Welcome back, my fellow creatives!

When I look back on old reading experiences, I’d say the first time I felt keenly aware of a story-world through its population was the Harry Potter series. The cast of that series is massive with both classmates, teachers, government officials, and villains. Some were little blips on the story-radar, some were featured for a single book, and some moved in and out of the whole series with their own little side-quests and shining moments that you couldn’t help but watch for their names in every installment. Take the Weasley twins: they went from teasing big brothers to classic pranksters to school rebels to defiant business owners to soldiers to…well, one alive, and one not. And yes, I cried at that death.

But these two weren’t primary players in the series at all. They were minor characters in a series focused on very different people.

That’s why we’re here today: I want to highlight the storytelling power of those side characters with the help of a resource spotlight: Sacha Black’s 8 Steps to Side Characters.

Whatever side characters are, they don’t take center stage…while they are integral to the story, they are not who the story is about—no matter how hard they tantrum or try to steal the limelight.

Side characters give our story-worlds a sense of reality. Heroes and villains can’t be who they are in a vacuum. They have to interact with someone, be challenged by someone, grow with the help of someone. Side characters serve that purpose. Even if those characters are mere onlookers during a magic-fueled fight, they show readers the story-world has a population, a sense of place and culture.

Side characters are the arteries in a protagonist-heart, they are new perspectives and viewpoints, conflict generators, and subplot fulfillers. When you get to the sticky innards of a story and its characters, all characters are the embodiment of the idea behind your story. In other words, your theme.

This bit struck me, as I hadn’t necessarily thought of that before. When I was working on my Fallen Princeborn series, I had particular characters in mind for what they would do together, how they’d grow together, but I did not develop the series specifically with themes or versions of the themes to be represented by different characters. I only thought of how their individual choices shaped who they were…yet, do those choices not also shape the protagonists as they interact together? After all, Liam is not only inspired to hope by the other protagonist/love interest Charlotte, but also by the side characters in his life, like his mentor Arlen. Arlen is not the hero of the book, but you bet your boots he’s important to both the plot and character development.

And that’s something else I appreciate in Black’s book, too: the vital reminder that not all side characters are created equal. Some are close to your heroes and villains, and they help move the plot. Take the Weasley twins again: in the third book, they give Harry The Maurader’s Map, a crucial tool throughout the rest of the series.

Side characters help the characters grow. They themselves likely grow, sure. But there are also those that mainly help with a particular plot point in a particular place. There are those who help the world feel inhabited, but that’s about it. Are these characters important to make? Yes. But they don’t all require the same amount of attention from you as the writer.

Take a cameo character, the kind who just has one basic function in the story-world and that’s it. In Harry Potter, a good example of this would be Lee Jordan, who announces all the Quidditch games. That kid’s hilarious in the stories, but he’s not vital to the plots (which, sadly, is why he’s not in much of the films). Then you have your stock side characters, ones who serve functions for the plot, but they’re not deeply developed characters. Much of the faculty in the Harry Potter books would fit that category. Once you want to dedicate a subplot to a side character, once you realize the storyline would be altered if not for that character, then you know you’ve got a major player right there.

In my humblest of opinions as a lowly story craft nut, a book tends to feel…just a little bit more when the side characters are all up close and intimate with the theme. I’m not saying they need to wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am the theme, but you know…a casual bit of hand holding would be good.

And I could feel the importance of this line as I looked at my character sketches for Line the Stars. I could feel the importance of my core group of characters: the brothers, their father. The zealous Gauge, the sticky-fingered Dekko, the Old Guard Firebox. Yet I saw few other faces in that wide, empty cosmos. And what fun is an adventure through nothingness? Growing up, the joy of Star Trek was exploring strange new worlds and seeking out new life and new civilizations, as the saying goes. A story-world—no, story-cosmos—requires bodies. Even if they are automaton plot-fodder, they still need to be, and so that’s what I find myself working on now. And happily, I’ve already come up with a few new fun additions to the Old Guard that promise to make this adventure one to remember…

If you’re ever feeling the blahs about your own side characters, or if you just feel like there’s something missing from your story-world, I highly recommend Black’s book. She sees the boundless potential of side characters, and wants you to harness that potential for the betterment of your storytelling.

Theme is the golden thread that’s woven through every chapter, every scene, protagonist, and side character…we know your hero is an expression of the theme. Your villain, then, is an expression of the anti-theme. Which means your side characters are expressions of theme possibilities…with all story elements, it’s better to intentionally weave those threads and connections; it makes them much stronger because the knots have a purpose.

Coming up, I’ve got some writing conundrums, more author interviews, a podcast, and perhaps a monster or two.

Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!