The Core Character
A Cypher character is defined by a descriptive sentence like a Charming Wizard who Rides the Lightning or a Stealthy Tech who Talks to Machines. But before you get to looking at the parts of that sentence, you start with the core of a character, which gives you your basic stats, a couple of skills, and a few other game bits that every character needs (like how many wounds you can take). A core character is an entirely playable (if slightly uninteresting) character. As a core character, you know how to perform common actions and interact with the world the GM presents.
Later chapters explain additional things you get for having a type, focus, and descriptor—all those interesting words in the character sentence like "Charming," "Stealthy," "Barbarian," "Android," "Employs Magnetism," "Fights Dirty," and so on. These things layer on top of your core character to make you capable, dynamic, and extraordinary. We'll get to those later (you'll see notes throughout the chapter about additional things your type, focus, and descriptor give you).
First, look through this chapter to see what you get as a core character, and record this info on your character sheet.
If you don't have a premade character sheet, you can make your own or just use a blank paper or page from a notebook.