Now that you know who your main characters are inside and out, you’re ready to round out your cast! Every main character needs a sidekick, BFF, mentor, assistant, rival, antagonistic villain, etc.—someone who challenges or supports who the MC is and helps to move the story along through action, dialogue, and conflict.
Like your main character(s), it’s important to develop your supporting roles fully. A three-dimensional secondary character should be fully fleshed out and serve a role that is memorable. They may create and/or react to external forces that serve to support or get in the way of the MC’s goals.
Use the Character Bio worksheet to create your characters and dig deep! If you missed it, you can find it here.
Keep the MC in mind
As you create your supporting characters, it’s important know how they connect to your main character. Will they add to the conflict, cause trouble, or raise the stakes? Complement or contrast the main character’s weaknesses? Add relevant backstory or inflict a wound?
Determine their role and know what they have to do. Then, create the best person for the job! What qualities are necessary for your main character’s supporter and rivals to have?
Craft them fully
The most important thing to remember when creating your cast is every character must serve a purpose, and secondary characters have the biggest shoes to fill. Think Melanie Hamilton (Gone with the Wind), Professor Snape (Harry Potter), Watson (Sherlock Holmes), Carlton Banks (The Fresh Prince of Bell Air), Rue (The Hunger Games), and Rafiki (The Lion King), Maui (Moana). Memorable roles complement or contrast the main characters, yet were crafted in such a way that, in many cases, they endeared to be our favorite.
Valerie Willis goes into more depth about supporting characters on her Writer Tips blog: “Development should not stop with the main character or characters, but extend into secondary and tertiary characters. A cast of well-developed characters can help a writer move their plot as well as make their story more immersive by pulling the reader into the plot in a more intimate manner.”
Again, I find myself posing this question: What do we need to know about secondary characters? And again, I will tell you—everything! Every character you write has a worldview, life experience, and lens that filters their perspectives. The more you know about their circumstance, relationship, and motivation, the better the reader will connect.
But what does the reader need to know? Only what’s necessary to drive the story forward. What you, as the writer, knows will manifest as you craft your story.
Every who must have a why
Are you familiar with Gone with the Wind? Let’s take Melanie Hamilton, who married Ashley Wilkes, the object of Scarlett O’Hara’s affection. Where Scarlett is interesting, flawed, selfish, self-preserving, highly motivated, and strong, Melanie is quiet, reserved, and delicate. Scarlett thinks she knows what she wants, is driven to get it at any cost and has a lot of room to grow.
Scarlett portrays strength; Melanie, heart. Through Melanie’s words, and actions, we learn more about Scarlett, and Scarlett learns what’s really important to her. Over the course of the story, her priorities change, and when she’s presented with the opportunity to seize what she thought was her greatest dream, she realizes that dream wasn’t hers after all.
Your secondary characters must serve a purpose—every who must have a why. Whether they’re supporting the main character, mirroring them, adding to the conflict, or revealing information, they’re ultimately there to advance the plot. If you’re writing a series where the MCs change with each book, it’s especially important to develop your future MCs to introduce and entice readers to purchase the next book.
Make them unique
Secondary characters are crucial to adding depth to your primary characters. Be sure they act, react, and scheme in ways that keep the readers’ interest. Make them unique and memorable so that your reader doesn’t have to flip back in the story to refresh his or her memory.
Clearly define their personality. Know their wounds, hopes, and dreams. Understand where they are in life and why. Give them a quirk, job, or mannerism that readers will remember or can relate to.
You may want to list how they either strengthen or weaken your protagonist. Take Disney’s Moana, for example. While Moana needs Maui to complete her mission, he’s also her biggest obstacle. Moana’s father attempts to keep her from her destiny because of a past wound, while her grandmother inspires her to find her true self and do what she is meant to do. All serve a purpose that propels Moana and keeps her story going.
Most importantly, have fun creating your cast of supporting roles! Part 4 will highlight the differences between secondary and tertiary characters and discuss how significant or insignificant nameless or faceless characters can impact your story.
Jerold Tabbott
Looking forward to reading part four.
My novels, while they have one central character, utilize a core ensemble of characters to tell the story. I believe I’ve given readers enough detail to keep these key characters interesting. However, due to the broad scope of the stories, so far, I introduce new characters throughout, who may or may not have future roles.
Some of my new characters and scenes are ‘throwaways.’ They appear to give perspective to events swirling around independent of–but important to–the main plot. But occasionally these are interesting and useful enough that I bring them back, sometimes involving them in a sub-plot.
As example, I have an FBI agent, Bill Baxter, who originally had an almost obscure background role in my current WIP. I liked his dedicated professionalism. More importantly, as my story has evolved, he’s become an integral part to one of the more exciting sub-plots surrounding an investigation. He’s evolved too, part because of the outstanding assistance I’ve received from the FBI
Kerry Evelyn
Hi, Jerold!
Thanks for sharing! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the series. Look for Part 4 September 23rd!