u/ThePotatoHoarder

Before you read anything, please understand that the book will go more into depth than this, and the plot isn't the main focus (the arcs some characters go through are the main focus), so the plot's kind of basic.

Chapter 1, Thistle

Situations. There's one we're all in. The one I'm in, isn't exactly ideal. I'm in the middle of zoning out, forced to listen to my friend, Ribbons, babble all and about.

"And this HOLE in the wall! I saw a WORLD outside of this terrarium!" The garter snake yells, eyes dazzling with excitement. Most of the time, he just says things straight from his fantasy. But I nod along, acting like I'm listening to him. Even if I'm not, though, there's a good chance he won't notice.

"Mhm, got it. Say, when did you find it?" I ask, trying to create conversation.

"Find what?"

"The hole"

"What hole?"

"The one you were JUST talking about."

"The one before the one I just said, or the one after the before? Because the one before the after was the one in a cave. And—"

"Nevermind," I sigh. It's as if Ribbons wants to be even more of an idiot today.

"Don't 'nevermind' me!" Ribons shouts, with Iris mocking his words at the exact same time.

"Hey!" Ribbons exclaims while the rainbow boa simultaneously predicts what Ribbons is about to say. Ribbons just sighs, forfeiting easily.

"Thistle doesn't believe that there's a hole in a wall I found," Ribbons says, changing the topic from his loss.

"I do, but you kep on acting like an toddler," I fight back.

"I'm not acting like a toddler!" Ribbons shouts defensively.

"Ribbons... you forget that you ARE a toddler," Iris points out with dissapointment.

"Oh yeah? I officially turned a YEAR ago 2 months ago!" Ribbons says proudly, as if he's any older than he was a second ago. Since us snakes have a shorter lifespan, then one year is 5-6 for humans.

"That barely changes anything," Iris responds, sighing mid-way through the sentence.

"Really? Because that DOES make me older! Older than a toddler! So I'm not a toddler! Since I'm—"

"You were saying?" Iris asks, already tired of hearing Ribbons' babbling.

"I'm NOT A TODDLER, because—"

"Not that. About the hole," Iris cuts off. I can already tell she's trying to supress anger. Well, at least now I know Iris agrees Ribbons is being extra annoying today.

"The one before the most recent one I was talking about, or—" Ribbons tries to speak, but both Iris and I groan in agony.

"Seriouly, how do you deal with him?" Iris asks, flicking her tail towards Ribbons.

"You're his sister. You're the one keeping him in check," I point out, glancing at Ribbons.

"Can I PLEASE continue?" Ribbons pleads, as if he's been silent for decades.

"How about you show us where both of them are?" I ask, trying to get a break from Ribbons.

"Okay! Follow me!" Ribbons shouts, eyes immedieately widened again.

"Well what else do you expect us to do?" Iris snaps.

"Well... not follow me?" Ribbons says, as if it's obvious. "I have a feeling you're extra grumpy today."

"Well maybe you're extra annoying today," Iris responds.

"Or you didn't get a good sleep," Ribbons counters, still clueless of what he said. Iris just rolls her eyes and trails along as Ribbons slithers quickly to a random corner of a wall. I (and probably Iris too) expect nothing else but straight up drywall.

"Look over here! There's a HOLE in the shadows!" Ribbons exclaims.

"I only see 'shadow,' not any sort of hole, Ribbons." I say, leaning forward a bit. As if there was anything, quite frankly.

"Are you 30, Thistle? Take a closer look!" Ribbons shouts.

"Must I?"

"YES!"

"Why though?"

"Because it's interesting!"

"Not it's not. It really isn't, Ribbons—"

"It is though!" Ribbons exclaims. I sigh, peering to take a closer look. But for once, Ribbons is right.

I'm wondering, what's a proper way to introduce characters? I'm asking when the characters are familiar with each other, so I can't just drop in a character to intoduce themselves to another character. I've tried dropping them into conversation, but I feel like there has to be a better way to do this. And I don't want to give a random description on how they look and their name, because it feels cheap. I want to be able to give a proper description of how each character looks, but something just feels off. Problem is, the characters aren’t being introduced to each other, but when the character is being introduced to the reader instead. each of the characters already know each other, and I need to introduce those characters to the reader so the reader knows what’s going on.

And btw, this is a book with snakes as protagonists (Please don't judge), so I just need to list species. That eases it up a bit, but not all that much.

Edit: I mean how to give a good description on how the character looks and their species. I'll show their character throughout the book