Establishing friendship with character interactions?

[smokesalty]

I'm currently working on a story where the main character and his friend have been friends before the beginning of the story.

Trouble is, I'm having issues showing it through dialogue as their dynamic is so much different to interactions me and people irl have.

The main character is pretty shy and non-confrontational but is happy talking to his friend. His friend is like an older brother to him (the mc is around 10-11 years old, the friend is 16-17 years old) The friend is like a protector to him, and is shown to be concerned about the main character's wellbeing.

However, I have issues showing them having an interesting friendship which is key to events later on in the story where the emotional connection to the friend is really important.

Any tips?

[LadyLily]

Bring up a past incident they both share. "Remember when...?" or "That's not what you said when we were kids." Something like that.

[crowstories]

I think showing the contrast between how the shy character acts around other people vs. their friend could go a long way towards establishing their bond.

[ccpena616]

That's something I wouldn't recommend since sentences like that make the conversation feel forced. I think it's best to add scenes where the main character is being shy, only for him to speak comfortably with his friend. Maybe have the friend ask the protag if anyone hurt him.

[LadyLily]

That's something I wouldn't recommend since sentences like that make the conversation feel forced. I think it's best to add scenes where the main character is being shy, only for him to speak comfortably with his friend. Maybe have the friend ask the protag if anyone hurt him.

Not at all. It depends upon the situation. The dialogue is perfectly natural if something has just occurred to remind them. Characters aren't born when a story begins. They had a past so it wouldn't make sense pretending nothing ever happened between them. For my comment, for example:

They just discover a strange door and argue over who should open it first.
"Remember when we found that creepy house back in 5th grade? I'm not going first again!"

or

Character 1: "I never want to get married. It's like prison."
Character 2: "That's not what you said when we were kids and you had that major crush on the girl in third period."

Very easy and in no way, shape, or form forced.

[ccpena616]

It all boils down to show vs tell. Would you rather tell the audience that these characters have a past or would you show it? A lot of people tend to go for the latter since it seems the most natural and less patronizing. Besides when you're establishing characters, you wouldn't make jokes like that until the audience has a firm grasp on the character. Let's say they become intrigued with he/she and they know their backstory, little tidbits like your examples could be added for humorous effect. Especially if it makes sense for the character because the reader can be like "Haha, he would do that wouldn't he?".

But if we're talking at the beginning, stuff like that is off-limits. It just reminds me of that Black Dynamite scene: "It's your only brother Jimmy! He's dead!"

[EncryptedWriting]

So, working with my current artist on a three episode one shot, we found it very difficult to establish character connections in such a short time. What we ended up doing was flashbacks to influential encounters that impacted that moment in the story. So ex.) OC is building a shelter (spoilers?) and then we flash back to the OC and her two best friends building a shelter when they were younger in a flashback.

It overall built a sadder sense, and it felt easiest to work with when building emotions and connections.

[TheGentleArtist]

It's best to show how the characters bounce off each other first. That way there is a bases on who they are and what their relationship are with each other; after that, and only few more interactions, you can do the whole deeper look in their relationship since the audience would have a better understanding of what is going on.

[Kaydreamer]

I have two tips!

• Don't neglect body language. Have them visibly comfortable sharing space with each other - a hand on a shoulder to comfort the young, shy fellow, or having him hiding behind the older boy when nervous, will convey what you just wrote without a single piece of dialogue.

• Nicknames nobody else uses can help as well! I have one character who calls the somewhat intimidating female leader of a large-scale rebellion 'Sis', which immediately indicates he's not a subordinate, but a close friend, bordering on family.

[_calm]

You have to first have in your mind what makes them friends. What connection do they have that is unique to their personalities and past.

Once you get that out of the way, then all dialogue and body language stems from their shared past experiences and overall philosophies on life.

Tips would be.

• Nicknames/ catchphrases.
  ° slow/ quiet moments
  ° jokes. A great way to show friendship is through genuine humor
  ° the it factor meaning, finishing each others thoughts, knowing what the other wants through body language and a shared goal or understanding of one another deeper feelings and desires.

[DiegoPalacios]

Friendship can easily be expressed with daily interactions.....

It can be shown with simple details like inner jokes or them casually hanging out and sharing hobbies.

Maybe in many activities, they work as an amazing team due to their complementary abilities and knowing each other well.

But the most important detail, is that they are comfortable with each other and their mutual trust is sacred.

[fleurravenbooks]

If one of them is shy and usually doesn't like social interaction, but likes it with other character, i think it shows us enough about their relationship (well friendship), However you can
-show they were friends for a long time by some kind of flashback
-have a nickname
-one character may know something no one else does about other
etc.

[darthmongoose]

The main character is pretty shy and non-confrontational but is happy talking to his friend. His friend is like an older brother to him (the mc is around 10-11 years old, the friend is 16-17 years old) The friend is like a protector to him, and is shown to be concerned about the main character's wellbeing.

I'd have the protector character directly speak and act in a way that shows the audience "this character cares about this other character's wellbeing," as soon as possible. I'd try to make it so as close as possible to the first interaction the audience sees between them hammers this in as strongly as possible.
So like on seeing each other, they should relax and smile. They should feel comfortable in each other's presence. The protector should start trying to look after the younger one, "All right, squirt? Did you remember to eat breakfast today? I think I have a protein bar in my pockets if you didn't."
If the younger character appears stressed about something, he'll probably try to reassure or advise him. "Hey, buddy, it's okay. Remember what we practiced? Deep breaths, find your centre. You got this."

Those are just rough examples, but the key points are: Try to make their first interaction, or as close to it as you can reasonably get, be one where the protector character is protecting or looking after the other one. Audiences tend to use the first encounter between two characters as their baseline for what to expect from them.

[thebunnyexpress]

One of the things that’s helped me establish character relationships is how the characters act towards each other, and not necessarily what they say. I have a pretty large cast of characters, which means I can’t always show the conversations between every single one. Maybe between those conversations, you could just show the two of them in the background always sitting together, talking, helping each other… the audience will get a feel for how much they enjoy each other’s presence pretty quickly.