Amateur To Published: The Fiction Writer's Guide To Publishing

6 - Create A Memorable Supporting Cast

By now you've probably discovered that your story needs more charactersthan just the Leads. Let's call these extras the supporting cast. Thesupporting cast help the Leads push the story forward and make them shine evenmore.

The process of creating your Leads was pretty intricate. Whohas the time to do that for every single character that will appear in your story?The aim in this chapter is to create a supporting cast that is memorable enoughto carry your story but won't take too much time to make.

STEP 1: DEFINE THEIR ROLE IN THE STORY

The supporting cast is supposed to help yourcharacter move towards the various complications that your Lead will be goingthrough which means they must have a purpose in the story. If the Lead's motherisn't going to cause any problems for the Lead that will influence thedirection of the story or at the very least give them advise that will helpthem surmount one of the challenges you'll be throwing at them, then it'sbetter to just make your Lead an offer or simply don't say anything about thenumber.

For each member of your supporting cast, write downwhat part they'll be playing in the story. If you have two characters playingthe same role in your Lead's life then cut one out. For instance your Leaddoesn't need a sister and a best friend if both of them are going to be herconfidants who basically give her the same advice. Either make one the badadvisor and the other, the one who is more reasonable, or simply get rid of oneof the two. Your villain doesn't need two right hand men if both of them aregoing to be basically terrorizing the Lead. One will do. Your Lead doesn't needtwo favorite waitresses, one is enough and if she can also be the villain'ssidekick on the side then good for you

Don't duplicate roles and look for ways in which youcan combine roles so that you reduce your cast. Experts say that having 5 – 7characters (including leads and supporting cast) in your story is the sweetpoint so if you can thin out your cast to that number then go for it.

STEP 2: NAME THEM

There's really no need to get extra creative here. Thesepeople are only going to appear a few times in the story. Just consider thecountry where you have set up your story and the time period and then pick upgeneric names from different letters of the alphabet. Let's say I was pickingnames for African-American characters in modern day DC. I'd have names likeImani, Ebony, Devonte, Marcus for younger cast members and names like Joseph,Caleb, Loretta for older cast members

Notice that they are all easy names to remember becausethey are short, easily pronounced and do not start with the same letter of thealphabet. If you're going to have a Trey, Tommy and Teddy in your story,readers may have a hard time remembering who is who. You don't even need asurname for your supporting cast unless it is what your Lead calls them. Give usone name that we'll easily grasp.

Fakenamegenerator.com will help you create an identity for all yoursupporting cast. The identities provided include a first and last namedepending on the country you choose, where they live, street addresses,occupation etc

STEP 3: GIVE EACH OF THEM ONE STRONG PERSONALITY TRAIT

Once you know the most important members of thesupporting cast give them a memorable personality quirk/characteristic that the reader canidentify them with. Some archetypes can have include the playboy, the geek, theice-queen, the hustler, the good-girl, the one who is always ready to swing,the shy girl, the ready for anything guy.

For instance, if Reese is the playboy, the readers will know that they can always counton him to hit on anything that passes by with a skirt. If Samara's thegood-girl, your reader's already know she won't be for your Lead's suddeninterest in one-night stands

You could give them other traits but this strong trait is probably enough to carry them for the whole story and will give the character both their weaknesses and strengths. If he's a hustler for instance his strength thatwill help the lead is that the Lead can count on him to always have a plan. Onthe other hand, the plan could end being something illegal or dangerous. Theplayboy will give amazing advice on how to seduce someone but then there'llalways be broken hearts behind him. The flirt, abnormal obsession with hair,dandified, will bet on anything.

Also note that a strong deviation from the supportingcharacter's strong personality trait could be used to show a powerful change inthe story. For instance if the playboy character whose always joking andflirting suddenly turns serious it could show your Leads the enormity of thesituation.

STEP 4: GIVE A MEMORABLE PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTIC

If someone walked into the room, what would be thefirst thing they'll notice about that sub-character? Is it their ridiculousheight? The weight? The startling blue eyes, the all-black make-up? The badweave? The limp? You want to give your readers something about the character tohold on to. Something they can instantly connect that character to.

If you have just another ordinary physique personthen instead of a physical trait, you can concentrate on a quirk. He alwaysstarts arranging stuff the moment he walks in. She always wears extremelyexpensive clothes. She's always flipping her hair. He's always frowning. He'sever smiling. She never talks. She talks in short curt sentences.

STEP 5: INVENT AN ORIGIN STORY

Technically, you are giving the character a back-story butthe difference between their back-story and that of a Lead is that theirback-story needs to concentrate on their relationship with the Lead. Where didthey meet your Lead? How long has your Lead known them? What kind ofrelationship do they have with the lead?

If you want, you can add in a few facts about their current situationsuch as their occupation or where they live and who they live with, but thesedetails can be added as needed within the story. In fact if you don't havetheir back-story on the ready it will stop you from adding unnecessary detailsabout their past lives in the story that will take airtime away from your maincharacters.

STEP 5: KEEP THEM VERSATILE

Sure, you've already created your supporting cast butdon't get too attached to the traits you've given them or even their existence.Remember their sole purpose for existence is to help the lead push the story.Change them as you see fit and don't be afraid to even kill them (no matter howmuch you love them).

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