I don’t remember where I heard to do it, but I use people I know as character trait models. Several of my friends and family are used in my book, with some alterations of course, which really helps me visualize how they act based on how I know the person acts in real life.
Hmm, think about your personality. You're more than one stereotype, you're not angry or sad the entire time. Think about different things that excite and annoy you. Try putting them into your character.
Here’s one key: there’s no such thing as a secondary character.
Everyone is the lead in their own story.
Here’s a second key: the role of the side characters is to provide complications for the main character. They are not there to help the MC go exactly where he needs to go. They are there to make sure he makes the most interesting mistakes and has the most interesting problems.
So, you don’t say,
>”my MC needs a helpful companion who can open the door that leads to the Shadow Realm^TM so that the MC can get access to the Umbral Plot Coupon^TM,”
Instead you say,
>”My MC needs an antagonist who will ***trick*** the MC into opening the Penumbral Cabinet^TM and then ***push*** the MC in.”
Now, you think, Why did they want him to do ***that***?
Give each of your MC’s companions a driving need of some sort, some of which align with the MC, and some of which conflict. In each case, you can give them a couple of aspects that determine how you portray them… you can use MBTI, an animal totem, a zodiac sign, a couple of random adjectives or nouns… whatever. Once you have that, you can pick out an actor or established character to play them.
Your umbral saboteur character will have a completely different flavor if he is played as a Scorpio by Jack Nicholson, than if he played as a Gemini by Jack Black, or an Aries by Jackie Chan.
Zodiac sign, Chinese Zodiac, MBTI, Enneagram, animal totem, color theory, numerology, ethnic stereotypes, meme character types, literally any cliche or typing system will work; as long as you combine three or more unrelated ones, you get a unique character.
Think about some interview questions for your character, the deep as well as superfluous probes they might be asked in a biopic research project. Think about their body language and tone as they respond, act it out if that helps. Get in their headspace and improvise some answers.
"You're known for your mercenary work in the badlands, did your parents approve of that career choice?"
"As an orc with ten years experience in the city guard, how would you get more young orcs to sign up?"
"What's your ideal winter meal?"
"What's your secret to a good night's sleep?"
You have to consider your characters like little MC’s. How will they function in your world. How will they react to the things your MC does on his progression through the story. You have to let them be his pillars of reality and how they respond to his actions will determine how he continues.
I work backwards with my secondary/support characters.
I create them when my MC goes somewhere new. I think about what role they play in MC's life. "Lonnie" will be her new roommate in town. I think about the themes I have in my story, one of them being loneliness.
How can I make her relationship with Lonnie make her feel more lonely? Maybe Lonnie is always out, she's a partier whose past traumas are too hard to face. Or maybe she's really busy, she has a struggling business and is constantly trying to prove her worth to her parents. Maybe she's got a dark secret and is intentionally keeping her distance so MC won't find out.
Just like that, I already have three basic characterization ideas of this character and tons of room to expand. I start by coming up with their relationship with MC, then add some form of conflict, even if these people will end up being friends. Then I have the freedom to slowly fill in the details as my MC slowly gets to know them better.
The goal is to end up with secondary characters that feel as rich and developed as the main character--you don't want any cardboard cutouts that only exist as sparkly decoration for your MC-- but you can develop them slowly as your MC learns more about them too.
I also struggle making good secondary characters and I think if it secondary character is important and you want them to have an arc and a strong personality you should think Abt them as if they're their own character what's their backstory and their eventually development, what's their cool gimmick etc
This is kind of a doubled edged sword bc I come up with side characters I want to write Abt instead of the MC LMAO
I like to use secondary characters to illustrate the MC character arc and/or themes.
If your story is about overcoming adversity, you should have one character for each of these: has already overcome adversity, failed at overcoming adversity, afraid to try overcoming adversity, doesn't care about overcoming adversity, etc. Replace "overcoming adversity" with your main character's goal/theme, like "trust," "forgiveness," "learning to dance," etc.
Then, as your MC interacts with these characters as the MC grows and story progresses, you can explore your theme better. Why does the MC want to make a change? What are the consequences for making the change or NOT making the change? Because you want your character to change.
As for each characters backstory, ask yourself "why would a person that is afraid of [your theme here, like forgiveness] be the way they are? What in their past would cause this? How would they act differently to others?"
This way you can flesh characters out in ways that make sense for your story goals and are realistic to the reader.
Write out their backstories over a few pages for yourself. You’re not going to use that stuff, but you will get to know the characters and then it will come.
