How to Introduce a Character: Tips for Writing Character Introductions

Have you ever read a book or watched a movie where a character was introduced, and you immediately felt emotionally invested in their story? It's a powerful feeling, isn't it? As writers, we strive to create characters that our readers will connect with on a deep level. But how do we achieve this? It goes much further than just physical description! In this post, we'll be discussing how to write memorable character introductions that will make your heroes stick in readers' minds.

Why does it matter how you introduce a character?

How you introduce a new character is much more than establishing their physical appearance or backstory. When you introduce your character, you give the reader their first impression of the hero you want them to follow (and root for!) for hundreds of pages. That may sound like a lot of pressure, but don't panic! Our tips will give you everything you need to know about giving your characters memorable first impressions.

Tips for introducing characters to the reader

Revealing character through thought

There are several ways to introduce a character in a story, starting with revealing the character through thought. Thoughts can reveal a lot about who your character is. For this tip, focus on the thoughts that will connect your character with the reader and contribute to the reader's understanding of your character.

Thoughts like, "I don't like to lose," reveal a character's personality, while thoughts such as, "I can't do this much longer" reveal an upcoming emotional shift. Other thoughts like, "I'm going to get that scholarship or die trying," reveal a character's objective or goal—what they want. Finally, thoughts such as, "Without Christian, I am nothing" reveal what's at stake for the character. Thoughts like these subtly reveal things about the character and force the reader to play detective while avoiding having to tell the reader important details about the character.

Revealing character through dialogue

Dialogue is another great way to reveal who your character is and introduce them to the reader. You can use this technique with others such as thoughts, or one of the other ones we'll discuss below to give your character more depth. There are three types of dialogues to keep in mind: straightforward, subtext, and deceitful.

Straightforward dialogue: does not need to be layered or duplicitous. Sometimes, there's really nothing going on beneath the surface. It's best to keep this type of dialogue to a minimum, as it usually has no style or substance. It's the equivalent of talking about the weather or what a character ate for lunch.

Subtext dialogue: this is where most compelling dialogue ends up. There's something going on below the surface of what the character is actually saying, but the reader may not always know what. An example of this is a conversation that may seem civil on the surface but hides other meanings. With this type of dialogue, readers will use their interpretation and how the POV character thinks and feels about the situation to decipher the subtext.

Deceitful dialogue: with this dialogue, characters aren't always 100% upfront. They may lie on purpose or because they don't know any better. They may also do it to hide or change the truth. It doesn't necessarily make them a bad person. Humans are complex, and there may be many reasons or motivations for a character to be deceitful. On the upside, this offers several possibilities to add tension and conflict to your story.

Revealing character through voice

Voice refers to how you convey a character's emotions using language and how you show that on the page. Voice is a powerful transmitter of your hero's thoughts and feelings, and you can use this to hone in on their interiority—what's going on in their heads. There are five components of voice.

Syntax: how long or short or complex are your sentences?

Word choice: does your character "amble" or "slog" or simply "walk"?

Level of description: is the writing sparse and simple, or ornate and lyrical?

Tone: is the character dark and brooding or funny and sarcastic?

Emotion: changes with the character's mood and whether they're in an active or contemplative moment

Here's an example of voice pouring through the pages in Sonora Reyes' The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School. The novel opens with a chapter titled "Thou Shalt Not Trust a Two-Faced Bitch."

Seven years of bad luck can slurp my ass.

It's been way too long since I punched something, and that vanity had it coming. Stupid mirror. Stupid Yami.

Whatever. Mirrors are overrated, and punching them is underrated. I've never liked looking at myself anyway. Not because I don't think I'm cute. I mean, I am cute–objectively–but that's beside the point. I like this new reflection better. it's cracked enough that I'm hardly recognizable. Splintered in all the right places. I did that. With my fist. Who says I'm not tough?

Reyes uses voice and interiority to introduce our hero, Yami, to the reader. From the chapter title to the passage quoted above, we learn a lot about Yami quickly. We learned that she recently had her trust betrayed–as the title suggests–she can get physical when angry or frustrated, but she's worked on controlling her anger, as "it's been too long" since she punched something. And, despite her berating herself, we see that she still has a lot of confidence by mentioning she thinks she's "cute—objectively." While she wants to be seen as "tough" by others, she still holds a lot of insecurity about herself. We also see Yami's sense of humor in these passages, and it sets the tone for what type of book this will be.

Revealing character through emotions

With this tip, we're layering a few different techniques, including the ones discussed above, to reveal a character through their emotions. Let's look at how anger is revealed using the same passage above. Yami punching the mirror (physical action), her thoughts ("Stupid Yami... I did that. With my fist"), and her voice and word choice ("slurp my ass... that vanity had it coming") all convey her anger and frustration without Reyes directly telling the reader how Yami feels.

In the prologue of Tracy Deonn's YA fantasy novel Legendborn, the narrator, Bree, has just received news that her mother was killed in an accident:

The police officer's body goes blurry, then sharpens again.

I don't stare at him directly. I can't really focus on one thing in this room, but when I do look, his face shimmers.

His badge, the rectangular nameplate, his tie clip? All the little metal details on his chest ripple and shine like loose silver change at the bottom of a fountain. Nothing about him appears solid. Nothing about him feels real.

I don't think about that, though. I can't. 

Besides, everything looks otherworldly when you've been crying for three hours straight.

Bree's emotional state is conveyed physically through her "crying for three hours straight," her inability to focus on anything in the room, and her looking around her surroundings, trying to grasp onto any details she can ("tiny mint-green room, rectangular nameplate, tie clip"). Her thoughts and internal dialogue also reveal the shock she's feeling at this moment. By layering these different techniques, Deonn introduces readers to a character that feels real and relatable and who we can connect with through her vulnerability and grief.

Ready to write memorable character introductions?

There are several ways to introduce a character to readers and make them memorable. We discussed a few today—revealing a character through thoughts, dialogue, voice, emotions, and other characters—but there are even more ways to create amazing character introductions. These tips were taken from the Creating Dynamic Characters course. If you want to dive further and learn more strategies for character introductions, check out the course at the Writing Mastery Academy. With these tips, you can create characters your readers will connect with and remember for years to come!