More often than not, the normal world establishes our principal characters. It is best if the audience is introduced to these people as early as possible in the story, but it is not a requirement that we meet them right at the top. We must learn whose story it is that we will be expected to follow. We ought to discover what the protagonist does, how he operates in the world, what his dreams are—not necessarily his story goal, though that can be expressed here, too—and what his flaw is (we’ll cover the importance of your protagonist’s flaw in the chapter on character).
