I’ve been reading thick books recently, most about the war in the Middle East. These books have hundreds of characters in them, some major players, and some who make cameo appearances. How to introduce new characters to the reader, and how to distinguish among them? One simple strategy is the development of what I’ll call the “character paragraph,” a short passage that tries to capture character in a nutshell.
Because these paragraphs appear in books, they can be much longer than we would tolerate in the slim columns of a newspaper page. Still, all writers can learn something from these narrative excursions into characterization.
Let’s begin with an example from Rajiv Chandrasekaran in his book “Imperial Life in the Emerald City,” a look at the war from inside the U.S.-controlled Green Zone. Here we meet 1st Sgt. Jerry Swope, who leads his platoon on a mission to spread goodwill among the Iraqi people:
Pretty efficient: I learn distinctive elements of physical description. His history in the Army. His habits. The brand name of a product he favors. A bit of colloquial slang.
My next example comes from “The Looming Tower” by Lawrence Wright, a description of one of the main characters, FBI agent John O’Neill:
O’Neill is such an important character that Wright expends a couple of more such paragraphs of introduction. But this one takes me along way. I get physical description, dress, jewelry, weapon of choice, speech patterns, and, again, that brand name: Chivas Regal.
If you struggle with descriptions of character, use these two paragraphs as models and practice by trying to describe people you know well in one meaty paragraph.
