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It got me thinking, because I’ve seen many books written by secondary characters from a series, like Destroy Me (yet unreleased) by Tahereh Mafi written from the Shatter Me antagonist’s POV, and The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa written from the Iron Fey Series love interest’s POV. Veronica Roth even released a scene from the love interest’s POV of her Divergent series titled Free Four and Stephanie Meyer wrote The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, written from a minor character’s POV from the Twilight series.
It got me thinking, because we writers tend to be pretty good at developing our protagonists, love interests and antagonists, but what about the rest of the cast? What about the minor characters and secondary (non-love interest) characters? Those tend to get less attention.
Unless you’re a plotting master/first drafter extraordinaire, it’s not easy to develop minor and secondary characters as well as you’ve (hopefully) developed the protagonist and other major characters in the first draft—hell, even fully developing your protagonist and major characters in the first draft is quite an accomplishment on its own. But as you start working through revisions, it may be a good time to take a good look at the characters that didn’t get as much attention at the beginning of the writing process. How well do you know them? Is there room for growth that you could incorporate into the plot?
I’m not suggesting that you delve into the background of every character in your book (at least, not within the prose, anyway). All I’m saying is that every character is important, and if you intend to make them more than cardboard cut-outs, you’ll need to take some time getting to know them, so that they come alive on the page.
Don’t sell your minor characters short. If you take the time to develop them, I think you might find that many of them will turn out to be just as interesting and fun to develop as your major characters.
UPDATE: I found the quote! It was a tweet from agent Jonny Geller:
Make your reader want to read the unwritten novel of your minor characters as well.Do you take the time to get to know your minor characters? What is your favorite minor character from a book?
— jonny geller (@jonnygeller) September 3, 2012
17 comments:
This is very true -- think of all the characters in book series that started of as minor characters, but were so likeable they got developed more (I'm thinking of Fred and George Weasley here, hands down some of my favorite HP characters). I think that's a good way to look at the minor characters -- would I want to read their story, or would it be like watching paint dry?
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I think this is exactly why I love stories like the Harry Potter series, and the 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series (Game of Thrones). Every character has a weight to them in the universe. There are no ancillary characters in the sense you feel as though you know more about the main characters simply because that's who our spotlight is shining on. There's always a feeling that if we were able to follow any of the other characters, the story would still be interesting, and just as deep. If JK re-wrote the books from Professor Sprout, or Malfoy's POV I think it wouldn't be an odd read for fans of the series, because she already did such a great job of building them in our minds.
Not much in the way of page numbers was devoted to those characters, but you feel (as a reader) you know them inside and out nonetheless.
As you said, it's not an easy thing to master as a storyteller, but well worth the effort to try.
I absolutely agree with you--I haven't read the A Song of Ice and Fire series, but from what I've heard from people who have, one thing they really enjoyed was the depth and variety of the characters, which is something that stuck with me while reading the Harry Potter series as well. It's a process, and a difficult one at that, but the end result is a fantastic series with a fully developed world.
Fred and George Weasley are fantastic examples--I think most Harry Potter fans have them somewhere on their list of favorite characters. :)
I'd be all about reading some spin-off series of the adventures of Fred and George Weasley. :-P
You make some good points here, Ava. Keeping the main characters the main characters is important, so that the reader doesn't start to wonder who exactly the story is supposed to be about anyway; but without at least a few well-rounded supporting and minor characters, even a strong main character's story will start to feel flat with no one for them to relate to.
It's just like real life--we all have our close family and BFFs, our acquaintances and hang-out pals, and then our short-term acquaintances or that guy we see at the bus stop every day. Even if we don't know everything about those people, they're just as real and you and I and they have a full life.
Characters are people, too. ;-)
Good point, Ava! They definitely should have significance and/or be relatable and interesting, just like everything you choose to keep in those precious 100k or so words of your novel. If they aren't important, don't write them.
I think Madge from The Hunger Games is one of these - very minor, but you feel like she could have her own story. Great points, now I've got to work on bringing to life my own characters!
Oh, yes! Every last character leaves a mark. For me, creating and developing characters is one of the best parts of writing. I'm no "plotting master/first drafter extraordinaire," but I do have a 50+ page list of all my characters' hopes, fears, dreams, history, tendencies; you name it, it's there--for every last one of them. Sure, it takes time, but hey, it gives you so much more to work with and you discover plot twists and ideas you never knew you had. If you haven't tried it yet, I recommend it. It'll only help you. :)
Interesting post - I've actually started writing some short stories based on some lesser characters in my novel. When I'm done, I'll use them as a marketing tool to attract readers to my novel.
I think that is a good way to 'flesh out' the lesser characters in a book. It's kind of fun as a writer, because you can pick choose who you want to explore and whether you want to look at the dark side or light side at the same time.
I think my favorite minor character is probably Garet Jax from Wishsong of Shannara by Terry Brooks. Without him, the novel wouldn't work, and he is well-developed as a character, yet at the same time, he has next to no backstory.
Great point about relating characters to real life, Grace. I'm relatively sure I've said this before, but we are all the center of our own universes in that each one of us has our own story that we're starring in, and our characters should be no different. :)
Thank you, Margaret! That's very true about writing--if whatever you're working on isn't essential, then it shouldn't be there. Great point!
Madge! How could I forget? Great example, Emily--thanks for stopping by! ^_^
Wow! Having in-depth character profiles for all of your characters is quite a project (and a fantastic accomplishment at that--great job!). I can only imagine how much time it takes you to create it, but I imagine it most certainly comes in handy while writing.
I've only ever written a full scene from a non-POV character once, but it was an interesting experience I'll probably do again in the future. As you said, it can be a great way to explore the character in more depth, and sometimes they surprise you with the things they reveal to you when you take the time to step into their minds.
I've never read Wishsong of Shannara but judging by your description of Garet Jax, I can see why he'd fit as a great example. :)
I really like Jamie's idea of writing a scene or short story with a minor character to get to know them. I think sometimes when we write it's so easy for use to slip over small details of the minor characters that brings them to life in order to press the story on and get the main character where they need to be. Or at least I know I am guilty of that and have to go back and revise. Thanks for the great post Ava.
Minor characters are pretty notoriously easy to overlook, unless you make a point of developing them while brainstorming and outlining. Even if it happens in revision, just remember to take the time to get to know every character at least enough to save them from cardboard-cut-out syndrome is very helpful and Jamie's idea of including them in a separate writing is a fantastic way to get a peek into their heads.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Susan!
Unfortunately, I have no idea. Sorry about that. I'd keep researching.
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