Showing that a character is unsentimental and arrogant

Question

How do I make my protagonist appear unsentimental and arrogant in a matter of showing rather than telling?

Answer 1

"Unsentimental" and "arrogant" are labels that we give to certain behavior. What is unsentimental and arrogant behavior. Describe in which way your character acts that way.

Don't forget to develop the backstory for that character. What made him that way? What does he try to avoid or achieve with that behavior? Show how he does that.

For example, the character could have low self-esteem and devalue others to feel better.

Flesh out your character and translate labels into the behavior that they are a label for.

Answer 2

"Show Don't Tell" as a rule of writing originated in stage plays.

The idea was, instead of a narrator or character "telling" us that Roger is a chain smoker, the playwright should just have roger always have a cigarette in his mouth, always flicking ashes, looking for an ashtray, and lighting his next cigarette from the last.

If Nancy is a heavy drinker, she always has a glass of something, she's frequently pouring the next, etc.

The idea is to use a visual language. Your job as a writer (of fiction) is to build scenes, just like a play, in the reader's head. To assist their imagination about how the scene unfolds.

Anytime, in print, you just say "John is unsentimental", that is something the reader is supposed to memorize. It doesn't create any imagery.

You shouldn't say it. You should invent a scene for the audience's imagining that shows John being unsentimental.

Off the top of my head:

John sat reading a magazine about golf, when doctor Mike the veterinarian, gray haired and grizzled, entered the exam room through a sliding door.

Putting aside the magazine, John said, "Hey doc. What do you know? You don't look hopeful."

Doctor Mike shook his head. "It's not good. Dodger has a brain tumor, I don't think it's operable."

John nodded. "Alright. Twelve years, I suppose you should put him down then."

"If you want to keep him a few weeks, He's not in pain."

"No point in that. Euthanize him, I'll swing by the shelter and adopt something. You've got my card, bill me, plus for cremation and disposal, I guess. Whatever you think is best."

John stood. "Thanks again, doc."

He turned and left, dropping the golf magazine on the chair. Doctor Mike watched him go, perplexed.

Readers remember scenes. Scenes have impact. They do not remember told facts.

If Bill is tall, show Bill being tall, doing things only tall people do (like ducking to not hit their head on a low ceiling fan). If Mary is talkative, show it.

It may take a hundred times as many words to build a scene, but that's the job; as a writer you are there to aid the reader's imagination in building a story they feel like they have experienced.

Answer 3

Insufficient information for us to tell -- and probably for you to tell. What do you mean that a character is unsentimental and arrogant? Is he a prince who has no fondness for castles he has lived at and servants who have served him a long time, and indeed is often rude to people, even quite high ranking? Is he a contractor who is never attached to the places where he works, even for months and years, and insults his fellow works for their folly whenever he disagrees with them?

If you detail what his arrogant and unsentimental character is, it will be easier for you to translate it into actions.