Secondary Character Development

[Ray Dario]

I have received feedback noteing that I don't develop my secondary characters, that they are one dimensional.

I don't doubt that this is true.

My question is, In a short story should I be taking the time and words necessary to fully develop secondary characters? Should I find a way to develop them without adding a lot of words to the story ( I have also been told that I am overly wordy ). Or is it okay to leave characters, other than the main character the story is really about, a little one diminsional?

I would love to hear any comments you guys want to make.

Ray

 

[Weird Harold]

Secondary charaters should be at least two dimensional. Tertiary characters and cameos can be one-dimensional.

The easiest way to "develop" secondary characters is with their speech paterns.

Character B is terse and laconic -- "Yep," "Nope," and "Yes'm," sort of dialogue.

Character C is pompous and proper, or tries to be, using "big words" and convoluted phrasing.

More use of Dialogue (both internal and external) can define characters quickly with fewer words than narrative descriptions can. (I haven't looked at your stories, so I don't know your [/]stories could make better use of dialogue, but the odds are pretty good, considering the number of stories that use way too little dialogue.)

 

[Ray Dario]

WH, Thanks for joining in. You raise some interesting questions in my mind.

Reading your response, I think my secondary characters are two dimensional not one. I may be wrong, and if any have read my stories and have a differing opinion please feel free to pipe in , but I do use dialog to show who the character is, even with most of my "Tertiary" characters.

But I admit that I don't develop them. They usually don't go through any real changes during the course of the story. They just stay the same. Bill the big fat slob is still a big fat slob at the end of the story. Carla the pent up bitch is still a pent up bitch at the end of the story. Only my main character(s) change and grow during the story, learning something about themselves or changing the way they percieve the universe or some such rot.

Admittedly in my earlier stories, even my main characters didn't change much, but I'm working to improve my writing. Well I hope I haven't put people off from chiming in on this discussion. I would love to hear differing or similar thoughts on the development of secondary characters.

Maybe the discussion should also include, what constitutes a secondary character? If you have a wife going through changes, is her husband a secondary character, or should he be promoted to share a spot as a main character? Is that wholly up to the author, or does it depend on some element in the story?

If you kind of develop a character, does that promote him to "Main Character" status?

Ray

 

[Weird Harold]

Maybe the discussion should also include, what constitutes a secondary character? If you have a wife going through changes, is her husband a secondary character, or should he be promoted to share a spot as a main character? Is that wholly up to the author, or does it depend on some element in the story?

If you kind of develop a character, does that promote him to "Main Character" status?

A primary character is the Hero/Heroine/Villian of your story -- Those characters without which, your story doesn't exist.

A secondary character is one that contributes materially to the advancement of the plot -- People like parents, ex-boyfriends, and sidekicks.

Tertiary characters, Cameos, and bit-players are those who do things that need to be done by someone other than primary or supporting characters. The Druggist who sells the condoms, the the traffic cop who delays a blowjob by telling the players to move on, etc.

No matter how well drawn a tertiary character is, you can't promote them to secondary or primary characters, because they can be replaced by other well-drawn bit players that serve the same function. The Druggist could be an acne ridden convenience store clerk, and the Traffic cop could be a curious kid chasing a ball that escaped the playground.

Secondary or "supporting" characters are easier to promote, but only at the cost of demoting one of the existing primary characters or changing the plot. That doesn't mean that they can't be as well defined as primary characters.

Notice, that I use "defined" instead of "developed." The distinction being that you can make a character seem real and/or distinct without them changing in the course of a story. You cited a couple of stereotypical characters that don't change through your stories. There's nothing wrong with using stereotypes to help define your minor players as long as your version of the stereotype has something to make them unique -- or at least different.

About using dialogue to define characters: Can you tell who is speaking without dialogue tags? If you can't , then your characters need more definition. If everyone speaks the same, then they're interchangeable silhouettes.

 

[Whispersecret]

Here is my opinion, which is just that, an opinion.

In a short story, you don't have time to develop any but your main characters. You may not have secondary characters involved at all, again, because of brevity.

In a novella or a novel, you have more leeway to develop a subplot and therefore secondary characters. Often the subplot echoes the main plot.

WH did a good job outlining the difference between the types of characters. By definition, secondary characters aren't supposed to develop as much as the primary characters.

I haven't read your stories, so I can't comment directly upon them. If I were you, I'd consider the source of the criticism. If it came from other writers I'd weigh it more carefully than if it was from anonymous readers.

 

[Never]

Never's Incredibly Interesting Thoughts about Detailing Characters

• The amount of development a character experiences should be based on the length of your work and the amount of detail they receive should be based on the percentage of space they take up in your work and both development and detail should be based on the character's importance to the story.
  
• How a character speaks indicates their background but what they say indicates their personality. Two characters could speak in exactly the same way and be the complete opposite of one another. For instance, when I lived at home if I picked up the phone when someone called for my mother the caller would assume I was her. Our voices are similar, our speech patterns are similar, our accents are similar and we come from the same socio-economic background. Still, I've never heard anyone suggest that we be merged into one because we're basically the same person.
  
• There's no way to develop or detail a character without putting time into them and development takes more much time than detail. In a short story developing one character is hard enough - many of the stories on Literotica have no character development, which is fine in a short story.
  
• If you want to detail a character economically then simply say what is significant about the character and provide one action to back it up. 'Max thought the wiry man looked nervous as Max spoke to him. His eyes twitched back and forth, refusing to focus on Max, and he constantly fidgeted with a thin cigarette when he wasn't sucking it between his pale, sweaty lips.' or 'Rice knew her new neighbor was trouble the first time she saw him. She had been awakened at two am by the sound of his Doberman yelping and looked out her bedroom window to find him drunkenly beating and swearing at the crying puppy.'
  
  Blatant? Yes. Economic? Yes.
  
• Once you give your readers the simple 'idea' behind a secondary character you can expand on them by having them interact with your main character(s) (which also has the added bonus of further developing or detailing your main character(s)). If the nervous man cracks under Max the PI's interrogation and gives him an important clue, that's good, if give him the clue and tells Max that was released seven years ago from prison for the same crime but he's adamant that he's innocent that's even better. