Helping Your Characters Make a Great First Impression, a guest post from Colin Cannici

Jill here! Today's we have a guest post from author Colin Cannici. I really love the concepts he presents in this post and have been thinking a lot about them as I have been writing these past few weeks. I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did.

Colin Cannici is a homeschooled, self-proclaimed genius who doesn't like ice cream. He does, however, have an unstoppable obsession with creating things, particularly stories. That might be why he writes epic fantasy, swashbuckling sea adventures, and superhero stories all at the same time, because he's pretty sure anybody else would have to be crazy to do that. Besides writing, Colin likes to read, eat peanut butter, play tennis, and think. He lives in Colorado with his parents and two siblings who have to listen to him blabber about this new story idea or that best idea ever at all hours of the day.

Characters are vital tools for storytelling. To some of us writers, their “lives” are just as real as our own. We love our characters and strive to make them the best they possibly can be.

But characters, like the stories they inhabit, rest on one crucial thing: their beginnings. First impressions matter. A good character introduction rests on two things: When the character is introduced (plot timing) and How they are introduced (characterization).

When in the story does this character appear? You want to bring them in at the time when they will affect the immediate story the most. While it may not be possible to have a unique When moment for every character, you can still pick the right one. Major characters will likely appear early on in the story in a common place with the protagonist. In this case, you will need to make each introduction unique to show their different personalities—more on that in How. 

Most minor characters will not be introduced until your main character happens upon the right location, like meeting a clerk character at a shop where your main character goes to buy something. Minor characters are best introduced when they are most needed, not before. Otherwise they will clutter up the story and be generally useless until they impact the plot. Then there are important characters who come into a story late. For these characters, buildup is needed, and you must introduce them at a time when they impact the story the most. Because nearly everyone has read it, consider the introduction of Gollum in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers. We’ve heard of Gollum before, and we expect him to come in. He does so when he really impacts the immediate story: Frodo and Sam are lost and need a guide, and Gollum acts as one for them. At the same time, Frodo and Sam are more vulnerable than they were seeing as they’ve left the Fellowship, which means that now is the perfect time for Gollum to try to take the Ring. This adds the possibility of conflict where there might not have been any before.

How is about what the character is doing when they first appear and why they are doing it. You want your introduction to show the personality and motivations of the character so that the readers get a good grasp of character depth right off the bat. Once again, this differs for every character. Minor characters don’t necessarily need reasons as to why they are doing something as long as it isn’t enormously impactful to the main character and the story as a whole. Characters that you want to keep mysterious might not have their motivations revealed right away. But if it’s your main character or important supporting cast, you’re going to need to show them being their best selves (or worst, if it’s an antagonist) the first time they appear in the story. Reveal them in a way that perfectly embodies their personality.

Take, for example, the introduction of Professor Lupin in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban:

          “Quiet!” said a hoarse voice suddenly. 

          Professor Lupin appeared to have woken up at last. Harry could hear movements in his corner. None of them spoke.

          There was a soft, crackling noise, and a shivering light filled the compartment. Professor Lupin appeared to be holding a handful of flames. They illuminated his tired, gray face, but his eyes looked alert and wary.

          “Stay where you are,” he said in the same hoarse voice, and he got slowly to his feet with his handful of fire held out in front of him.

Lupin goes on to drive away the dementor on the Hogwarts Express. Lupin is an important character in the rest of the series, and his introduction shows him doing what he does best: fighting the Dark Arts. Besides that it also mentions what I think is his most defining quality—that is, looking tired and gray, which we later find out is because he is a werewolf. His description embodies his personality, which gives readers a great first impression.

The How for minor character introductions differs slightly, because they don’t impact the story as much and thus don’t need to be seen at their very best. Think of how the dwarves of Thorin’s Company come in The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. None of the dwarves are major characters at that point. Still, their introduction epitomizes the queer nature of their group and also affects the main character a whole lot (a good example of When, also, because their appearance at that time drives Bilbo to start his quest).

When you blend When and How, things come together for a great first impression of your awesome characters. With the right first impression, the reader will follow your characters anywhere.

Do you have some character introductions that need work? How can you maximize When and How to fix them?