How to Create a Minor Character in Fiction

A minor character is simply any character in your story that is not a major character. Many fiction writers of novels and short stories work hard to create their major characters, also known as heroes, protagonists or antagonists, but neglect their minor characters. Minor characters have many important roles in a story. They can move the plot along, provide conflict, or serve as part of the setting. They can be foils for the major characters. A foil serves to highlight the characteristics of protagonists for the reader by comparison and contrast. You do not usually need to develop your minor characters as fully as your major characters, but, depending on how important they are to the progress of the story, you should pay some attention to developing them.

Instructions

1. Decide what role your minor character is playing in your story. If she is no more than a setting element, like a waitress at a restaurant that only brings the food and doesn't interact significantly with your protagonists, then she needs no further development.

2. Give your minor character who reacts very slightly with your protagonists one identifiable characteristic your reader will remember if he is to appear more than once. An auto mechanic, for example, who works on your hero's car might have a cold and always sneeze before he shakes hands with the hero. By taking the time to create this one detail, you've created a humorous situation and a feeling of continuity and believability about the hero's actions.

3. Pick out a few defining characteristics of a minor character that has a slightly important role in the story. For example, if you are writing a scene in which your male protagonist is visiting his doctor who gives him a diagnosis that scares him, then you might decide that the doctor is an older woman with a big smile who nevertheless tends to hurry her patients along. This creates boundaries for the scene that makes it realistic and believable. It also constructs a framework for the doctor to change the mood of the hero, while not distracting your reader from the story. Although the doctor character might appear again several times in the story, there is no need to develop her character further if she is not a major player or motivational force for your protagonists.

4. Outline the role of a minor character who is critical for moving action or conflict along or has a lot of dialogue. For example, the role of the girlfriend of the hero may be that she encourages the hero to quit his job. Thus she needs to have the characteristics that would make her actions believable.

5. Decide on the motivations of this critical minor character so he has good, believable reasons for doing what he does.

6. Develop a basic background and series of identifiers for this critical minor character. In other words, decide what she looks like, how she got where she is in life, her general demographics and what her mannerisms are. You shouldn't include every one of these details in the story, but they will help you work with your minor character.

7. Think about what traits of your protagonist you want to highlight if you would like a minor character to serve as a foil for him. For example, you may want your hero to look tall, dark and handsome, and be brave.

8. Pick out traits of a minor character that will enhance your hero's traits. You may create a minor character who is short, blond, ugly and cowardly, for example.

Tips & Warnings

• Minor characters do not have to be human. A minor character can be an animal, an alien or even an inanimate object that serves as something "alive" for the purposes of your story.