Helping Minor Characters Shine

Minor characters can get the short end of the stick. They have small roles to play in the grand scheme of things, so why invest much thought into their moment on the stage, right?

Often minor characters are created to fill a plot function, so character details are developed later. This can give us characters whose lives seem to start and end with how they intersect with the MC’s journey.

But well-developed minor characters can add so much color and depth to your fictional world. If you skimped on their “moment” in the first draft, maybe see if you can shine that spotlight brighter.

💡 They are the MC of their own stories…no matter how little we’re seeing of that story.
Minor characters help serve functions like delivering information to the reader or providing an obstacle to the MC. But every character, no matter how small, should have their own unique motivation. If there is dialogue, what does the minor character want out of this conversation? If there is a scene with a major character, how would they affect what’s happening in the minor character’s world?

Look at it like an actor would: if you were cast in that scene, but as the minor character…does the dialogue make sense? Do your choices come from somewhere? Remember that minor characters rarely know much of what’s going on in the MC’s world.

💡 Be specific.
If your minor character only gets a few lines to describe who they are, make those lines paint a vivid picture in the reader’s mind. Look at your descriptors. Are they trying to do a lot with a little by relying on common stereotypes to do some of the work for you? Is there a way to make it more unique to this particular character?

Do the words focus on the action being performed—OR on how this particular character is performing the action? Could the character be replaced by just anyone, and the scene would be exactly the same?

For wonderful examples of how to pack a big punch with a few words, I suggest V.E. Schwab’s A Darker Shade of Magic series: