My Best Friend’s Wedding

Neglecting to create dynamic secondary characters.

Definition: Secondary characters are the protagonist, and the author’s best friend. A great story telling tool. They widen the stage, round out the story, spotlight the protagonist.

They help tell the story.

They add depth.

They add conflict.

They add humor.

They reveal truth.

It’s so easy to get caught up in creating our protagonist(s) we often forget to layer and deepen other characters. The end up being placeholders or sound bit machines. Secondary characters need to have a goal. A purpose. A hint at a problem. They can be a bit shallower than the main characters, and a bit two-dimensional, a bit more flippant, a bit more of a hyperbole.

Use secondary characters to show the heart and depth of the protagonist.

How to create dynamic secondary characters?

Make them fun. Give them a problem. Allow them to be a little bit over the top.

Do the same character work you’d do for your protagonist. Figure out how the secondary character’s problem or journey ties into the protagonists journey.

Is the best friend of your heroine getting married while she’s ending her relationship – thus her hopes of happily ever after?

Rule: Let secondary characters go over the top.

Workshop It: Do you have a secondary character that needs a bit of exaggeration? Give him or her a quirk or funny saying, or secret desire that suddenly is revealed on the page.