Greetings, fellow scribblers. Sensible Shoes was last seen cutting words out of a dictionary with a chainsaw, complaining that it was too wordy. So, I'm here for the duration.
I've mentioned before how my favorite editor taught me that, "The villains think they're the heroes." But when dealing with minor characters, it's sometimes helpful to remember that everyone thinks they're the hero - or at least, everyone thinks they're the main character.
There are certain tropes with minor characters that drive me absolutely nuts, because they seem less like characters than plot devices. The Best Friend whose entire life consists of listening to the main character's problems - then disappearing until needed again. The "magical" character (generally black or brown) who exists to impart wisdom or mystical powers to the paler main character. The woman who gets used or mistreated by the hero, but nobody seems to care, including her. And as John Scalzi famously asked, why do all those characters in red shirts keep agreeing to go on away missions?
In real life, other people don't exist to move your storyline along. (I sometimes think that a lot of conservatism can be explained by people assuming that anyone outside their race/gender/class/etc demographic are "nonplayer characters" and not real people.) In real life, individuals have agendas. In fiction, they should have agendas too, which may work for or against your hero - or, better yet, both.
Bad stuff happening to minor characters, including killing them off, is the time-honored way of raising the stakes for the main character. It lets the reader feel the danger, without having to lose the character they care the most about. But if all the minor character does is show up in a red shirt and keel over, it's easy for the reader not to care.
It's possible to go too far in the opposite direction, of course. The worst movie-to-book attempt I ever saw was Return of the Jedi, which insisted on giving an elaborate backstory for characters who only appeared once. We don't have to know everything about the alligator-taxi driver who takes your character to the Forbidden Swamp. But even he has an agenda - he wants his fare - and he's not going to take it well if your characters stiff him or put his alligators in danger.
The exercise:
Write a scene from the major character's point of view, where the minor character's agenda gets in the way.
The Callow Youth seeks advice from the wise bartender at the Startled Duck, but the bartender has his own problems.
Belinda seeks her best friend's advice on how to win Lord Postlethwaite-Praxleigh (pronounced Puppy) back from Adelaide, but the friend has decided she's sick of hearing about Puppy.
Starship officer Sylvan L'Praxis is about to head into danger with a red-shirted security guard.
International Superspy James Buns realizes that his unfortunately-named girlfriend has been using him all along.
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