McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Character Intro
meg_evonne:
action.... always action... let the action show it.
belial.1980:
--- Quote from: Nickeris86 on March 31, 2010, 09:46:49 PM ---well he is a magic user so for him its not unfamiliar territory
--- End quote ---
Sorry, misread the initial post; I thought you meant the main character is not familiar with magic/supernatural. (Keep my browser windows small when using the internet at work, since we're not really supposed to)
I still think it'd be good to start with a conflict of some kind. Doesn't have to be an all out blazing fight. It could be an argument, a spell gone wrong, a break up, etc. Anything that gets the ball rolling and forces the character to do something. I just recommend that you steer clear of starting the story with a big info dump about the world/rules of magic etc.
OZ:
If the idea of starting with supernatural action doesn't agree with you, another alternative is to start out with him doing something normal and mundane (still action but not exciting) and then bring in something supernatural and have him treat it as casually as he does his more "normal" activity. You can do this on the first page or wait a bit. It gives you the opportunity to let your readers relate to your character before you mention his supernatural abilities.
A variation of this is to have him doing something that seems mundane until the last minute. ( "Did I mention that the fox I was hunting was a kitsune" or "of course not many pick up lines sound original when you've been hearing them for the last two hundred years" etc.) Neither of these openings is particularly original but they both work well if well done. Remember Jim starts his first book with the mailman (hard to get much more mundane than that) and then segues into the fact that the speaker is a wizard.
meh:
"I scolded the imp for burning my coffee again."
mythcantor:
--- Quote from: meh on April 01, 2010, 01:09:50 AM ---"I scolded the imp for burning my coffee again."
--- End quote ---
I really hate EVP. For the uninitiated, that's Electronic Voice Phenomenon, or strange voicelike static that will show up on electronics when ghosts are trying to communicate with you. Invariably, that means trouble. Right now, however, it meant something worse. It meant that I was missing most of the game. "Dammit Sid! I got fifty bucks on this. Can you give it a rest!"
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