A Guide On Creating A Warrior Cat Fanfiction

Side-Characters

NOTE: everything is based off of the opinion and observations of the author. This is just advice written by her own knowledge, and you are by no means obligated to follow any of her "rules or guidelines." They are only there to provide help if needed, or suggestions. Every author has the right to create whatever they want!

Side-Characters (aka Supporting Characters)

Use them! Side-characters in a Warriors book comes in large numbers and break all the writing rules of limiting the amount of characters available. There are normally an abundance of side-characters in a Clan, and this factor is most likely inevitable. So instead of limiting the amount of screen time each character gets, why not incorporate all your characters as often as you can? Obviously, don't use twenty cats in one scene, but perhaps two to eight per scene, or as much needed. Just remember: the cats listed in the allegiances shouldn't be forgotten about, they should always be used in your story.

Well, that is unless your cat goes on a journey or isn't around his/her Clanmates throughout the story. Or if your cat belongs to a Clan-in-the-making and is normally around only a small group of cats. Or perhaps your cat may not be a part of a Clan, but instead a group of rogues.

Endless possibilities! But you get the gist of it.

Give your side-characters roles. They shouldn't just stand around to add a number or a name to your allegiance list. And they should definitely not only be a character for you to just kill off. (Tip: if you're going to kill off your side-character, I suggest you grow your fans to become attached to them in one way or another. It'll make the death sadder!) And by doing that, they'll likely need some sort of role!

Roles can include: helping your protagonist, having a significant role to your protagonist's life (e.g: mentor, role-model, sibling, parent, friend, mate, etc.), being part of the prophecy, being a rival, etc. If you have more role ideas let me know!

The difference between major and minor side-characters. There's actually a significant difference between the major and the minor characters. And remember, we're not talking about the protagonist here, we're talking about the supporting characters alongside your protagonist.

Major side-characters: one of the main-characters (mind you, not the protagonist), or a character that receives a lot of screen-time or does something significant to the plot. They could be your character's worst enemy, best friend, sibling, mate, or whatever the heck you want it to be. The amount of characters like these should be limited, so you don't confuse your reader, but use however much you need.

Minor side-characters: basically everybody else, because there is obviously a heck-of-a-lot-of characters in most Warriors books. They're mostly around for doing things like patrols, battles, living the Clan life, and providing an atmosphere.

Side-characters and their personalities. Supporting characters should not be the same as everyone else, with the same personality, the same goals, or the same looks. Just like humans, every single character (or cat, in our case) is different. They are each unique in their own way. When I talked about creating your character, I included name-personality-appearance advice, and gave a big rule: no Mary Sues (D:).

Anyway, your characters must absolutely have their own personality. Though there will be only a selected few you would go into depth with, every character you come across should surely have their own personality going on, to spice up your book's characters.

TIP: going into the little details, such as giving your character quirks, special traits, small habits, etc. will spark the interest of your readers!

Best friends. I see a lack of these characters in Warriors Fanfictions. Honestly, I don't even know why! Best friends add so much dynamic to the story. My piece of advice on best friends is, have at least one character your cat excessively gets along well with. This doesn't mean this character is their mate or love interest, but it just means that they highly treasure them as a friend.

Best friends usually get along because they share the same morals, values, thoughts and opinions. Such characters may have inside jokes with each other, playfulness, and a lot of teasing. They are the #1 cat your protagonist wants to be with on patrols, and sit by in the gatherings. That is . . . If they don't have a mate.

Mates. If I'm being honest here, mates are not a necessity, but such characters are introduced in almost every single Warriors Fanfiction out there. If not a mate, then at least a crush or love interest. This is expected, of course, since falling in love is a natural feeling and is just a general part of life.

Mates or love-interests are cats that make your protagonist's heart flutter. Maybe it's the way they look. Maybe it's the way they speak, smell, or act. Your protagonist sometimes gets jumbled up around them. They want to do everything they can to impress them. With a love-interest, I advise you to not make your protagonist have a crush on this cat for the sake of it. You need to add a reason why they feel an emotional connection to this other character, and add a growing/developing relationship between them. Don't just jump right in to the romance.

TIP: EVERY relationship your cat has, whether it's a friendship, a mate, or an enemy, must have a developmental stage. Don't just put it up in the air out of nowhere!

Continuing on the topic of mates, I have to admit, cats sometimes get attracted to others from different Clans. But this trope is overused and I don't advise you to do this. If it's absolutely necessary to your story, by all means, go for it. My recommendation, however, is to stick with the cats in your protagonist's Clan.

Another thing I want to bring up is, there is such a thing as falling in love more than once. Some romances don't work. Sometimes there is an unfortunate death. I'm just saying, I never see 'mates' or 'love-interests' go away once they've been declared. The first cat your protagonist falls in love with does not need to be the only cat they fall in love with.

Side-characters are not always friendly. Though I'm going to go more in depth with this topic in the next chapter, I believe that this is fairly important. Side-characters can greatly affect the life of your protagonist, whether this is a good thing or—you guessed it—a bad thing.

Incorporating enemies and rivals into the book will definitely spice up the drama. And note, just because this character is an enemy or rival to your protagonist, this DOES NOT MAKE THEM EVIL!

For example, in my own book, my protagonist has a friendly rivalry with his brother as apprentices. Rivalries incorporate feelings such as competitiveness, jealously, friendly feuds, occasional real feuds, and much more. Rivals don't necessarily hate each other, they're just always trying to top each other off. This is a good plot devise and a good way to use characters in your book. It adds extra goals your protagonist may have, and also incorporates a motivator as to why they may want to improve on themselves.

As for enemies, your protagonist generally dislikes this character. Your protagonist disagrees with them on their most important morals or opinions. They generally can't stand being on patrols with them, but they tolerate them because they're in the same Clan. If your protagonist's enemy is from a different Clan, they will often engage in border feuds and lock on each other in battle. In general, your cat just doesn't like their enemy.

TIP: when giving your protagonist enemies, don't make it for no reason.

Above all, the bottom line for when you think about adding rivals and enemies to your book: THEY ARE NOT THE ANTAGONIST. They are not evil. No way! Like real life, not all people agree on things. The same goes with warrior cats. Not every cat agrees on the same things, and your protagonist doesn't have to like or be friends with everyone. Likewise, everyone doesn't have to like or be friends with your protagonist.