SMALL PARTS
It was Konstantin Stanislavski, known for his revolutionary work on the craft of acting, who said, ‘there are no small parts, only small actors’. And for me the same is true for characters in a story.
It’s easy to concentrate on and obsess about our main character, the heroine of the story, the character in whom a change is wrought. And well we should.
But supporting characters play a crucial role in the structure of a story and sometimes turning a spotlight on them can not only deepen your scenes throughout, but also get you out of a stuck place, by helping you imagine reactions and actions relating to the story events that are not the main character’s reactions or actions, yet could help to move the story along.
It’s important to remember that although you are concentrating most heavily on your main character’s towline through the story, the cause and effect in their reactions and motivations, most of the other characters aren’t thinking in this way. For every supporting character, as it is in our own lives, the story you are writing is theirs; they are the lead actor. This is a story of what they did in response to the events the author is showing us, how they reacted and behaved, to get what they wanted or needed. The book is actually about them. They are the most important person in every scene. They have an agenda which they truly believe will provide the best outcome. For the protagonist, sometimes, but also and mostly for themselves.
We need supporting characters for a few reasons.
Variety – even in stories where the protagonist is isolated from other humans, it often happens they become fixated and form a bond with an animal or an intimate object (think the football in the film, Castaway).
And the aim of creating these bonds leads us to another reason we need secondary characters: Conflict. No conflict can exist without another person (or creature, or object). And these other characters, who are the protagonists of their own stories, have their own back story and their own goals, which may or may not align with your main character’s goals. These conflicting goals are part of what aids or frustrates the main character’s agenda. And these conflicting goals can sometimes lead to subplots that add a greater depth and reality to your central story, providing another example of whatever you are trying to show us thematically. When you explore where your supporting characters have come from (history) and where they want to go (goal), you can potentially uncover material for an interesting subplot.
Finally, secondary characters can really help when it comes to seeing the protagonist. They shine a light on that protagonist from a different angle, via their dialogue, via the actions the supporting character draws out of the main character in a scene, and via the supporting characters’ internal thoughts, if the point of view you have chosen allows this.
Here are some Secondary Character Archetypes:
Antagonists. Exist primarily to create conflict and danger. To place the deepest challenges in the protagonist’s path, the highest roadblocks. It’s the protagonist’s response to this character’s actions that create the central story.
Allies. The people who help, who are on the protagonist’s side. They often raise the stakes because they are loved and valued by the protagonist, hence she dreads losing them.
Assistants/Advisors. Provide guidance and information, sometimes fill in back story.
Sidekick. Stand alongside the protagonist on their journey. Don’t need to be human.
Foil. These characters exist mainly to present a contrast with the main character, to give an example of someone with differing inner qualities, who when faced with the same situation, makes different choices.
It’s important to remember that any one of these archetypes can evolve within a story, jumping from one role to another, from mentor to antagonist, for instance, or from advisor to an active ally, directly involved in a crisis.
EXERCISE:
Here’s an exercise we sometimes do in my Groups. It involves a grid, which is always fun.
SECONDARY CHARACTER GRID
Now, using the grid, if you choose to:
1. Down the left-hand column, write the names of four or five secondary characters whose stance on the events in the protagonist’s central story you want to explore.
2. Across the column headings, write four or five events that happen in your central story. These are external factual events that anyone could observe, big or small, e.g. protagonist fails her medical school exam, a bomb explodes in the hotel where the protagonist is staying, a baby is born, etc…
3. In the boxes that link each event to each character, take some loose notes, in any form you wish, regarding what each secondary character feels about each of these events, their attitude toward what happened, anything this event makes them believe or decide, any action they decide to take because of it. If they were not present for it, think about when and where and how they heard about this event, where they were when it happened. If they were not present and they never hear about this event, just write N/A in this box.
Next, try two short blasts of writing. (Ten minutes is approximately the time we take in class.)
Choose two of these secondary characters you have explored in the grid and free-write a mini-scene, or monologue. This writing should not be used for back story of these secondary characters. It is about their stance toward the event in the main story, their own relationship to it. You could start by referencing the event itself, i.e, when she stole the money…or you could start creating the scene in which they take a new action in response to the event. You can use 1st person or third. Just write a little section in which they have become the most important character of this same story you are already telling.
No small parts, just small writers.