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Q&A Character is onscreen for three seconds

I think you're fine. In a novel, mentioning a character is very much like showing a character. In the sense of how this character embeds himself in the reader's mind. Obviously, it matters how y...

posted 6y ago by Cyn‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-20T00:40:34Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/40989
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T10:27:50Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/40989
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T10:27:50Z (almost 5 years ago)
 **I think you're fine.**

In a novel, mentioning a character is very much like showing a character. In the sense of how this character embeds himself in the reader's mind. Obviously, it matters _how_ you mention/show a character, but not as much if it's the narrator describing them vs another character describing them.

In a movie, seeing is everything. You say "screenplay" even though you've talked about this work before as a novel. So in the off chance you meant screenplay literally (or as contrast)...

In the case of a movie, you'd want to establish the character early, so the viewer recognizes him and knows he's important to watch. Then you can have him in the background in multiple scenes. Once the viewer knows to watch for him, s/he'll see him at every turn. This will cement his importance to your audience.

This is basically what you're doing in a novel too. Those frequent mentions are building him up in a way such that, when he's in trouble, your readers will care. The difference is that there are no visuals in a novel (usually) beyond what is inside the reader's head. How you get the character inside the reader's head is not as important as the fact that he's there.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-01-02T20:42:57Z (almost 6 years ago)
Original score: 2