Do Your Secondary Characters Shine?
Supporting Characters
Samwise from LORD OF THE RINGS, Janis from MEAN GIRLS, Luna Lovegood from HARRY POTTER, Lisa from GIRL, INTERRUPTED–they all have something in common. They are supporting characters. Angelina Jolie won an Academy Award for best supporting actor for the latter.
What else do they have in common? They are all three-dimensional, fascinating characters in their own right.
All too often, secondary characters tend towards cliche–the stock best friend, love interest, funny sidekick–and they don’t seem to have a life outside of their relationship to the protagonist. They exist as sounding board (the best friend,) or as a stakes character (the love interest,) or as the comic relief that screws things up for our protagonist (the funny sidekick).
That’s a waste of page space.
Show the reader/gatekeeper your chops by developing your secondary characters with as much care as your protagonist.
Step 1:
Who are they? What are their likes and dislikes? Skills and Achilles’ heels? Most of all, what do they want? They need a motivation and a goal–just like the protagonist and the antagonist. In fact, that is the number one problem we notice with secondary characters–they don’t seem to have a goal, and they don’t take action in furtherance of that goal. They often exist purely for the protagonist’s sake. Make sure your supporting players have a reason to be.
Step 2:
Is there a reason for their relationship with the protagonist? In other words, what are they getting out of it? All too often, we see protagonist/supporting player relationships that are a boon for the protagonist, but we have no clue why the secondary character bothers with this person, the protagonist. Hint: the supporting character relationship is also a great way to show different sides to your protagonist.
Step 3:
What are the supporting players’ personality quirks? Often, we find supporting characters who are almost devoid of personality because their main job is to be a sounding board for the protagonist or a damsel in distress to activate the hero. What are they like? Are they insecure blabbermouths who neurotically munch on pumpkin seeds? Or brainiacs who work on physics equations in their spare time? Maybe they are goody-two-shoes who never walk past a homeless person without trying to help? Give your secondary characters as much personality as your protagonist.
Now go get ’em.