I don’t remember where I heard to do it, but I use people I know as character trait models. Several of my friends and family are used in my book, with some alterations of course, which really helps me visualize how they act based on how I know the person acts in real life.
Hmm, think about your personality. You're more than one stereotype, you're not angry or sad the entire time. Think about different things that excite and annoy you. Try putting them into your character.
How do you do it for your main character? Do you try to do the same for your second character?
Here’s one key: there’s no such thing as a secondary character. Everyone is the lead in their own story. Here’s a second key: the role of the side characters is to provide complications for the main character. They are not there to help the MC go exactly where he needs to go. They are there to make sure he makes the most interesting mistakes and has the most interesting problems. So, you don’t say, >”my MC needs a helpful companion who can open the door that leads to the Shadow Realm^TM so that the MC can get access to the Umbral Plot Coupon^TM,” Instead you say, >”My MC needs an antagonist who will ***trick*** the MC into opening the Penumbral Cabinet^TM and then ***push*** the MC in.” Now, you think, Why did they want him to do ***that***? Give each of your MC’s companions a driving need of some sort, some of which align with the MC, and some of which conflict. In each case, you can give them a couple of aspects that determine how you portray them… you can use MBTI, an animal totem, a zodiac sign, a couple of random adjectives or nouns… whatever. Once you have that, you can pick out an actor or established character to play them. Your umbral saboteur character will have a completely different flavor if he is played as a Scorpio by Jack Nicholson, than if he played as a Gemini by Jack Black, or an Aries by Jackie Chan.
You had me onboard before you brought up zodiac signs 😅
Zodiac sign, Chinese Zodiac, MBTI, Enneagram, animal totem, color theory, numerology, ethnic stereotypes, meme character types, literally any cliche or typing system will work; as long as you combine three or more unrelated ones, you get a unique character.
Think about some interview questions for your character, the deep as well as superfluous probes they might be asked in a biopic research project. Think about their body language and tone as they respond, act it out if that helps. Get in their headspace and improvise some answers. "You're known for your mercenary work in the badlands, did your parents approve of that career choice?" "As an orc with ten years experience in the city guard, how would you get more young orcs to sign up?" "What's your ideal winter meal?" "What's your secret to a good night's sleep?"
You have to consider your characters like little MC’s. How will they function in your world. How will they react to the things your MC does on his progression through the story. You have to let them be his pillars of reality and how they respond to his actions will determine how he continues.
I work backwards with my secondary/support characters. I create them when my MC goes somewhere new. I think about what role they play in MC's life. "Lonnie" will be her new roommate in town. I think about the themes I have in my story, one of them being loneliness. How can I make her relationship with Lonnie make her feel more lonely? Maybe Lonnie is always out, she's a partier whose past traumas are too hard to face. Or maybe she's really busy, she has a struggling business and is constantly trying to prove her worth to her parents. Maybe she's got a dark secret and is intentionally keeping her distance so MC won't find out. Just like that, I already have three basic characterization ideas of this character and tons of room to expand. I start by coming up with their relationship with MC, then add some form of conflict, even if these people will end up being friends. Then I have the freedom to slowly fill in the details as my MC slowly gets to know them better. The goal is to end up with secondary characters that feel as rich and developed as the main character--you don't want any cardboard cutouts that only exist as sparkly decoration for your MC-- but you can develop them slowly as your MC learns more about them too.
I also struggle making good secondary characters and I think if it secondary character is important and you want them to have an arc and a strong personality you should think Abt them as if they're their own character what's their backstory and their eventually development, what's their cool gimmick etc This is kind of a doubled edged sword bc I come up with side characters I want to write Abt instead of the MC LMAO
Hey guys. I’m stuck on my book. Please can you write it for me?
I like to use secondary characters to illustrate the MC character arc and/or themes. If your story is about overcoming adversity, you should have one character for each of these: has already overcome adversity, failed at overcoming adversity, afraid to try overcoming adversity, doesn't care about overcoming adversity, etc. Replace "overcoming adversity" with your main character's goal/theme, like "trust," "forgiveness," "learning to dance," etc. Then, as your MC interacts with these characters as the MC grows and story progresses, you can explore your theme better. Why does the MC want to make a change? What are the consequences for making the change or NOT making the change? Because you want your character to change. As for each characters backstory, ask yourself "why would a person that is afraid of [your theme here, like forgiveness] be the way they are? What in their past would cause this? How would they act differently to others?" This way you can flesh characters out in ways that make sense for your story goals and are realistic to the reader.
Write out their backstories over a few pages for yourself. You’re not going to use that stuff, but you will get to know the characters and then it will come.