The Four Rules of Introducing Any Character

Ok, so in this post, we will be going over a few rules to be sure you're following when you're introducing your characters to your story. These are pretty important and are some hard lessons I've taught myself over my years of writing (and many failed projects that made for the learning experience).

Rule One:
Don't Reveal Everything About Your Character

This will kill your story immediately.



When you introduce a character, your reader needs to crave information about them and their past. You can't just explicitly lay out in front of your reader a complete history of the character you're trying to get them to love or hate.



Let your readers get to know the characters opinions on things, their past, their emotions, and everything else along the way of the story. Heck, sometimes it's better for your reader to come up with their own assessment of the character you're trying to introduce.





Rule Two:
Don't Show Your Character's Greatest Weakness



This might just throw out any planned plot twists or character development you had planned for the story. The reader will see it coming like Christmas (not as exciting though), and won't particularly be impressed when the plot passes or comes to an end.
(This rule, of course, has a few exceptions, and it kind of depends on your story, but keep this rule in mind anyway)



KEEP IN MIND: YOUR CHARACTER'S WEAKNESSES AND DOWNFALLS MAKE FOR GREAT PLOT TWISTS AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, SO DON'T DISREGARD THEM IN THE STORY AT ALL.

Rule Three:
Show Your Character's Habits

How does your character interact with their environment? How do they respond to emotions? What kind of messy habits do they have? What are their cute quirks? What would make someone fall for them? What would make someone hate them? These are some of the kinds of questions you need to be asking yourself when even just coming up with the character.



(IMPORTANT: Eventually, in your story, you're going to have to show how they respond to desperation, if not the beginning, so think about that too)
(Why I'm mentioning it: desperation really affects readers)

 

Rule Four:
Don't Make Them a Useless Character To The Plot

This should, honestly, already be known. You shouldn't have a character who doesn't have a point to be there. Delete that precious baby or give them a purpose, because honey, it will be the downfall of your plot.



That baby needs to have some drive, some purpose, and some character improvements so that baby has things to be proud of when the story is all said and done (unless you killed them off). This will also cause your readers to like them even more (or dislike, depending on how you do any of this).


I hope this helped loves,
~Rey Brooks