Writing Major and Minor Characters

This week we talked about the importance of not only developing your major characters, but making sure that your minor characters are compelling even when they have a minimal role.

How do authors do this well? Well let's take a look at JK Rowling, who has hundreds of minor characters and yet somehow we remember every single one of them. Not only do each of them have a distinct voice and appearance, she also only introduces them as they become necessary to the plot. For example, she doesn't just list of the names of each of the professor's at Hogwarts and expect us to remember them. Rather, we're introduced to Snape and McGonnaGall and Quirrell as Harry progresses through the school year and his classes, and we learn more about their personalities as Harry learns more about them.

However while it is important to at least acknowledge the existence of each of your minor characters, they don't need to be as fleshed out as the main character. We don't need to spend a page talking about characters that have little relevance to the plot. The amount of detail a character gets should reflect on how necessary they are.

Major Characters: When it comes to developing your main character there are two important parts to every single one of them; they all have to want something and they all have to have character flaws. Every character wants something, rather it's to marry the prince, become famous, carry the Ring to Mordor, or defeat the evil wizard. You get the gist. And no one is interested in perfect characters either. Character flaws make it so the reader can relate to your story.

Stereotypes: Avoid these like the plague--well mostly. There are some stereotypes that can be helpful, especially when you're writing from the point of view of the opposite gender. While it's true that guys are less emotional and girls more so (most of the time anyway)--don't make either of these points the defining trait of your character. When writing books with female characters there is a system known as the Beckdale Test: which basically states that does your work contain two or more girls, and do they talk about something other than boys?

Here are some older posts on the site that also talk about character development:

http://ypublish.blogspot.com/2013/07/characters-realistic-exciting.html

http://ypublish.blogspot.com/2013/03/developing-characters.html

Here are also some good questions for you to ask yourself about your main character. Once you've done that trying having your character "write" a letter to you the way you think they would, and then write one back. It's a great way to get to know their voice.

What/Who/Where is your character's...?

Name: 

Nickname:

Occupation:

Food Dislikes:

School:

Hair.Eyes/Height:

Personality:

Shoes:

Wants to:

Weapons:

Obstacles:

BF/GF:

Home:

Love:

First Kiss:

Age:

Religion: