How to Write Your Side Characters

Side characters are important to each story. Every writer and consumer of stories knows it. Side characters push the story forward, are helpful companions to the protagonist, and are often necessary for comedic relief.

But to write an unforgettable one, you must understand they are more, and offer more, than just those things . . .

You may often hear about the need to completely develop all the characters in your story, but you may be wondering, what are the necessary steps to take that ensure they remain side characters, but are also three-dimensional and well-developed? What about their sub-plots?

It may interest you to know that it’s not only important to develop your side characters so that the characters themselves seem believable and that the story seems rounder and realistic. Side characters, just like the protagonist, tie in with your overarching message or theme of the story. Just as your protagonist’s journey is one that explores the message, so are your side characters’. Just a different aspect of the message.

As an editor, I see it all the time in stories. A wonderfully developed protagonist, accompanied by side characters who are only there for the plot to make sense. After all, you can’t write a fantasy without allies, a romance without a love interest, or a mystery without suspects. They are most definitely needed.

But because they aren’t the protagonist, I can understand why these characters haven’t gotten as much attention from the writer. Where do you draw the line? Are they supposed to be as in-depth as the protagonist? Would that make them the protagonists also?

I believe you must understand the purpose of the side character in order to develop them to their greatest potential. The side character is there for two reasons:

1.      To assist the protagonist on their journey

2.      To explore a new aspect of your book’s theme that your protagonist alone cannot

Your side character can have both points or just one; it is ultimately up to you to decide how much depth the character needs. You also don’t have to develop your side characters as if they were the protagonist purely because they each serve an entirely different purpose.

The protagonist is the driving force of the narrative. Whatever their journey is, that is the message, the true moral of the story you want to convey to your readers. After all, the protagonist’s inner and outer journey is what the story is about.

The side characters are there to enhance the message you wish for your story to convey. This means these characters are also enhancing the protagonist’s inner and outer journey through their own sub-plot.

Say, for example, you want your story’s moral to be that love conquers all.

The way you could write this message is that the main storyline for the protagonist shows that romantic love always wins, no matter the circumstance. The antagonistic force (whether it be a character or plot point) could be a situation that is trying to prove the opposite is true or a person trying to get in the way of making this romantic love succeed.

Your side characters don’t have to be as black and white as this. In a story with a happy ending, the side characters could also have a sub-plot that conveys that love always wins, but perhaps instead of romantic love, it’s familial love, friendship love, or something of the sort. The point being that their sub-plot reiterates the moral of the story, but through a different perspective. Because that’s what side characters are, really: another perspective.

In a black-and-white world between your protagonist and antagonist, make your side characters the grey. Let them make the discussion bigger. Depending on what you want your story to convey and how you would like it to end, use your side characters to explore different aspects of your theme.

So, now that you understand the purpose of a side character, how can you write them in your story?

Step One: Understand the Message or Theme of Your Story

The message or theme of your story is the protagonist’s arc, their conquered limiting belief at the end of the story, the lesson they learnt by going through their journey. The message is also what you want your readers to take away from your story by the time they’ve finished with it.

Once you know what you want your message to be, it provides a starting point for you to create your characters. Create your protagonist first and get to know them before you try to come up with an arc for your side characters. Know that your side characters’ journey will be related to the theme, just a greyer version of it than the protagonist’s.

If you wanted to, of course, your side character’s purpose could be the same as the protagonist. Using the example above, the side character could also have an arc where they learn that romantic love conquers all too, and that doesn’t make it a bad story. But I would advise that their journey be a little different from the protagonist’s. Otherwise, they would have no purpose in the story. Remember, they are their own person on their own path. They must be unique to another character, just as we humans are unique to each other.

Step Two: Understand the Story Doesn’t Begin When You Start It

These characters have lived a life up until you started writing them. They each had a childhood, traumatic experiences and events that moulded them into who they are at the beginning of your story. To properly understand them, you need to know their backstory, the defining moment that happened in their lives that made them who they are at the start of your story. This will help you identify why they act the way they do, why they believe what they do and why they have specific goals and needs.

By knowing their backstory, this will also help you decide what their sub-plot needs to be. All of this backstory also doesn’t need to be included in the actual story if it doesn’t serve the plot; it is mostly just great for you to know when you need to write the character.

Step Three: Integrate the Side Character with Your Protagonist’s Journey

As mentioned above, a purpose of a side character is to assist the protagonist on their journey. This is especially true for speculative fiction, adventure-type stories. In contemporary fiction, the side characters could just be helpful companions, but they nevertheless assist the protagonist because they are also trying to convey the message or an aspect of the message of the story.

Now that you do know the message of your story and you have created a backstory for the side character, it is now time to integrate them with the protagonist. What do I mean by that?

In order for the side character to relate to the protagonist (especially in a speculative fiction), both characters need to have a common tie, path or goal:

• A tie could be they are related or friends, meaning they will naturally have the instinct to help your protagonist, or they need each other to reach their desired goal and cannot do it without the other.

• A path could be that both characters have differing goals and no tie, but they need each other to achieve their separate goals. For example, if the protagonist’s goal is to find a lost treasure with no way to travel, a side character could have the means to travel but needs someone to help steer the vessel. Both characters need each other, cannot go on without the other, but have differing goals.

• A goal could be both the protagonist and side character want to find the lost treasure, but each is lacking something that they need from the other. They may strike a deal to help each other so they both can find the treasure and share the rewards. Perhaps the protagonist has more knowledge of the treasure, but the side character knows how to navigate.

The possibilities with side characters are endless. They are perfect for exploring multiple perspectives of the message you wish to convey, creating a bigger discussion around that message and helping the protagonist on their journey.

The side character and protagonist don’t have to have the same end goal (although they could, depending on your story), but they do have to have some tie to each other. This is what will make the characters allies, what could develop their relationship into something romantic or just turn them into life-long friends.