Heeey.
So I decided to drop the Questionnaires subject since first - I think it is clear why u need them, and second - finishing them for I and Cheyara’s new story was hellllllll. It is soooo dang time consuming it’s insane actually, but regardless - darn helpful.
So instead I’ll dig into supporting characters.
Creating Meaningful Supporting Characters
Questionnaires are great for the main cast, but if you will try to do them for supporting cast - you’re gonna kill yourself or drop the story. But the fact we don’t know everything there is to know about supports doesn’t mean they have to be bland. You still can create interesting likable characters, that might even become the reader’s favorites.
To be honest, it isn’t really rare to meet Episode stories where supporting cast is almost non-existent, and I can get why. Many authors, who just begin writing might think that the story is about the main character/-s so they should focus on them. And even when there are some side characters, they are very basic, and mostly their lives revolve around main characters, and outside of them, these characters have no meaning.
You can’t carry the entire story just on one character’s shoulders. Supporting cast not only creates a more realistic and far interesting world but also does a lot to help to build your character arc and personality.
In essence, the protagonist creates the rest of the cast. All other characters are in a story first and foremost because of the relationship they strike to the protagonist and the way each helps to delineate the dimensions of the protagonist’s complex nature.
Robert McKee
Supporting character should add these things to the story:
- They should offer different personalities that differ from your main character. It means adding real diversity to your story - different personalities, not just skin color or sexuality.
- They should influence the main character/-s. If your side character doesn’t have any impact on your main cast - this character probably is very unnecessary, and isn’t a side character at all, more like a background character.
- They should affect the story. Think about this - how different would be the story if you removed this side character? If the answer is “It wouldn’t” then your side character is meaningless.
How to shape your side characters
- Give them one or two defining traits
This isn’t really about the main traits, but rather ones that will make this character memorable, that stand out. - Create their story
You have your whole story to dig into MC’s past and explain his/her motives and development. You don’t have this much time with side characters. But a few sentences should be enough to outline this character’s experience that made them the way they are now. We don’t need little details, like favorite color, or food, because really, no one gives a fuck. A chunk of their past that defines their personality should be enough.
- Avoid making side characters as your own voice of reason.
And we tend to do that a lot. We make character act the way, that it kinda guides main characters the way we want them to as authors. This makes the character be too perfect, too sterile. To avoid it - just add flaws to all supporting characters as well. Even one flaw will change your whole character. - Tag them somewhere
How damn often I see, that authors teleport side characters anywhere they need. These coincidences are just killing me. To avoid this bullshit, mark some places where this character is likely to be. This should be reasonable. - Keep in mind what your side characters mean to the main character
Basically, what matters to your protagonist’s matters to your readers. It is like manipulating your readers by using the protagonist. - Double introduction trick
So basically the first thing you do is mention this character in some conversation, or even monologue. But not just “I saw CHARACTER yesterday”, but mention something attention-catching about these characters, like… “Then Annie went nuts and called Spirit a whore.” Then later, you introduce this character. And the reader remembers them and is kinda eager to know more about this character. - Create their own unique way of speaking
It is complicated if you think about it at first. We tend to project our own way of speaking on our characters. And then they all sound the same. Take a look at how other people speak and try implementing them in different characters.
- Give them a plot
Now it doesn’t mean that you have to explain the change inside the character’s personality or/and life. You might just as well create the visibility of it. The thing with the characters - they have to change in some way in the course of the story. If they stay the same - they are just boring. You don’t necessarily have to explain the change in character, but the change must be at some point. - Decide which supporting characters are forgetable.
Let’s be real. If you have over 50-60-70 supporting characters, you, of course, can make them all stand out and colorful and flamboyant. But. First of all, it is extremely hard, and secondly - unnecessary. Readers have only that much of mental capacity. Some characters are going to fulfill a plot function without having any personality to speak of, and that’s okay, as long as you have meaningful and memorable side characters.
Thirsty for Blood
It is a very bold move to kill your main character or let’s say, not the main character, but the part of the main cast. Killing supporting character to add dramatism or maybe get a sobby reaction from your reader? Sounds like a plan.
Let’s take a look at two supporting characters deaths in Game of Thrones, honoring new trailer that came out yesterday ^^ 
So, first of all, it is safe to say there is no main character in any way. There is a full cast of main characters each and every one of whom is extremely important, and here I’m gonna talk only about protagonists, so it excludes Cercei for sure.
Spoilers for up to season 6, guys
So the death of Myrcella, at the end of 5th season and Tommen, who dies at the end of 6th season.
Both are truly supportive characters, despite Tommen being a king in the 6th season.
I know it is different for everyone, but honestly, I cried when Myrcella died, contrary to when Tommen did, which is weird at first. Both characters have their arcs, positive personalities. So what is so different about Myrcella’s death?
She didn’t mean much until this very episode. Yes, Cercei was upset about her leaving to Dorne, but we aren’t really sympathetic toward her. It changed in this very episode, to be exact minutes before her death. Jamie, one of the main characters, with I guess the greatest character’s development in the whole series, confesses that he is her father, and Myrcella says that she knows, and she loves him and is proud to be his daughter. She is important for Jamie, they build this instant connection, and we love to see this emotional side of Jamie. That’s why her death is so sad. Because this side character means a lot to the main character.
Tommen death, on the contrary, is kinda… unemotional? We never actually saw this father-son bond between Tommen and Jamie, heck, even Cersei, and Tommen. We know that he is their son, and he means something to them, but we never actually see this emotional side in their interaction.
To summarize. The death of the side character will have an emotional response from your reader if your side character actually means something to your protagonist.
The important thing is not to show what the supporting character does, but to show how those things are important to the protagonist.
Who else is excited for the Game of Thrones season 8 in April? ^^
- Me!
- Not me.
- Game of what?