Depicting a routine without being repetitive?

[lonewolfwanderer]

In your introduction you want to show your character's usual routine before upsetting the pattern, so to speak. But you don't want it to come across as being repetitive. How would you do this?

 

[Brian G Turner]

Put the character in the foreground, and the routine in the background - with some form of conflict that the character has to wrestle with.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

It's like writing a character who is supposed to be bore everyone else, without boring readers.

Certainly you can liven up the routine with what the character is thinking about as he automatically goes through his routine. He can be noticing important things that are going to need his attention, worrying about things that have nothing to do with what he is doing. (This provides business to go with his internal monologue.) Or he can be talking with other characters, perhaps in conflict, perhaps hearing or sharing disquieting news, etc. The challenge is to do these things without making it all look like thinly disguised info dump.

And try to find things to say that suggest some parts of the routine without actually describing them.

 

[Alexander2]

As you go describe each step of the routine start each new item (or series of items if it's a very long routine) with the same word or phrase. This should add a musical quality that helps it flow better.