Developing Side Characters

I won’t take the name of the book, but its side characters were so undeveloped, I couldn’t make it till the end. Eight siblings live together but since the author was only concerned with the protagonist, she got married and had children. As for the rest? Two died, while the other five decided to live like hermits with no family. Really? The author couldn’t have spared two lines about how at least one of them finds a spouse?

Within the story, your protagonist is the most important character. But as a writer, you get an aerial view of the story and by now you must know just how important side characters are. If you start them off with a side story and don’t finish it, it’s a loose end. A loose end that your story will eventually trip on and fall. At the same time, you can’t give each person their own saga, so here are a few suggestions about how to make your side characters seem like a fully developed persons existing in their own right.

1. A Strong Relationship

Arthur & Eames' bad relationship was
one of the best things about Inception.
It was not necessary to the plot, but gave
them additional personality.

My current project deals with seven rather important side characters. Two of them were brothers who help out the protagonist. When they seemed too stilted, I made them fiercely competitive. Whenever they’re in a scene, they’ll pass snide remarks about each other. Suddenly from being one dimensional people related to my protagonist, they also have their own life. It tells the reader that although we’re concerned with the heroine, when these brothers leave the pages of the book, they’ll continue living their lives, probably undercutting each other. If your characters connect to each other in ways other than the protagonist, it’ll make them more realistic.

2. Specificity

Sometimes all you can afford is giving a character two lines worth of description. If you pin down one specific trait, it’ll be enough to give them a personality. I read a story the other day where a man goes to his seventy year old mother for advice. The mother gave advice (her role within the book), but it was interspersed with her packing posters of Brad Pitt for a trip (separate personality). Not just that, she has Backstreet Boys CDs, and I think accessories of the Twilight men. She features in the entire novel for half a page, but I remember her because of the quirky personality- “the old ogling lady.”

3. Know Your Side Characters

In the film"Stand By Me" the cast & crew said they knew what 

happened to Gordie's cap. Did the audience ever find out? Nope. 

But it helped Keifer Sutherland get into the head of the 

evil "Ace."

Know the life of your characters before and after the book starts even if the information isn’t relevant to the plot. You don’t have to add any of their biography in the book, but if you know your character’s life, he will automatically develop his own unique personality.

For example, if you decide that Tracy loved to ride horses as a kid (a detail that’s never going to find its way into the book), it’ll influence the course of your story meaningfully. Instead of the protagonist meeting Tracy at a café, the friends could meet at Tracy’s ranch. Or when Tracy is ending her phone call with the protagonist, she might say, “Take care, sweetheart. I gotta go feed the horses.”

Sure, it’s just a few sentences, but your audience will form a distinct image of Tracy- the girl who likes horses, she’s probably an animal lover, and in good shape because she works at a ranch.

4. Protagonist

Side characters have a life of their own.
Separate from the protagonist.

As mentioned above, the hero is the center of the story, but not necessarily the center of your side character’s lives. Please don’t forget that. My friend wrote a story a while back where the heroine’s husband cheats on her. Sure, the audience is outraged. But then, the husband’s brother is so disgusted, that he disowns his own blood due to the infidelity. I’m not saying that family members can’t scold each other, but my friend forgot that the heroine was not as important to her brother in law as she was to the story.

Hamlet is a good example of this. The man is withering away because of grief, but the kingdom (particularly his mother and uncle) seem to be moving on. We are concerned with him because we are readers, but the other characters have to live their lives.

Think of fairytales, how much do we know about Rapunzel’s parents or even the prince? Now think of who fairytales are intended for. If you want to a story with depth and layers, be sure to make memorable, well developed side characters.