introducing characters

[Daniel]

How do you go about introducing your character and developing them? I find that when I try they just don't seem real enough to me. It takes a lot of work for me to be satisfied with the character.

So, how do you introduce your character and develop him/her into a person that's "real"?

I hope that makes sense.

[Funny Bunny]

I rely on the Re-Write. First I write the story, and after I have learned enough about the character, I can write a well-informed intro. For short stories, I often do not introduce anyone. I just let the action tell the reader who the character is. In longer pieces, I do not write full paragraphs but I work in relevant details throughout. I often tell what they're like in short flash-back bits a well if it happens outside the time-line of the story.

[Torana]

I have never really been too good at introducing characters to a story, but when I create a character for a piece I write a full piece on the character. Name, age, looks, personality, behavioural problems, how the character takes on certain situations that could potentially arise, I also write a bit of background information on the characters.
A character mat enter a story and be 30 years old, but he/she wasn't born that age so I like to know a bit about my character before the time he/she entered the story.

It also helps to know your character this way so that later on you are not stuck for a reaction from a character in a certain situation.

I like to create the character as much as possible to make the character real to me so that I can write easier. I am never good at introducing them to the story though so I can't help there.

<hope this makes sense to someone at least..>

[Domoviye]

I usually put my characters into a tense situation to begin with. That way people can see how they act when they're feeling all kinds of heightened emotions. It also makes them wonder where their friends are and interesting things like that.
I find it usually works.

[Charisma]

Im'not too good at it myself, but I let it go with the story. I usually bring my characters in a random situation, where they are able to express themselves, and let the story take them somewhere. Not even a paragraph wasted on it. Yeah, maybe a few character built-up chapters to clarify the person's way of doing things.

[bluejt2000]

Begin with action. Have them doing and saying things so that the reader can see how they react to situations and other people. That's how characters develop. Just don't start with a paragraph of physical description and then two or three (or more) of background. Drop this sort of stuff in as and where it is needed. But if your character has an important physical distinguishing feature (walks with a limp, has orange hair or wears outlandish clothes, for instance) then get this in early otherwise the reader will have to reform his or her mental image of the character.

Ocasionally it can be useful to introduce them before they appear through dialogue between other characters. There's lots of opportunity here to create irony as well as arousing the reader's interest in the character in advance.

John

[Sandy]

I like to know the motives and goals of my characters, even the quick walk-ins.

Sandy

[Funny Bunny]

I also have a very important question I need to answer which speaks to the character "flaw." This is I must state the "secret" thing that will need to change in a character by the end of the book. This is the thing that the character may be trying to hide about him/herself. This is something the character often hides in the closet, for instance that he is deep down a racist, or something similar, and this will be the major character conflict. It is the theme of the story so it needs to be part of the action. In other words, a movie like "Monster's Ball" would never have been written (don't know in what form it came out first) unless one character was a racist. There would have been "no story" if the conflict had not been there.