Editor: Secondary characters – more interesting or less interesting?

I’ve gone and done something I swore I was not going to do and have strived to stay away from…confusing my own personal blog topics with those I ask the MuseItUp authors for our Sunday Musings.

Secondary characters and if they’ve ever taken over, been more interesting, or just demanded their own books.

My other confusion…I thought this topic was for my writer hat not editor and was all prepared to share with you two wacky characters from WIP “Derrick” who will not leave me alone. Heck, they’re not even secondary, more like fourth or tenth down the call list.

You don’t want a boring character in your story, but you do want background faces. These are the nameless figures who move through or act as dressings to the scenes. Like a movie they might have lines or none.

If you’re looking at a series, you may develop some of these more and each story they can play a larger or smaller part. Their development can take place over the course of the series and still never move from background or secondary placement.

These are the characters you main players need, that your story needs. Make them full-ish not cardboard flat.

Importantly…don’t be afraid to keep them in their secondary role and don’t be afraid to let them have their own stories either.