Help your readers remember who’s who by anchoring them.
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Photo by IgorVetushko
Here’s the problem. I read some books very slowly. I might read chapter 2 on Monday and not get to chapter 20 for a couple weeks. So that side character with Very Important Information who the detective spoke to in chapter 2 will be forgotten by the time I get to his reappearance in chapter 20.
Characters that come and go like this are important, but can also be confusing. If you’ve ever been 2/3s through a book and had to stop and say, “who is this guy?” then you know what I mean.
Anchroing is an excellent way to remind readers who a character is. That is, give them a memorable quality or two that you refer to whenever they reappear.
In Starside Saga I do this with all my side characters. Fallo has a single black catterpillar eyebrow and he’s ugly. In the early books Henley wears a knit cap, and has fiery hair. Marlow has a “salt and pepper” beard. The Cloak has a “wolfish grin” and a black cloak. Ragin Keel has white hair and pale complexion. Quinn is raven haired and is constantly reaching for her shadline dagger. Flaumishtak has hair that flows into tendrils of smoke. Nax has white chin and feet. Lop is portly and always wants food. Oly hisses at Kila pretty much every time he appears. Bazron’s scales are so black, he is an absence in the air. Klayne has a charming smile and looks like a king.
You get the idea.
For main characters like Fallo and Henley, these qualities aren’t as important in later books because readers are very familiar with them. But early on, they had to be tagged repeatedly to anchor who they were in readers’ minds.
Anchor with visuals: A scar, a tattoo, a unique quality to their posture or their hairstyle, a hat, a narrow nose, a birthmark, an absence of eyebrows, a mannerism.
Anchor with sound: a penchant for cursing under his breath, a wheezy voice, a nasally voice, the whistle of breathing through his nose, a habitual cough, difficulty breathing, a tone of certainty, uptalk, someone who speaks so softly you can’t hear them.
Anchor with smell: soapy and herbal, distincted perfume, sweat and livestock.
Anchor with taste or touch: harder to do with characters, but I would never say impossible. A man could have leathery skin (which is a texture visual that serve two senses at once) or hair as soft and light as eider down. Referring to the taste of lipstick after a kiss or even taste-related smells. “His garlicy whispers made Jack recoil and cover his nose.” Or “Mindy leaned over him at the cafeteria table, interrupting his conversation with Autumn. She snapped her wintergreen gum and whispered too loudly: ‘You asking her out?'”
That wintergreen detail would be all you needed to remind readers’ who she in ten chapters later.
To give dimension to your more important characters, give readers more than descriptive details or behaviors. You introduce them with anchors that you repeat, then begin to add new ones. But most importantly, give them a unique voice in dialogue.
A character that always makes an innappropriate joke.
A character who responds in one or two words.
A character who always speaks in compound sentences.
A character who uses euphemisms to be overly polite.
A character who expresses intolerant attitudes and leaps to violent conclusions.
A character who insults everyone.
A character who says things that rhyme.
A character who expresses weariness.
A character who uses slang, or dialect.
A character who uses clichés.
This is what makes writing fun.
So, anchors aweigh!
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