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Originally Posted by dreamchaser
Hey thanks! I am just so lucky as a beginning student get to see this process in real-time. Forgive me please if I put input where it doesn't belong, just correct me gently (my bones are brittle these days) and I will learn. Sometimes I learn best from biggest boo-boos.
Question: I understand that you want to add characters slowly, makes perfect sense. I am not sure if I understand how much info you want to convey at first introduction. I realize that characters develop and your insight into them gets deeper, but when you first introduce them, should you make it clear if they are an alien or a bear, gender and so forth, so when you refer back to them, people have some idea of what you are talking about? Is it just a style preference? If you want to build suspense, and you introduce a character that will return in later chapters, so you don't want to divuldge too much, just how much of an introduction is necessary for reader comprehension?
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Introduce them with general physical descriptions and some interesting characteristics that sets them apart, the same way you'd notice if you met someone the first time. Let's take Bob/Robert for example:
No matter how much Bob slouched, he couldn't hide his nearly 7'8" frame, and he appeared taller because of his almost unnatural thinness. Naturally blonde with sun-darkened skin, he looked more like a beach bum than anything else, with ratty clothes and old flip-flips. He was standing on the boulevard facing the beach, his eyes squinted from the sun. He scanned the crowd, a certain shiftiness in his eyes, and in the way he stood.
That's an example. Just start with the basics, keep to the flow of the story, don't be too specific. You want general descriptions, the reader will fill in the rest in his/her mind.