The MC's Sidekick

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Most authors love their sidekicks to death, but there happens to be a lot of errors that the author makes when writing their precious side character. Hopefully these few tips could help your sidekick become their own person.

[1] Emotional Growth

Just like your MC grows emotionally throughout your story, the sidekick needs to grow too. Not only that, but your MC and your sidekick should have some conflicting views or goals, as they should be able to grow and learn from each other as much as the climax of the story.

[2] Motivations

If your sidekick has exactly the same goal and motivation towards that goal as your MC, something is definitely wrong here. Your sidekick is a person, not an exact copy of your MC. Therefor they should have other (maybe minor) goals in mind.

[3] Shining Moment
Sidekicks must have a shining moment, if not, why are they the sidekick? Why not a minor character in your book? To do this, keep in mind that while you may not like it, your sidekick is expendable, the hero is not. They could die saving your MC or that the only reason the hero finds their courage is because they need to save the sidekick. Whatever it is, make it believable.

[4] Contrast
Your sidekick should not be a reflection of your MC. They could have conflicting point of views, morals, even physical conflicts (human and non-human pairings) that could cause contrast in your story. It brings your characters to life and brings something extra to your story.

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