The following is the introduction to Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens. Dickens handles a big cast of characters in this book so the question is this: how many characters does he introduce in the opening paragraph?

In these times of ours, though concerning the exact year there is no need to be precise, a boat of dirty and disreputable appearance, with two figures in it, floated on the Thames, between Southwark bridge which is of iron, and London Bridge which is of stone, as an autumn evening was closing in.

How many characters does Dickens introduce in the opening paragraph? Answer, none. But we are located in time (it is an autumn evening in today's world) and place (London). The characters, as yet nameless, are placed socially. They are in a boat "of dirty and disreputable appearance" so it follows, logically, that they are not from the affluent classes.

Furthermore, if someone has a "dirty and disreputable" boat, then that rather tends to characterize the somebody.

Dickens continues:-

The figures in this boat were those of a strong man with ragged grizzled hair and a sun-browned face, and a dark girl of nineteen or twenty, sufficiently like him to be recognizable as his daughter. The girl rowed, pulling a pair of sculls very easily; the man, with the rudder-lines slack in his hands, and his hands loose in his waistband, kept an eager look out.

What does the young woman do? She habitually rows. We are seeing her in her natural environment, with her father. Her father is characterized as having "ragged" hair. Presumably, the "dirty and disreputable" boat belongs to the father. Since both the condition of the boat and the condition of the "ragged" hair are under the voluntary control of the father, Dickens has gone a long way to characterizing the father.

Note the economy of the descriptive writing.

A little later on, get the daughter's emotional attitude to her situation, as follows:-

The tide, which had turned an hour before, was running down, and his eyes watched every little race and eddy in its broad sweep, as the boat made slight head-way against it, or drove stern foremost before it, according as he directed his daughter by a movement of his head. She watched his face as earnestly as he watched the river. But, in the intensity of her look there was a touch of dread or horror.

Now we know how this young woman feels about being in this boat on this river with her father. Why does she feel this way? Well, we're not told. But presumably we will be. Here, Dickens displays a mastery of the art of the promise. The implicit promise is that if you read on then you will discover the reason for that "touch of dread or horror".

Finally, we get the young woman's name:-

"Keep her out, Lizzie. Tide runs strong here. Keep her well afore the sweep of it."

In a book with a huge cast of characters, Dickens is in no hurry to parade them all in front of us. First we get zero names then we get one name. Later, critically, this "Lizzie" is reintroduced to us, as follows:-

....

"You Bob Gliddery," said Miss Abbey to this pot-boy, "run round to Hexam's and tell his daughter Lizzie that I want to speak to her."

.... "Lizzie Hexam, Lizzie Hexam," then began Miss Potterson, "how often have I held out to you the opportunity of getting clear of your father, and doing well?" ....

Considerably later in the book, there is a full-scale reintroduction of Lizzie, complete with her name, place of residence and occupation:-

"I wonder,' said Miss Peecher, as she sat making up her weekly report on a half-holiday afternoon, 'what they call Hexam's sister?"

Mary Anne, at her needlework, attendant and attentive, held her arm up.

"Well, Mary Anne?"

"She is named Lizzie, ma'am."
"She can hardly be named Lizzie, I think, Mary Anne," returned Miss Peecher, in a tunefully instructive voice. "Is Lizzie a Christian name, Mary Anne?"
Mary Anne laid down her work, rose, hooked herself behind, as being under catechization, and replied: "No, it is a corruption, Miss Peecher."

"Who gave her that name?" Miss Peecher was going on, from the mere force of habit, when she checked herself; on Mary Anne's evincing theological impatience to strike in with her godfathers and her godmothers, and said: "I mean of what name is it a corruption?"

"Elizabeth, or Eliza, Miss Peecher."

"Right, Mary Anne. Whether there were any Lizzies in the early Christian Church must be considered very doubtful, very doubtful." Miss Peecher was exceedingly sage here. "Speaking correctly, we say, then, that Hexam's sister is called Lizzie; not that she is named so. Do we not, Mary Anne?"

"We do, Miss Peecher."

"And where," pursued Miss Peecher, complacent in her little transparent fiction of conducting the examination in a semiofficial manner for Mary Anne's benefit, not her own, "where does this young woman, who is called but not named Lizzie, live? Think, now, before answering."

"In Church Street, Smith Square, by Mill Bank, ma'am."

"In Church Street, Smith Square, by Mill Bank," repeated Miss Peecher, as if possessed beforehand of the book in which it was written. "Exactly so. And what occupation does this young woman pursue, Mary Anne? Take time."

"She has a place of trust at an outfitter's in the City, ma'am."

"Oh!" said Miss Peecher, pondering on it; but smoothly added, in a confirmatory tone, "At an outfitter's in the City. Ye-es?"

The books which Dickens wrote were typically published in serial form in magazines, which may well have encouraged him to make a habit of reintroducing his characters. However, regardless of his reasons, this is a good habit.

Introducing and Reintroducing Characters: Summary

-- introduce characters on stage one at a time.

-- remember the human mind is designed to forget rather than to remember. Make a habit of reintroducing your characters.

-- be economical with descriptions.

-- the characters should get described as the plot rolls along. The plot should not come to a crunching halt while the characters are described.

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