keep moving forward

ESPECIALLY the diy ones. back before costumes were mass-manufactured, people were left to their own devices and shit got WILD.

It was an absolute free-for-all. back before you could buy a batman mask in a drug store for $5, people really just did whatever

and it was FABULOUS

bonus points to these early commercialization attempts. yes that is a batman dress

This cute platypus 

uh

what the fuck

sexy parrot girls yeah ok

oh look the demon has little babies

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– A lot of questions I receive revolve around the introduction of story elements, such as backstory and politics, so I decided to cover character introductions because it’s a good way to ease into all of these other topics. I hope you all find this helpful. Happy writing!

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Find A Suitable Way

The way in which you introduce a character can be a really big subtextual clue as to who they are and how they will function in the story. Some really good ways to introduce them are:

show how a character performs simple actions

let their reputation speak for them in the form of other characters’ interactions about them

Use some backstory that shows the reader their relevance prior to their personality

Don’t Focus Solely On Physical Description

The truth is, when you meet a person in real life, you don’t spend 5 minutes analyzing the flecks of color in their eyes, the intricate patterns in their outfits, or the marks on their skin. Filter in physical description over time, when physical features become relevant to the narrative. First impressions majorly rely on subtext through common associations with actions, appearances, and words. It’s more important that your reader knows information about them than what they look like. The image will come together with time.

Avoid Cliche Introductions

Anne R. Allen made a short and simple list that she called the Robinson Crusoe Openings, and the following were on it:

driving alone in a car

sitting on an airplane

waking up and getting ready for the day

out on her morning jog

looking in the mirror

Simply, these put a bad taste in the reader’s mouth because every reader has seen each and every single one of those a million times before. There are more interesting ways to introduce a character to your readers, and there are ways that will suit your character way more.

Make Your Reader Care Early

Don’t jump right into the action without showing the reader multiple reasons why they should care about your character. Introductions are a good way to set up future information about their motivations, struggles, etc. which make your reader invested in what happens to that character.

Relevance = Page Time

What I mean by this is, the impact a character will have on the story and conflict resolution for that story (even in a series) should determine how much time is devoted to describing them. If they aren’t a huge part of the story now, but will come in hot in book 2, leave the meaningful introduction for when the reader actually needs to remember them. If a minor character comes in that isn’t apart of any major subplot or the main conflict, then spend less time describing them to the reader than the main characters. This seems like common sense to a lot of people, but this strategy is often overlooked in practice.

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Like any Online Millennial or Gen Z would balk at the idea of saying a single mean word to their waiter, but as soon as the creator they toss pennies at on patreon sets a toe out of line, (or not even out of line, maybe just not catering to this person's specifics wants, or not producing content as high-quality as it used to be) suddenly the Terminally Online are happy to unleash their unbridled fury, frothing opinions, and full-blown karen I'll take my business elsewhere and tell everyone to never shop here again-ness.

Except the difference is an entitled Boomer will march out of a store in a huff and be done with it, while the internet will try to snowball and dogpile until the creator is run off.

Like I've seen people get so weird about the McElroy content, and how "not-as-good" this that or the other thing is now, and they say this with such justified fury because the McElroys make money. This isn't "eh I've stopped listening as much since I don't like the direction." This is "how dare the McElroys not live up to my quality expectations when they're making money. don't they know they have to earn the right to have money with a good enough monkey-dance??"

Trust fund babies will ride out their McMansion lives never lifting a finger, but an internet content creator pulling in enough money to make a normal human living in a way that does not cater exactly to some segment of the internet's expectations is grounds for the most dehumanizing vitriol imaginable.

And no, before someone asks this is not apologism for people creating kickstarters and running off with the money. This is about how often a severely bad-faith take or plain cruelty is justified and propagated because the subject under storm is a "professional" on account of being compensated for their work.

I'd so much rather have a faceless corporation sign my paychecks for faceless work until I die than stake my livelihood on creating internet content I'm passionate about. I'd be happy to never receive a single dime from the internet. Because as soon as I do that, the public owns me, and the internet would be allowed to waggle a dollar above my head and say "dance monkey dance" without the slightest hint of irony. Or worse, they can say "remember that time we gave you a dollar?" "remember that time you received a dollar from someone?" as an absolute shut-down to any discussion of whether a content creator should have a right to do anything which does not cater directly to their fans' expectations.

here they come! here they come!