How to describe 4 main characters at once without overloading the reader with information?
My main characters first appear in the book all at once. How do write their descriptions so that the reader isn't overloaded with so much information all at once?
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By rewriting the book so that the four main characters are not introduced all at once. There is a good reason that most books introduce characters one at a time or two at a time (in the form of a conversation). Readers need time to integrate each character and form a distinct memory of them.
This is no different from meeting people at a party. If you meet one person and talk with them for 20 minutes, there is a good chance you will remember their name and what you talked about at the end of the night. If you meet four people at once and they all talk, there is little chance that you will remember either their names or what they talked about.
This is just the basics of how we form memories. No writing technique is going to change that, except to space out the introductions so that the reader has a chance to form and retain memories of each one in turn.
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