DAY 27
This month of daily writing advice will include tidbits, tips, and sometimes tricks. This isn’t a replacement for editing or book coaching, it’s meant as a jumping off point for exploration and thought! I hope it helps! ~Amy
Amy xo
TWO TIPS FOR SECONDARY CHARACTERS
Your secondary characters need love too, and they need to be as carefully created as your main character — just don’t tell her.
My two biggest tips for creating engaging secondary characters are:
Each secondary character must have her own arc.
To me, this means, a little story of their own going on — a subplot if you will, a storyline. Each must have her own beginning, middle, end. That character doesn’t know she’s in someone else’s story!! But…
Each secondary character must to serve the main character’s story.
EVERYTHING in your novel helps to drive the main story forward, even a secondary character’s personal storyline. Ask yourself HOW it does this to make sure, but more importantly ask yourself WHY.
This is something hard to do but easy to check. Go back through your manuscript or outline and focus on your main secondary characters (not the townspeople, as I call them). Note what she’s doing in a scene — why is she there? How is her own story being furthered? How is it impacting the protagonist and the main storyline?
Hope that’s helpful.
We’re getting down to the wire here (cliche).
SEE YOU TOMORROW!
Amy xo
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I have really enjoyed reading your tips every day. Some are familiar and some are new. Thanks for doing this, It’s been fun.
I am currently on my second pass of my WIP and your daily writing tips have been incredibly helpful to me as I continue to write, rewrite, edit, and more edits!! This post in particular came at the perfect time as I was working on improving my approach to the secondary characters in my novel. Thanks much for the guidance!!!
After writing my first novel only to discover it was too short, I learned about the importance of secondary characters and subplots the hard way.
Thanks for all your tips. I’ve enjoyed reading them.