNAMON STICK
I found this useful but I would like to tell you this as a friend and not as a viewer so don't mistake me. That nose ring made me to stiffen up a bit and thought to watch someone else's video on the same topic but I continued. Anyway just thought to tell what I had in mind , be you.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
When I’m writing a multiple POV story I like to let my other character to describe the character
Same
I searched POV on Google because i was too embrassed to ask in the comment, the thing i saw is unpredictable
@@anhai7867 what is it
@@hlogilehlogonolo5438 try it yourself
thats a damn good idea
I agree with not introducing a character with dialog. I did that with one novel and after my thousand rounds of editing, I practically had an entire scene written before the dialog started. :)
Wouldn't it make sense to introduce a drill sargent giving commands to people they are drill sargenting
The sirens in the background near the end of the video were actually cops looking for Shaelin, to arrest her for the crime of passing along helpful writing tips.
They will never catch Shaelin, she will outthink them every time. :)
I managed to get away this time!
@@Reedsy 👍
@@cwfcwfcwf i wanna be a writer
Coming from a very picky reader, the best descriptions involve some kind of unique observation from the protagonist. What does the character you’re introducing look like to your protag? I won’t ever remember a munadane list of attributes, but if your protag compares them to something specific then I will remember that for the rest of the book
Leech but I feel like that would only work for a story written in first person.
Dawson Not really? It’s very simple to get a protag’s opinion across in a third person narrative
It'll work just fine in any POV! It's a great technique @Leech, thank you for sharing :D
It's annoying when there's a character you really want to add, but your story is close to its end, so you don't really have time for character development.
then introduce them in the end and leave it on a cliff hanger for a sequel with them
@@SirToaster9330 What if your story has no place for a sequel and everything will be wrapped up perfectly.
@@martinlutherkingjr.2993 then kill them off an pretend they didn't exist
That actually looks like a deus ex machina to me. Give some foreshadowing first in the earlier parts of the story like some side characters talking about when this character will come or something like that.
I also have that kind of character, but he's dead in the earlier parts of the story. Characters argued about him because of their backstory. Eventually he's going to be resurrected. Some buildup is important too in this case.
Zail has the right idea. Assuming you can edit your story (not a serial published as you write the installments) then go back and either add the character earlier, or as Zail suggests add a reference to that character. By the time you get to the third act you shouldn't be adding any new characters. Well, maybe an Uber driver or hot dog vendor, but not someone who will have a big effect on the story.
"No. No. I'm the good brain. Come to take the bad brain back to our planet where he will stand trial for his crimes."
The End.
This is really great advice, and honestly something I've never consciously really thought about. Thinking back on it though I have started and introduction with a line of dialog. Too late to change it now.
*G.R.R Martin has perked up his ears*
I introduce a character with dialogue when it's a mysterious character.
Or a suprise attack from someone you don't know as yet
@@ddh19454 That's also a good time to use it.
One of the three main characters in my story is a starfighter pilot named Joker (no, not *that* one!) The way that I distinguished his younger self in the Prologue from his older, present self was this.
Shortly after introducing him, I sent him on a fighter scramble that to his eye resembled the intro to Top Gun too perfectly to ignore. So he decided to have a little fun and do the whole upside-down middle finger to an enemy pilot. Of course it was way easier because air speed, inversion and wind pressure aren't a factor in space, and he was in a way more advanced craft than Maverick was. But that wasn't the point to him and it had him and his navigator howling with laughter.
Fast forward to his present self and not only is he older, he's visibly far less energetic. He doesn't lead conversations like he used to, he seems absent minded and although he's a civilian pilot now, it's all very rote and routine for him. He doesn't seem to derive much joy from the act. Except when he happens to glance at a military shuttle about to land nearby and he briefly smiles wistfully before burning jets and taking off.
The shuttle happens to contain the next main character and the POV switches to him rather seamlessly, I think.
Fitzgerald was extremely effective in using physical description to imprint a new character in the reader's mind, and to clearly distinguish them in memorable ways from other characters in the mind of the reader. I'm thinking of "The Great Gastby".
Hell of a lot of characters in that one. Gotta love when he imprints the gambler on us by showing us his prized human molar cufflinks. 😂
so helpful. I'm writing a character rich story right now and I definitely need to go back and beef up my character intros after viewing this tip. TY.
