WRITING POWERFUL SIDE CHARACTERS

There are 4 THINGS that every side character MUST HAVE in order to be powerful, memorable, and meaningful to your story. And I’m revealing those 4 things in today’s video! PLUS some questions you can ask yourself to IMMEDIATELY know whether or not your side characters matter to your story, or distract from it.

Comment below and tell me: who are some of YOUR favorite side characters?

Subscribe for weekly episodes of #WritersLifeWednesdays !!

WANT MORE INSPIRATION? FOLLOW ME HERE:

[tayxicfox]

"Everyone is the protagonist of their own story"
Haikyuu is one of the best examples of this

[LilyGarden]

Katara and Toph. Katara joins the story to travel to the northern water tribe to learn water bending. Toph joins the story to run away from an unhappy home life. They taught Aang bending but beyond that Katara shows Aang how to love and let go of pain, Toph teaches him to stand and fight. The war couldnt have been won without them. Perfectly written side characters.

[qamarmasri]

The Weasley twins, they are an awesome example for powerful side characters. And I love them! 💛

[MintysSketchbook]

Something I learnt in acting is that everyone has a goal. The way I like to think of it is when there is a busy market in the theatre show, you can't just walk around in random directions. Everyone has a goal, they go to buy some bread, then meet up with their friend and walk to the library. It makes everything more realistic

[mellonlord]

For me the best example of this is Avatar the Last Airbender.

[reasonablyobsessed]

Anyone else binge-watching her videos just to write a good fanfiction?

[wanderingbelle]

One of my favorite side characters of all time is Finnick in the Hunger Games. I am a big reader and have read tons of the big thick literary classics, but in all those famous, eloquent, world-changing books, I have rarely found a side character as powerful as Finnick (as portrayed in the books). The way Katniss learns through her (platonic) relationship with him that you have to look past other peoples’ manipulation to see a person’s true personality, how anyone—even grown men who many people see as invulnerable—can be taken advantage of and sexually abused, how who someone loves is not defined by who they have loved before or who everyone thinks they should love, and how someone’s true personality can still be reawoken even after many years of manipulation and abuse. He was a phenomenal side character, both in his own right and because of what he taught Katniss.

Side note, I think the Hunger Games is some quality ass literature and should be recognized as such. The love triangle and the classic mid teen “strong female lead” throw people off, but after reading a great many of what are considered “classics” and “great literature, ” the Hunger Games still stands as one of the most transformative reads of my life🤷🏻‍♀️

[rodschmidt]

Someone pointed out about the Warner Brothers cartoon characters: "Every character wants something."

[ryanw]

Abbie is the best writing instructor of all time.

[ulibarriL]

Powerful side characters literally help shape the story. The tale would not be the same without them. One of my favorites is M-O from WALL E. I friggin love that little guy.

[NatalieThor]

Wow I hadn't thought of how impactful all those Emma characters are! Now you make me want to reread it again. Just recently saw the mini series for it that you showed on here! One of my favorite side characters is Samwise in Lord of the Rings. And Roger Hamley in Wives and Daughters!

[rohailkhan]

Well-rounded guidance on the roles of secondary or side characters and how to best fit them in your story adding new depth and dimensions. Practical examples from "Emma of Jane Austen" is and excellent bonus ! Thank you Abbie Emmons

[iviebrooks]

I took notes for this one. :D I love this so much! I can't wait to apply this to my writing.

[rajeshwarimehrotra]

An agenda:
Why is it important for sidey to come in life of mainey? What's his role?

An Impact: does and how my side character impact and engage my mainey?

Theme: what lesson I want to my side character to teach my main character?

His or her deciding vote for the end?

[tropetrinitytrilogy]

I love this video! So, many side characters feel flat and pointless, but these are some great tips to strengthen them.

[FunkyLikeFeathers]

Alright... My notebook is filling up each week with all of your awesome videos!!! Thanks for another awesome topic this week!

[darkluna]

I am so happy when i say that i made these character and i could clearly answer each of the answers and have a clearer story thanks to you and im so Thank you!!!!

[tophat]

Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Robin, Alfred, Mary Jane, Marion Ravenwood, Q, Sturm Brightblade, Tasselhoff Burrfoot

[autisticdancer]

I'm almost done writing this coming of age, comedy, fantasy, romance novel where I have this side character that I actually think I did a good job with writing! I wrote down how she checks out the 4 boxes you mentioned so you can see for yourself to see if she is good. :)

Agenda: At the beginning of the book my side character is actually friends with the antagonist who is a narcissistic, manipulative, mean girl (this is a high school setting). They have been "friends" since 6th grade so my side character doesn't believe that her "best friend" would do anything bad to her. My side characters agenda is pretty simple, she wants to help my antagonist with her plots to keep my main character inferior to her, but deep down to prove herself to the antagonist even if what she helps my antagonist with are things that she knows are morally wrong.

Impact: My side character starts making her impact in the 2nd act of the story. She agrees to helping my antagonist try to win prom queen so my antagonist can win a bet against the main character. However my antagonist knows that if my main character (especially my main characters best friend and love interest) finds out about her cheating my antagonist would lose the bet automatically. She explains this to my side character but assures her my mc won't find out. However close to prom my antagonist decides that she no longer needs my main characters help and sabotages her. This shatters my side character when she finds out my antagonist never really thought she was her friend. Needless to say, my side character is angered by this and goes to tell my mc that the antagonist has been cheating the whole time. A lot goes down after that, but in summary after this my main characters and my side character go confront my antagonist she gets my antagonist expelled from school and actually ends up winning prom queen but ends up passing it down to my mc after seeing how my mc treats her friends in the way they should be treated and by extension her. In the end she ends up becoming friends with my mc.

Theme: The theme that my side character learns is one of the two major themes of my story actually. My side character learns that friends are people who are always there for you and stick by you no matter what.

Deciding vote: My side character has a deciding vote because without her my mc wouldn't have found out about my antagonist cheating and because of that would have never been expelled. She also helps my mc realize the theme of the meaning of true friendship that my mc has already been doing subconsciously all along.

[megmogbooks]

Harry Potter has the best side characters!! ❤️💛