How to introduce a large amount of characters in the first chapter?
So, I have a novel idea where the lead characters (seven in total), all have to be introduced in the first scene in my novel. I've already started with a basic idea, but I wanted to know if anyone else out there has done it, and if so, how do you do it so the reader is not bogged down with all the details of a character? I don't want the reader to be overwhelmed by these characters.
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The easiest solution is to split up the introduction. If it's possible at all, have the MC share a scene with one or two characters, then with two or three others, and so on until you've introduced them all. It can also be helpful to mention a character not present in the scene, before he is properly introduced. Then, when we meet the character, we already know something about them, so it's easier to remember this character as distinct from the others. For example, in Daughter of the Forest, an adaptation of The Wild Swans, Juliet Marillier introduces the MC's six brothers a few at a time, in scenes that accentuate their most prominent character traits. This way, the readers are not confused between them in the story that follows.
If it is absolutely necessary to introduce all seven characters at once, I would highly recommend you give each of them some prominent trait, and reiterate it, along with the character's name, each time the character acts in the first few scenes - until the readers learn to recognise them. If one of the characters is old, have him continually stroke his white beard. If one has large blue eyes, have her bat them, open them wide, etc. If one has a title, e.g. 'Admiral', use that. Make each character as different as possible from the others, give each some trademark, whether it's appearance, or a way of speaking, or something else. (That's not necessarily a bad idea even if you're not introducing everyone at the same time. J.K. Rowling is notorious for giving each character a trademark appearance. Red hair - Weasley. Bushy hair - Hermione. Greasy black hair - Snape.)
A third solution is to leave the reader deliberately confused. Remember the famous beginning of The Hobbit, where 13 dwarves all appear at Bilbo's doorstep?
Bilbo rushed along the passage, very angry, and altogether bewildered and bewuthered - this was the most awkward Wednesday he ever remembered. (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, chapter 1 - An Unexpected Party)
By the end of that chapter, most readers would find themselves slightly "bewildered and bewuthered", just like Bilbo. Thorin is immediately set apart by the narration as the leader, but the other dwarves - it is safe to say that they are a jumble of names, whom the readers would get to know better as the story progresses. Since the reader is in the same situation as the MC, the effect helps immersion.
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You can associate your character with something else, thats easier to remember. For 7 you could use the 7 colours of the rainbow or the 7 weekdays. This is only appropriate for some storys though ,probably fantasy. Because the characters are either linked by destiny or some organization or a preordained plan, or because they all found connected artifacts...
As said, not applicable to all Storys, but when you say "they have to be introduced in the first chapter", I get that feeling. Then you have the advantage that you "introduced" all of them, but you don't have to reveal anything about them if you don't want.
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I have 25-30 "main characters," (feel free to quibble over the definition) and more supporting ones, though of course only a few are really central. Two of the main 5 characters I don't even introduce until the 4th chapter, and it's quick and not very deep. That comes later.
No one is going to remember early descriptions of more than a couple characters, so there's no point in giving it all too soon. Start with 1 or 2, get more details about the rest later, as it's needed.
There's also something nice about feeling immersed in a large group of people and not feeling like you have to memorize everything. I don't want to know which ones are the important ones straight away, along with an info-dump. I'd rather get info for the 3rd and 4th characters later, after I feel like I know characters 1 and 2.
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