*A surprisingly eloquent bear...*
A remember a video on your personal channel where you talk about describing characters. At the time I'd described my hero and heroine upon introduction, but no one else (almost). You said without a description the character may as well be a surprisingly eloquent bear. So while editing I've been adding descriptions for my characters (usually by focusing on a main plus 1 or 2 key attributes). However near the end of Act II I _did_ have a bear. And as it happens, she is quite eloquent. And at the time she was the only other character I'd bothered to describe. This is how I introduce her:
------
I stared at the sun, now half visible above the edge of the earth, and closed my eyes. The rusty cry of the jay became the warbling chirp of a red-wing blackbird, and the whisper of the breeze through the trees became the gurgle and hiss of water sliding over stone. A slender path wound between clumps of diamond willow, which screened my view of a creek.
Someone wept.
I followed the path around a red-stemmed willow bush, and froze. An enormous bear sat upright on a log, a human-like pose. Its brown hairs tipped with blond across its shoulders and down its broad back. Head down, it held its face in its paws and sobbed.
Fear gave way to sympathy. My heart broke to hear such pain. I stepped forward and laid my hand on her broad shoulder. “Mother bear, why do you weep?”
She lifted her head and looked at me. “I weep for the foolish choices I have made, little one.” The way her lips moved fascinated me. Tears soaked the fur below her eyes and she pawed at her face to wipe them away.
I pulled a handkerchief from my back pocket and held it out. “Tell me. Please.”
Her nose twitched. “I know you. Little Red Feather, the girl who loves a wolf.” She held her paws up. “These are clumsy. Dry my tears and I will tell you a story.”
------
:O //clapping
Wow, that's beautiful.
@@agniflame9812, thank you.
Your 'Bye' at the end is so cute. If you're a character, thats your defining trait.
I like your approach. Very simple and on point.
these videos should have MILLIONS of views!
Physical descriptions for a POV character in a 1st person novel are a challenge.
In my WIP I open with my MMC and the introductory line that he's in love. 2nd paragraph the FMC's action gives the start of a description for him: *Little Red Feather stroked my back, running her fingers through my fur.* 3rd paragraph he describes her-how she looks and smells. Toward the bottom of the page she calls him doggy and he wonders at her naïvaté (a three-dollar word he learned at college), and marvels that for someone living at the foot of the Montana Rockies she doesn't know a wolf from a dog. She names him Cowboy: *She stroked the side of my face. "Mmmm, cowboys. Rugged, heroic, manly, and oh so hot."*
On page 3 the FMC's BFF shows up and never having seen this girl the MMC gives a description of her: *Horse and rider came into view and I relaxed. It was a girl. Still in her baby fat. Her round face framed by bobbed hair and her plump arms poked out the sleeves of a baggy Blackfeet Nation tee-shirt.*
I switch POVs to the FMC and through dialog between FMC and her BFF we see more of him: size, fur color, ear shape, etc. With a detailed description of his eyes, which one key to the plot:
*"What’s wrong with his eyes?” she asked.*
*“It’s just the way they are.” I thought his eyes were pretty. Both had narrow brown lines radiating out from his pupils, like cracks set in golden yellow. But the left had a brown zone on top, almost like a pie wedge. “He has crazy eyes.”*
3rd person descriptions of POV characters are _much_ easier.
When I write characters the first sentence describes the passion of each - and that shows the reader what are their main interests, thus who these characters are.
Always quality content. I enjoy learning it.
Thank you so much, and I love the summary , it helps a lot in my notes taking
I watched several videos of yours and I think they are very helpful. Thank you very much. It might be useful to include examples of your points 😊
Used this to go back and fix, like, all of my character intros lol
I would like three examples of great introductions along with a breakdown of how those intros set up the character and the story as a whole. Otherwise, this sounds like fine advice.
Admittedly, I have to introduce 4 characters at once in the beginning of my book, but they are arguing at the time, which shows their distinct personalities due to their points, how much they talk and their speaking style.
Clever
Thats a very interesting way of introducing characters having all there views be challenged all at once and in the process revealing who they are as a character
@@copingflower1909 That's nice of you to say :). A year on from the original comment, though, I still haven't been able to pull it off😅
I writing about a character who had a pretty picture perfect life, and then she contracts Tuberculosis. I'm having trouble starting the intro and then shifting to a more grave note.
