Great secondary characters

Ivan Vorpatril in the Bujold's Vorkosigan saga. He is a very different character to the hyperactive Miles and being his cousin has known him forever. So he both moves the story on and shortens the storytelling - as in he's able to say "oh, not that again, he hasn't done that in five years" or "he's in one of his funks" and then briskly moves the story on by dropping Miles in a bath of ice water to get him out of the funk.

He's now got his own book (which I'm waiting to come out in paperback, so no spoilers please).
 
Secondary characters only exist to help the MC drive the story. Effectively they can an extension of the MC, helping them in their character development, or being a plot aid. Because of this we don't have to think about them so much and there is freedom in using them for all kinds of things that our hero wouldn't/couldn't do. I don't think it's a problem, though probably the best exercise, if you feel it becomes one is to ask: if this character didn't exist, what would be the repercussions for the Hero? How would they change? (the MC). One of my secondary characters threatened to take over the whole story, and I had to slap him down, as he was showing my hero up...:eek:
 
Regardless of their appeal or unique voice, keep every character driving the plot forward. All your hard work will sleep closed on a dusty bookshelf if people lose interest in what's happening. Make the secondaries relevant and not a simple sidetrack. I'm a stickler for progress, so if I feel the author has used an entire chapter just for laughs or filler, I'll move on. I wants my stories, dagnabit!
 
My secondaries are usually the ones beta readers attach themselves to and I tend to not see them as secondary characters just none POV ones. Even with minor characters I tend to put as much effort into them as any other character.

With my urban fantasy a secondary character looks like she may open the story.

In reading yes - I love Temperance Brennan's sister, Puddleglum from Narnia, Theodore Laurence from Little Women, Mr & Mrs Bennet in Pride and Prejudice in my opinion make the book etc The other characters and their interactions with the main character for me make the story.
 
I agree, secondary characters are much freer to write for. I've found when ive been writing that the main character is the plot vehicle and often comes across quiote neutral, I almost find it quite hard to get his personality across, yet with the secondary characters its easy.

I dont really mind because I want the main character to be someone most people can relate to and I want people to really like the secondary characters. It helps make his reaction (and hopefully the readers reaction) all the more powerful when I start to kill some of the larger than life secondary characters off :)
 
AnyaKimlin said:
…Mr & Mrs Bennet in Pride and Prejudice in my opinion make the book etc The other characters and their interactions with the main character for me make the story.
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I agree! I always agonize more whether Jane and Bingly will end up together more than Liz and Darcy. They seem like an obvious fit, but there is so much against Jane and Bingly and so many other things have to fall in place just right for them to even have the confidence to look at each other that they seemed doomed to tragedy from the first smile.
 
Montero said:
Ivan Vorpatril in the Bujold's Vorkosigan saga. He is a very different character to the hyperactive Miles and being his cousin has known him forever. So he both moves the story on and shortens the storytelling - as in he's able to say "oh, not that again, he hasn't done that in five years" or "he's in one of his funks" and then briskly moves the story on by dropping Miles in a bath of ice water to get him out of the funk.

He's now got his own book (which I'm waiting to come out in paperback, so no spoilers please).
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Oh my goodness, does he? I must have missed that somehow. I was thinking of Ivan, as well, for this thread!
 
The plot can definitely be a millstone around the MC's neck, stuck on the path the ending dictates they follow. The other characters can hop in and out of proceedings at will, and aren't incumbered by the solemnity of the serious business of saving the plot or rounding off a story arc.

Authors are free to play and have fun with their writing of secondary characters, and the results show.
 
One of my secondary characters is a paranoid female gnome who is a ranger. She ties strings around her at night with bells attached to them in case someone tries to attack her in her sleep.
 
So, that caught my attention and am trying to picture this

Is she travelling somewhere and has bells and string in her back pack she sets up every night?
Is she sleeping indoors or outdoors?
 
She has them in her pack with her at all times. If she is inside they are set up in the doorway of the room she is in about shin height. If she is outside she will try to find the most secure place possible and surround herself with the string/bells. Shes the most paranoid little gnome you could imagine.
 
Hey, Springs -

I use multiple POVs in my WIP, Home World. (Will be posting pieces of it here if I manage to come up with posts enough.)

Main question I use to determine whether a different POV is viable or not is to see whether switching POVs allows me to advance the plot while upping the tension while revealing new & necessary information that could not reasonably be revealed from the Protag's POV, and to do so all in the context of another character's perception of what's happening in the story. I don't think we as writers can afford to disregard plot advancement & character arc even with secondary characters. On t'other hand, i've got a couple folks in that novel who are very much alpha personalities & not at all content with their secondary casting. Maybe good for a sequel. Who knows?
Hope that's helpful,
Bonnie Milani
 
Bonnie Milani said:
Hey, Springs -

I use multiple POVs in my WIP, Home World. (Will be posting pieces of it here if I manage to come up with posts enough.)

Main question I use to determine whether a different POV is viable or not is to see whether switching POVs allows me to advance the plot while upping the tension while revealing new & necessary information that could not reasonably be revealed from the Protag's POV, and to do so all in the context of another character's perception of what's happening in the story. I don't think we as writers can afford to disregard plot advancement & character arc even with secondary characters. On t'other hand, i've got a couple folks in that novel who are very much alpha personalities & not at all content with their secondary casting. Maybe good for a sequel. Who knows?
Hope that's helpful,
Bonnie Milani
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It is one of the reasons i like writing third. I suspect I write close enough in pov to go into first, but I like the different characters and what they bring to the story. I kind of keep the Judge's advice to hand, that each character is a protagonist in their own story, ergo none of them have secondary personalities, but rather that the focus of the story isn't them. I also enjoy writing dialogue so a range of interacting characters lets me do that. My big learning curve in writing my second book as opposed to the first was thinking about character arcs and how they develop, I was pretty grim at this at first, and out of them all this character has evolved to the point of not protagonist, butcertainly one of the povs that keep people reading.
 
*gets out the Necromancy gear*

Just on the whole WoT thing and Primary vs Secondary characters and riffing on Harebrain's point.

For the biggest part of the series, Rand has a *huge* amount more riding on him than Perrin and Mat do. That he is a less happy character is pretty understandable.

I feel like this sort of thing often happens. The Main Character is the Main Focus of the baddies. He is a lot more likely to end up with scars. The scars force a certain story on him.
 
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