Side Characters 03/28/2014

03/28/2014

2109 words today, huzzah! So. Close. To the end. Of. Book. 2.

So, what to talk about today..? Characters! Yes, characters. I’ve touched on them in the past, and today I want to talk about side characters more specifically. It’s my favorite aspect of writing, really, to create side characters who paint a picture about the world I’m creating. In both of my books I work hard to create little side characters who exist for really only a chapter or two and give the main characters contrast.

They’re always simple, but I really flesh them out in their dialogue. I try to make them as alive as (and sometimes more alive than) my main characters. They provide a real grounding for the setting, and make a colorful believable world. So, I suppose, if there’s something to take away from this rather short blog post its that I feel that a world exists best when dotted with a few characters that enhance the animation of the setting. This may seem somewhat obvious, but when I first started out in high school, I glossed over some of the details of the side characters that really could have enhanced the story, a lot. I’m very proud to say that I’ve grown in that respect, and sometimes find myself loving my side characters more than my main characters. Sometimes.

Bishop