Hii am Ravi,I have learned so many things from you about book writing,thankyou for sharing your knowledge with us.
I have a new main character I'm going to be introducing in my next big animation project and the trouble and fear I've been having with introducing her is I'm not trying to make her a stereotypical character and want her to have an interesting and compelling arc to her like in my head I would think like she starts off being a very shy a quiet person to a kind a noble hero to those around her as time goes on
Thank you for making great videos :D
This was really helpful, thank you so much!
Solid video, great input. Thanks for the help 👍
Agatha Christie had a habit of introducing too many characters at one time and that's really my only complaint with her books, it got way too confusing too fast.
2:19 I think a very distinct feature of one of my characters is the fact that he is 12 feet tall. Definitely interesting.
The MC looking at a person subjectively and despising him/her, because they are a type of person the MC has a trauma on is going to be the premise of two of my most important characters in a multiple POV story.
"This is me. What happened to me to be this way? My ex killed me and i became a ghost."
Thank you for the tips! It's great stuff to consider before starting writing the story. Keep up the great work! :-)
I can't understand the 3rd one that is show, don't tell
im having hard time writing this- but after watching this i finally see my mistake
Thank u reedsy
I agree, though take this advice with a grain of salt, especially if you are making a manga/comic and not a novel, for instance "dont introduce a character with dialogue" really doesnt apply to a visual story, as you can see who is speaking, and so you dont really get confused
Good advice, thanks!
Thanks!
thank you so much
Do you offer editorial services? 🤔
can i show you one part of my book i been working on since 2013? how can we be in contact
I want to write but I have no idea how to even memorize characters in my story without looking back at a previous chapter that I wrote-
Can you suggest a film that introduce characters like Jordan belfort in wolf of wallstreet ?
Manish Deo has been granted access.
One thing that I find kinda annoying is when they infodump about the character’s roles or past so casually at the initial dialogues in the story, it always feels forced. Like why always need to conveniently over specify certain details at the beginning of the story when they are having a normal conversation? It is often the most obvious stuff in a in-story POV too (like stating someone social status) They could easily just show character’s details and traits as the story goes on if those traits ACTUALLY serve a role in the scene and plot.
I´m not a writer, i´m a animator and gachatuber wanting to show my new characters.
Hello fellow gacha lover
@@justbreathe5901 hello-
Great advice but the background music is really distracting
Fernando, Alejandro, Alejandro, ale, ale, jandro, ale, ale jandro! Ooh, oh! Oh!
I love it..
1:00
hey i have the exact same salt lamp lol
Are you Canadian?
Haha yes !
Yeah i too wanted to ask that.
Because resemblance to Justin Trudeau is striking.
She's way too beautiful.
Drives me nuts when literate people use the term 'disorienting' as a replacement for 'disorientating'. I know it's pedantic but I'm old, and you're a writer. :-)
I believe the terms are essentially the same/interchangeable :)
hi
I don't think Charles Dickens ever watched this video - if he had his books would have been easier to read!
I think Tolstoi, Dostojewski and Thomas Mann should watch it as well.
In both looks and personality, the love interest of my story is a human cinnamon stick. Like, that comparison just sums them up so well, and I can't get it out of my head.
So I'm trying to introduce them and my brain keeps getting stuck on "CINNAMON STICK!! CINNAMON STICK"
it's really annoying actually, I'm writing 1st person so i want to convey the main character's mesmerised attitude towards them and that's very hard to do calling them a human cinnamon stick.
Tall, slender, sweet but a little spicy, with curly black hair and cinnamon coloured skin.
LITERALLY A CINNAMON STICK
I found this useful but I would like to tell you this as a friend and not as a viewer so don't mistake me. That nose ring made me to stiffen up a bit and thought to watch someone else's video on the same topic but I continued. Anyway just thought to tell what I had in mind , be you.
You misspelled judgments.
Need to rewatch cause u cute
I don't like physical description of a character as any reader reading my book can imagine themselves as that character :)
Please slow down when you speak and keep it clear and consise
Bye.
You are very beautiful and voice is sweet