The beginning of a story is always the difficult part for me, especially when it comes to getting your character into the actual plot, or in this case, the show.
The way I usually start off is by developing the character in a certain way so that they already know one of the other characters (rarely through marriage or a relationship). Sometimes I will make it as though they were another character's friend, or visit the same place as them. Heck, they can even be a friend of Hue's who met one of the characters at his grave.
It becomes difficult when it turns out that the character is from a different universe or something. This often makes the story unbelievable. Plus, how exactly would they get to the Fullmetal Alchemist (or FMA) world?
The way I usually solve this problem is by killing off the character within the first chapter. I get them into some sort of ridiculous problem with 'the truth' or whatever else you want to be in control of what goes where and when. Then I just fling them into some random place in the world of FMA.
You have to be good at reading people's characters at this time. Your character would clearly be in shock, as they were just killed. Your character wouldn't just be shocked one moment, then up and around looking for Edward afterwards. How would you feel if you had just been killed? You would probably just lie on the ground in shock and terror.
This makes my character pretty much useless in the beginning, but that's what character development is for. Because of my character's lack of ability to move about, I get someone to notice them. If you're feeling like a challenge, then make it one of the important characters. Of course, your character should not still jump up and greet them. NEWS FLASH: YOU JUST DIED!
They might even need medical help. Remember the rules of equivilent exchange. Dying just isn't enough; that happened before you were flung through the gate.
This is when some people decide to alter their characters to make them more interesting. Pink hair and cat ears do not come with equivilent exchange. Remember, you have to lose something to gain something. In this case, in order to stay alive you have to lose something vital and it has to be physical.
Maybe your character loses one of their senses (try to avoid making it touch.) or maybe their limbs get torn off. This gives you more of an excuse for your character to be moved out. They meet people at hospitals. If they still have their legs they might have thought everything through while in the hospital room (this has to take at least half a chapter.) and decide to look around.
They can meet anyone here. The FMA group are reckless and tend to injure themselves a lot so they probably visit the hospital a lot. One thing you must avoid doing though is making them meet one of the major characters straight away; save that for later on. (Unless they are indeed from the FMA world and already know the major ones a bit and Major Armstrong *most likely* came to visit.)
And finally. Don't make it so your character knows all about the FMA world because they read all the manga. THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT EXCITING! Your character needs to be basically hopeless on the way so they learn and adapt without the help of the books. Also, they can NOT bring in modern technology to the FMA world. That also won't work. In fact, people will think they're a spy from another country or something.
Basically, leave your character deprived of all basic support like information on the world and technology. This could also work as comic relief at times.
It's easier and more believable if your character has a normalish appearance and feels terrified at the beginning if they are not from the FMA world.
If they are from the FMA world then think out their personality properly. Are they stubborn? Do they want to know what caused Hues' death because they were friends? That can get them into the main plot.
No super alchemy powers without a circle are needed. Just some guns and some good old chalk. Maybe some good fighting skills and black mail will also work.
That's it for this chapter. It's kinda lame but thank you if you somehow managed to endure all this ranting. If you want advice on anything else then message me and I'll see what I can do.
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