How to Establish a Character (also FOE preview) · 8:29pm May 12th, 2014
As someone who writes stories that heavily center on original characters, I notice that there is a slight problem with some (well, many) other stories that have OC protagonists.
Recently I saw one of those stories about a human cosplayer who dresses up as a character and then winds up in Equestria with superpowers for no reason. That's not the point. Now, here is the thing. This opening chapter is 10,000 words, all from the POV of our human protagonist. Yet, from these 10,000 words, I be very hard-pressed to describe his characterization.
Now, oftentimes I find a lot of people say that things aren't always as clear-cut because it's a first chapter. And to be sure, sometimes the first chapter is the hardest. You don't really have things all set out in your head with how the story is going to go. Things change, of course, and sometimes it takes a while for a story to find it's footing. I'm sure many of my readers don't think that the first chapters of The Book of Friendship are the high point.
However, while difficult, the first chapter is extremely important. The first chapter is what you need to convince people to read the rest of the story, and it's especially important for establishing your characters.
Let's take a non-fic example. The opening scene of 2006's Casino Royale.
Bam. We have James Bond established as cold and ruthless. We instantly know who he is and what he does.
More generally, the first chapter in a story can do a lot to establish a character. It should be used to show how they interact with others, what sort of thought processes they have, and what makes them tick.
For those of you writing, particularly those of you who use OC protagonists and think you might be having a little trouble, here's a little exercise: Take your character and write a short scene that you think will show the reader everything they need to know about the character, and then ask some other folks to read it. See if what they get is similar to what you thought while writing it.
I'll provide a little example: a scene and a preview of the next chapter from The Least of Us, which was last updated in June... I will really have to finish this chapter. And then not take a year to write chapter 4. Here the scene.
I couldn't agree more about the importance of the first chapter and it setting up the character and/or drawing the reader in. If you don't give a reason for the reader to be interested in the protagonist or the world setting, or in fleshing them out, they're just going to move on.
Heck, I loved the way that Kkat did it, with the way that she "zoomed in on" the story in the first few chapters: the introduction gave a broad overview of the "current" Equestria, and how it got like that; the prologue gave us insight into Littlepip herself as well as the important tech of Pipbucks, and then chapter 1 introduces us to Stable life, proceeding from there. She even sets up the minor mystery in the prologue about who Littlepip was talking to, why, and what she was about to do, that ultimately wasn't resolved until nearly the last chapter. I even like that she'd open every chapter with a single word, and then explain it's importance to what was going on.
And I checked out your preview: I was definitely able to get a feel for Oasis and the Mare In The Tower, along with the mystery of the Approaching Stranger (though I suspect that one to be the Overmare). You also clarify when the story is taking place in regards to the rest of FO:E. Overall, it actually got me interested in checking out the first two chapters in the story, since I haven't read those yet.