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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/38361
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/38361
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

### Reverse order of importance.

The order of entry is an opportunity for you to create conflict.

To do that, you should list them in the order of reaction by the MC, **greatest last** , so you can move into describing that reaction.

If I say "Bob, John and Rob entered" but my MC truly hates (or loves) Bob, it is unlikely the MC even noticed John and Rob behind Bob, and it feels odd to note that detail without any emotion and then switch back to an emotional reaction to seeing Bob.

If I say "John, Rob and Bob entered," I can follow that seamlessly with any emotional reaction to Bob we want.

If the MC doesn't really have much reaction to any of them, presumably somebody there is important to the story later; I would make them last, and have the MC notice something innocuous about them (the shirt Bob is wearing, or he got a new haircut or finally shaved that stupid goatee, etc). This locks the character in the reader's mind much more than just a name, and allows an easy intro later when Bob has something to say: The MC can comment on whatever they noticed was new about Bob.

Again, describing that noteworthy detail about Bob is easier if Bob is the last named character.

If none of these characters really matter later in the story, and the MC is neutral on all of them, the order doesn't matter. Unless you need them for filler in a party, I'd just leave them out.

Original score: 0