Giving Your Character The Introduction He/She Deserves

Giving Your Character the Introduction He/She Deserves

The one, two, three punch for introducing your character.

What we can learn from the Grand Budapest Hotel

The Protagonist:

We have M. Gustave.

1. We see him looking over a balcony and before your know it he is calm directing at least 10 of his subordinates and what to do.

2. Next he’s sitting down eating breakfast with a woman twice his age (90 years old at least). He takes her hand, and after he attempts to console her and says:

“Dear God what have you done to your fingernails!? This diabolical varnish, the color is completely wrong. It’s not that I don’t like it. I am physically repulsed. ”

3. M. Gustave is sitting next to the woman, his lover, and tells her to hush and starts to recite poetry.

Three quick scenes in less than three minutes, and we already have the full sense who this character is. (1) He’s busy. And the way he instructs his crew shows that he has been doing it for a while. He’s confident and isn’t afraid to tell people what to do. (2) He has a thing for older women, and the way things look is important to him. Gustave sees nothing but beauty in people, and the way he reacts to the fingernails shows us that class and elegance matter. (3) Telling someone to hush and then reciting poetry in an elevator envelopes the two things about M. Gustave. He is quirky and sophisticated.

The Antagonist

We have Dmitri

1. When we first see him he is drinking a glass of whiskey waiting to see what was left to him in his mother’s will. He’s dressed in all black, although we get the sense that regardless of the day he would still be wearing black. One of his goons is behind him. By the way they are sitting, you can tell that Dmitri has people working for him.

2. The first line out of Dmitri’s mouth is “That fucking faggot!” directed at M. Gustave himself.

3. He confronts M. Gustave and punches him in the face, and his henchmen is there to back him up.

So who is Dmitri? (1)A person who seems to care more about the will than his mother. (2) Someone who will shout and fight and get others to do things he doesn’t want to do. (3) He’s vulgar and doesn’t have a problem speaking his mind.

Applying this to your writing

Give the reader the one two three. Three things one after another that make them understand who your character really is. Boom Boom Boom. Easier said then done. So you try it.

Try to think of three scenes/phrases/mannerisms that you can use in introducing your character and intertwine them to solidify who your character is. It can be short and sweet and when the reader is done reading he should be able to list all three character traits.

Also watch this movie.

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