Guest Post: The Seven Essential Aspects of a Strong Secondary Character
A story with no secondary characters is like a play without an ensemble. Without a strong supporting cast bringing the plot to life, the main characters would wander around aimlessly with no direction or conflict to spur them on. The best kind of books have a strong selection of secondary characters that readers fall in love with and want to see succeed in their endeavors, even more than the protagonist sometimes. But it is equally important not to let them take over the story or become so complicated that they overshadow the main character.
About The Author:
Cady Hammer has been a writer for most of her life. From the time she was eleven years old writing her first novel between classes, she always looked to the world to bring inspiration. Cady is now the author of the Chasing Fae Trilogy and spends her time at the College of William and Mary pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in History and minoring in Anthropology. She hopes to one day become a bestselling author alongside her desired career in museum work.
A story with no secondary characters is like a play without an ensemble.
Without a strong supporting cast bringing the plot to life, the main characters would wander around aimlessly with no direction or conflict to spur them on. The best kind of books have a strong selection of secondary characters that readers fall in love with and want to see succeed in their endeavors, even more than the protagonist sometimes. But it’s equally important not to let them take over the story or become so complicated that they overshadow the main character.
My latest book, Chasing War, was my first writing project that needed a large number of supporting characters that each played a significant role in the plot. Each of them needed their own voice, and it took a lot of planning to make sure that each had their chance to shine without feeling like carbon copies of each other.
Today, I would like to share with you what I learned through the writing process, including the seven essential aspects of strong secondary characters that I identified and honed to craft an engaging cast of side characters.
Aspect #1: A reason to be in the protagonist’s path
When you’re thinking about the types of secondary characters you want in your story, the first thing to consider is the role that the character plays in the protagonist’s story.
Each character needs a reason to enter the main character’s life and a specific pathway that runs their story into the protagonist’s. For example, a soldier may enter an adventurer’s life as a friend and eventually evolve into a love interest, or an old mentor who has watched the character grow up has been secretly rooting for the character to fail all along in a dramatic reveal of their role as the antagonist.
Picking the character’s role is often the first thing I come up with before building their traits. Which brings me to…
Aspect #2: A fully developed personality
Just like your main character, secondary characters need to have a well-balanced personality. This means you need to showcase both strengths and flaws evenly.
There is nothing more boring than reading a character that is all good or all bad. None of us are defined by any one trait, so why should the fictional characters we create be any different?
When I am in the first draft stage and still developing who my characters will be and where they will go, I like to start with a shortlist of positive and negative traits that my secondary characters embody. It gives me a framework to build from as I develop the plot.
Aspect #3: A strong point-of-view shaped by life experiences
People view the world and other people based on their own life experiences, past and present. Our characters should also be looking at the world through the lens of their experiences, so it’s important to build them a backstory.
This backstory doesn’t have to be as extensive as the one that you build for your protagonist, but it should have enough details that you can summon an incident at will when needed to explain a character’s decision.
I often jot down a few notes about my character’s worldview before I start writing and during the writing process when I need to ground a decision in a character’s history. For example, one of my characters has an overdeveloped sense of duty before everything else based on both his family upbringing and his military training. This causes him to make decisions that take him away from what he wants for what he sees as the greater good.
Aspect #4: A unique voice
When you’re working with multiple secondary characters, it’s important to make sure that they all have unique voices. This should be showcased through dialogue, tone, and even general mannerisms.
Personally, I like to imagine how each of the characters speaks, to hear their voice in my head and picture how their face and body move when they speak.
The best way to make sure your characters’ voices are different enough from each other is to get multiple opinions on your writing. Find a few beta readers who can tell you if your secondary characters all sound the same or which characters stand out to them. It can be invaluable knowledge for you as an author.
Aspect #5: Independent goals and motivations
The key element to any good secondary character is their own goals and motivations independent from the protagonist. They should be on their own path. Sometimes that path runs parallel to the protagonist, and other times, it runs directly opposite.
If your characters are positively crossing paths, they likely have obstacles that they must overcome together to keep going. But this doesn’t mean that things should always run smoothly. It’s more exciting to see characters disagree and debate over a choice than agree about everything all the time.
Above all, secondary characters need their own objectives and to go after those objectives at all times. Unless you’re making a specific character choice for them to abandon their personal cause for the protagonist’s cause or the greater good. Now that is great storytelling.
Aspect #6: A full character arc
Now that you have all of these elements in play, you must be sure that you’re taking your secondary characters somewhere as you’re writing them.
It isn’t enough to have a strong character at the beginning of the story and a strong character at the end. You have to showcase growth. You have to take your character somewhere and show that evolutionary change that comes with being on a journey, whether a physical or emotional one.
Although your main character’s character arc comes first, you shouldn’t neglect the arcs of your other characters.
Aspect #7: A secondary role
Finally, after everything I’ve just shared, I have one final piece of advice: As detailed and full as your secondary characters must be, don’t let them take over your story. Don’t let them outshine your main character — or you might as well write a completely different book dedicated to their journey.
That’s always an option, to write a story from one of your secondary character’s perspectives. Just be sure finish to finish your current book first!
Expect the unexpected when you take your place in Fae society…
When Grace arrives at the House of the Evening, she is instantly thrust into the world of the Fae nobility. As the heir to a throne she didn’t even realize was hers, she has to navigate magical education, complex traditions, and a stepfamily she never asked for.
With her new tutor, Talon, and Aiden by her side, Grace steps out into the Upper Realm as Lady of the House of the Evening only to find a war exploding under her gaze led by the House of Darkness. With minimal training and outdated laws keeping her from stepping up for the war effort, she and Aiden must quickly strategize against the invaders while searching in earnest for the remaining six prophecy members.
As the war rages on and more pieces of the puzzle fall into place, Grace must make a decision about who to trust and how to lead.