Main Character switch?

Okay, so this is going to sound weird, but I'm planning to write.. something. A novel, maybe. Whatever it's going to be, it's going to be hard to pull off but it's an idea that won't get out of my head. Aaaanyways, I have an idea for the first chapter but I don't quite know how to get it to work. The thing is, the book's about a school (I promise it's more interesting than it sounds), and I want to introduce the setting through a new student as an audience surrogate. But I feel like having a newcomer as a main character is kind of tired and over used, and I have more interesting main characters that I could introduce by having them lead new-student-boy around the school. So if I could do that, I could easily switch places for them and perspectives towards the real main characters during chapter two and turn new-guy into a side character for later use. But I don't quite know how I could pull this off and make it sound good. Any ideas?

Actually, this is already a trope. It's known as the Intro-Only Point of View.

And that's not the only tool you have at your disposal. I also recommend looking into the Vanilla Protagonist, a relatively uninteresting character who exists mostly to showcase weird and interesting characters.

Eh, any character can be interesting, if their motivations are compelling enough.

That said, I'd be wary about creating a character purely so other characters can infodump at them, especially if they're not the main character and will bear little-to-no significance to the rest of the story.

I'd also be wary of front-loading your story with setting and backstory information. That stuff will bore your audience, and that's the worst possible thing that you can do as a writer. Bored readers stop reading, especially if they get bored during those precious first few pages when they're still deciding whether your work is worth sticking with or not.

What you need to be doing, right from the word go, is grounding your readers in some kind of action. Don't worry about setting the scene or explaining the minutiae of your world. Just drop your audience straight into a moment where your main character(s) are doing something evocative of their personality and motivations.

If your character is shy, maybe show them being asked to answer a question by a teacher, and struggling to talk with their whole class watching. Or if they're heroic and brave, maybe show them defending another student from bullies, and getting into a fight. In these scenes, give out setting details sparingly, and only when necessary to contextualise the action. Your characters should be the focus of your story, not the scenery. Once you've hooked your readers with your characters, then you can start drip-feeding background details, as and when they become relevant.

In short, no, I don't think you should introduce a character solely for the purposes of infodumping, especially if you have more interesting and plot-relevant characters waiting in the wings. Start with the interesting and relevant characters, instead.

edited 26th Feb '15 12:08:12 PM by Tungsten74