In terms of minor characters, what are they like to you, personally?

[anon39043209]

With me and this is a bad thing, depending on how you look at it, but my minor character or so dull and lifeless in some way.

Like I really don’t care about my minor characters at all. Those characters are just there as background. Which makes sense, till I learn that minor characters can have their place in the story’s plot and be helpful towards the main protagonist and even the supporting characters.

So, they eventually become a supporting character when they prove their worth story/goal wise.

Those aren’t my main characters in the slightest. Though the old version of Red Reign may have changed that a tiny bit, but it is still not as great.

Anyway, my question to all is, are you kind towards your minor characters?

Bonus Questions:

1. Do you have a minor character who ended up becoming a main supporting character who helps the MC, as they move along through the story?

2. Is there a minor character who is still somewhat important, even that character has a fairly small role?

3. Do readers and maybe some writers care about the minor characters these days? Is it more about the characters who help move the story along than those characters who are just there for no clear real reason?

4. Is there a minor character(s) that you actually find a bit more interesting that the MC and the SCs, whether in your own novel or famous person’s novel?

5. How would you define a minor character? In terms of role, story, and overall character?

Thoughts and feelings?

[september]

@anon39043209

• Do you have a minor character who ended up becoming a main supporting character who helps the MC, as they move along through the story?

Yep, happens a bunch. The second I give a minor character a personality, they transform into a major character.

@anon39043209

• Is there a minor character who is still somewhat important, even that character has a fairly small role?

I’d say so. I have characters who aren’t even named, but they’re there to illustrate something about the book’s society, or how the main character feels.

@anon39043209

• Do readers and maybe some writers care about the minor characters these days? Is it more about the characters who help move the story along than those characters who are just there for no clear real reason?

I know there are a lot of readers who love some really minor characters.

[NotARussianBot]

I think you can make a good argument that Furuhata is the greatest villain of the Kaiji series due to making Kaiji cosign on a loan that neither of them could afford to pay off and kickstarting the insanity to follow.

Like seriously, there are some villains who don’t cause as much pain and suffering to the main character directly! Furuhata does all that by sheer incompetence!

OK in fairness, the story is full of so many uniquely, absolutely awful people that it’s honestly impressive.

[anon39043209]

@NotARussianBot and @september:

I will return to answer your comments later.

[J.L.O]

Minor characters are background, plot-movers. Quirks are easy to dump in them, abd if they are close to the MC, they flesh out a little more.

[anon39043209]

Agreed.

[alenatenjo]

My minor characters often have a purpose. They’re usually there to help the plot move forward or talk some sense into my main characters or to provide information for the readers. Some of them die but, surprisingly, most of them don’t.

@anon39043209

Do you have a minor character who ended up becoming a main supporting character who helps the MC, as they move along through the story?

Quite a few of them do, actually

@anon39043209

Is there a minor character who is still somewhat important, even that character has a fairly small role?

This changes from story to story because I have a LOT of minor characters

@anon39043209

Do readers and maybe some writers care about the minor characters these days? Is it more about the characters who help move the story along than those characters who are just there for no clear real reason?

Some of them do, definitely. It depends on how the use of minor characters work for both you and your story

[anon39043209]

@alenatenjo

Some of them die but, surprisingly, most of them don’t.

Aww…

@alenatenjo

Quite a few of them do, actually

I like those minor characters who the reader think have no clear important to the story, but then they turn around and prove that they have a major part in the story, that many people weren’t even expecting.

“Like, surprise, I am important now! Got a problem with that?!” LOL!

@alenatenjo

This changes from story to story because I have a LOT of minor characters

gasps Are you those writers who have a BOATLOAD of characters that range from important to unimportant?

Gosh, I wish I could do that! Then it would be a MASSIVE pain to keep track of them all and you’ll mix them up with other character…maybe. LOL!

[anon39043209]

@NotARussianBot

Kaiji

Is this the new Overlord for you in terms of now?

I love how passionate you are about this manga.

I tend to get like that about One Piece and Tower of God. Though not that much.

LOL!

[anon39043209]

@september

I know there are a lot of readers who love some really minor characters

This might sound a bit rude and I am probably reading WAY too in this for no real reason, but do you think that some readers like minor characters more because some of them that stand out as much, but help pull the plot along in some way or manner? Like, it relates to the reader in real life, how they want to help, but rather not stand out a cause a commotion?

Does that make sense or am I weird for saying that?

[TheTigerWriter]

Sometimes the minor characters are so interesting, they get a story of their own later on

@anon39043209

are you kind towards your minor characters?

Kind? YES. I mean, one got a whole story, so

@anon39043209

Do you have a minor character who ended up becoming a main supporting character who helps the MC, as they move along through the story?

I have a minor character who became a main character. So, there’s this mysterious Sorcerer guy that appears in Paws Chase Murder Case. He only appeared once, but I thought, huh, who is this guy? Then I found out his name is Kaiver and he’s got a whole long ancient story on his shoulders with a super epic magick battle.

@anon39043209

Is there a minor character who is still somewhat important, even that character has a fairly small role?

My omnicient magick realism story is all about that. All the characters are involved in the plot in some way even if that is a fairly small role.

Like, there’s this inn keeper that allows MC Allen to pay for the meal of an escaped slave woman, MC Anastasia. The inn keeper also happens to have the daily paper that has an ad for slaves aboard a particular ship that she is looking for which she thinks is the same one that took her husband. He gives the paper to Anastasia.

That’s all he does. And he never appears again.

But that gives Anastasia a clue.

@anon39043209

those characters who are just there for no clear real reason?

If a character doesn’t seem to have any really important or recurring role, there’s no need to name them. They can appear (like a taxi driver or a supermarket checkout person) but the author doesn’t have to name them. Once you name them, they look or seem important. Readers will wonder what the heck happened to them.

I will, anyway

@anon39043209

Is there a minor character(s) that you actually find a bit more interesting that the MC and the SCs, whether in your own novel or famous person’s novel?

There’s this book I’m reading that’s trying to be omniscient and failing. Idk which characters are the MCs, but there’s this forest monster guardian creature the story begins with, so I thought he was the MC, but it turns out that most of the story is the POV of the children that appear later.

I think the forest monster guardian creature’s story is much more interesting. I would have finished the book a month ago, but because I keep getting sent back to reading about the children’s repetitive and inconsistent story (with bad editing), it’s taking me forever to read this short book.

I wish the author focused on the creature.

@anon39043209

How would you define a minor character? In terms of role, story, and overall character?

A minor character is those characters that fill out the plot in a meaningful way. They aren’t there to show the MC is caring or show the MC is stuck up. They have to have a role in the plot. If not, don’t name them to the reader.

When writing omniscient multi-character stories, I always have to decide who is the main character and who are the supporting characters, and which of those shadowy figures in the back are actually important enough to call out as minor characters? By bringing those shadowy figures into the light, what story am I telling? What is their purpose?

[NotARussianBot]

I still think that Overlord is a fantasy fantasy manga. But Kaiji is so creatively demented I can’t get it out of my head.

[september]

I assumed it was because some minor characters might just be designed in a funner way than main characters lol but that’s actually a really interesting theory. It’s entirely possible. I wonder.

[JohnnyTuturro]

People seem to really like Pops, Ricky’s Dad for some reason…

[JojoDahlia]

I like the idea of minor characters who rotate and reappear at different moments of the story. For instance a trader that the MC has an interaction with early on, who reappears in another city later and maybe introduces the MC to an important quest or person. The Books of Jacob which has a massive cast of characters does this incredibly well.