If a character is boring, start back at their introduction. You’ll almost always find that they have a flaccid boring intro. Give them a stronger intro and they instantly become a stronger character. scriptshadow.net
First impressions do the heavy lifting of characterization, whether we plan it that way or not. Readers form a snap judgment the moment someone walks onstage, and every scene after that gets filtered through that initial read. A flat intro — someone pouring coffee, checking a phone, making small talk — gives readers nothing to hold onto, so the character stays beige no matter how clever their later lines are. Fix the entrance and you fix the lens. Say your weary detective currently just "sits at his desk sighing." Instead, have him calmly talk a jumper off a ledge using the wrong name on purpose, then walk away annoyed he was right. Now every later scene reads as strength management, not blankness. The caution: don't turn every entrance into a stunt. If all your characters get a flashy opener, none of them land — contrast is what makes an entrance mean something.
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