First Glimpse
I'm old enough and have lived enough to know first impressions are sometimes wrong. I'm old enough and have lived enough to trust my instincts on first impressions. Somewhere between the two of those is my approach to people.
When I meet someone, if I had to break down what it is I am observing, what clues that I myself am keyed into, I would say I watch people for how they treat others, I listen for whether they gossip, and see if what they SAY doesn't match how they seem to conduct themselves. I don't really notice clothes, or hair, or outward stuff, except that oftentimes the person with the tattoo, the nose piercing, and the flaming purple hair (in the case of my best friend in the whole world, all three) is a clue that chances are we could become pals.
In writing, we carefully CONTROL the first glimpse of our main character. The writer chooses what we first see about them. Because my novel plays with time, readers will meet Aleks twice. Once as a man, once as a boy. However, there are consistencies in both. Here is the boy, Aleksei, after he is evacuated from Chernobyl. He is five.
The evacuees had already traveled a great distance by bus, and all looked exhausted. But not Aleksei. His eyes missed nothing as he looked around, as if memorizing every detail of this horrible day. He was very clever, this boy. When his nurse nodded off, head back against the seat, mouth agape, Aleksei took off his shoe and removed the picture of his mother and father. Then he reached into his pocket for the letter.
Nathaniel didn’t think the boy could read yet. He was too small. The letter was sealed, so the boy simply touched the envelope over and over again. His fingers were long and slender, like a piano player’s. He kissed the envelope then returned it to his pocket and slipped the picture into his worn, brown shoe.
First glimpse of adult-Aleks is of a man who is very intense, whose eyes are difficult to read, fathomless, who doesn't care for clothing or convention. Most of all . . . he is very, very smart. And very, very private. I think this boy has those characteristics.
So what is the first glimpse we get of your character? What details did you choose? Why? What do you look for in first impressions?
10 comments:
At the moment first glimpse is a bit stereotyped. So I'm working on finding the right detail. Harvey has a bushy brown beard, leather hat with four claw marks and callused hands with a ring finger that had clearly once been broken and not set properly. In his pocket there is always a lump of wood and carving knife. Sometimes there is a plug of tobacco, onion, or poison cup to deal with snake bites.
Richmond:
Those details sound awesome to me.
From my Derek Stillwater WIP.
Derek Stillwater was on his hands and knees sanding down the trim on the deck of his cabin cruiser, The Salacious Sally, when the delivery came. It was a glorious April day on the Chesapeake Bay, the sun was blazing down on his bare back from a cloudless azure sky and he was even debating taking the train up to D.C. to push through the tourists and check out the cherry blossoms.
The biggest problem with living on a boat, he thought, working hard on the teak, was the upkeep. Ocean air was hell on wood, hell on metal…
The Federal Express truck stopped near his dock and it was unusual enough that Derek looked up from his work to watch the driver climb out, stare at the package, stare around at the marina, then walk hesitantly toward his dock. Derek stood up, knees creaking, back complaining.
The Federal Express driver looked about eighteen, had sandy brown hair and wire-rimmed glasses. “You Dr. Derek Stillwater?”
Derek jumped down onto the dock and nodded. Despite the scar tissue, and there was a lot of scar tissue, he was moving fairly well. The last bit of surgery was nine months ago and he’d been working hard at his physical therapy to try and get his body back to where it was prior to getting shot.
Mark:
I REALLY like that. I get a feel for his age, his weaknesses, his passions. Like it a LOT.
Erica, I'm in love with your voice!
Moving on...
The prologue of my WIP is a glimpse of the main character at 18. He befriends total opposites; holds them close; he despise only one person - a man he feels betrayed him. Thirty-five years later in chapter one he posses the same traits, still despising the same man, his father.
P.S. I'm really looking forward to your newest WIP.
I deliberately first show Castile through the eyes of a suspicious, starving Indigo Chieftain with whom he's trying to make an exchange of services for goods. In comparison to her sickly, hungry people, Castile looks good, clean, in good shape, healthy. He's energetic. He's also fresh from prison, which makes for a great duplicity in her eyes. She knows he's an enemy of her allies, but she can't kill him because he has godlike respect from her people. For sure she doesn't trust him and hopefully the reader doesn't either. It's a little subterfuge on my part.
Trinidad isn't a thinker, and a lot is going on with him when he sees Castile for the first time, so that's been tougher. I use a lot of behavior, the way Castile ducks down to look close into Trinidad's face, the way he apologizes for how they came together and Trinidad threatens to kick his ass if he won't shut up about it. I found a weird dichotomy of comfort and wariness between them (they're childhood friends) and the hardest thing has been showing it in a way that makes sense.
Castile does have a secret, so I'm trying hard to keep him grey, too. He's wanted to be too perfect all along so I decided he needed some secrets that affect those around him.
Hm. You mean like popping his zits?
:-)
Kath:
Thanks! And glad you have gone back to your novel. :-)
Starbucks:
I like viewing characters through their best friends . . . and their enemies. It is interesting to get other perspectives.
Sarah:
Yeah. Like that. Sort of. ;-)
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