Catch Me if You Can is a film based on the life of infamous check forger and impersonator Frank Abagnale Jr, and is one of my favorite movies. Early in the film we see a sneak peek at what Frank is capable of when he impersonates a teacher on his first day of school. Likewise the man charged with catching him, officer Carl Hanratty is shown being relentless in pursuit a different criminal. In these two scenes the most important beats are established, and they are the driving force behind the movie.
When you are writing your stories, it will help attract readers if you can establish who your central characters are at their core and what will be their go-to attributes during the course of your story.
Ways to establish your character
It is common in stories to introduce a character in the midst of doing what they do best to quickly set the tone for who they are and what they do. It could be the fantasy novel Champions of Kamigawa's Toshiro Umezawa starting his story doing a bit of magical crime, highlighting his clever usage of blood magic and his self-serving, survivalist nature. It could be Benjamin Blanc of the Knives Out franchise casually sauntering into a crime scene and making observations, establishing his detective acumen and his unassuming, laid back personality. It could be Susan Sto Helit of the Discworld starting a story fighting off demons terrorizing the children she is babysitting with the seen-it-all attitude of one of the few rational people in a world that makes little sense. The actions your central characters take and the personality traits they show while taking those actions will go along way to setting the tone for how the reader will perceive them.
Action is not the only way to establish a character. In the first John Wick movie, John is a pretty unassuming dude until some thugs break into his house, steal his car and kill his dog. When said thug wonders why this was such a big mistake, his father explains in great detail why Wick is not a person you would want to cross. In this instance, Wick does not have to do anything to establish who he is, because his reputation already precedes him. You can use the opinions and observations of others to inform the reader of what makes your central characters intriguing, especially if early in the story they aren't showing those traits themselves.
A character's speech and dialogue can also give a lot away about who they are and how they see the world. You can start your story off with your character speaking to another character, or to themselves or even directly to the audience. In this instance, the character can say directly what makes them worth following around - or they can say the opposite while their actions or circumstances show the truth, thus creating a unique dynamic that will draw in readers.
Knowing what to show and what to hide.
When creating and developing your characters, you want to separate their defining traits into two categories: what do readers need to know about them upfront, and what can be reserved until later. It would benefit your story to not reveal everything about your main characters upfront. This way you are creating layers that can be peeled back over time to add depth to them and keep them interesting. Choosing the two or three aspects of that character that are the most important to driving the narrative forward will help you in making a more focused introduction to your character, and the unhighlighted material providing convenient resources for you to spotlight and develop as the story progresses.
If you show it early, then use it later.
One of the few miscues of the iconic sitcom The Cosby Show is that it showed Claire Huxtable on the phone in an early episode, speaking fluent Spanish towards a client. It was a minor detail that was introduced to round out Claire's character, and the show's producers had meant to explore and expand on that over the course of the series. That never materialized, unfortunately, and we were deprived of what could have been an interesting nuance in Claire's growth. You don't want to make that mistake. When you introduce elements of your characters early, you want to make sure that those elements are shown at some point later in the story for consistency.
How you show it is as important as what you show.
Your use of language here is key in setting the proper tone and creating the right impression to give your audience about your character. You should first determine what kind of impressions you want the reader to get from your character's early display. Do you want them awestruck? Repulsed? Sympathetic? Intrigued? Do you want them to look favorably or unfavorably at what your character is showing them, and do you intend to enhance or change those impressions later in the story? Once you determine that, then you need to craft your scenes to reflect the reaction you are looking to elicit. And word choice matters; certain words lend themselves to certain reactions and you need to be cognizant of that as you write your scenes.
Conclusion
If you can establish who your central characters are and what they are capable of early, then their actions as the story progresses will be more understandable and believable, and will reinforce the connection to the reader. It's like giving the reader a taste of the meal that will be served to them. Consider using this tool as you develop your story.
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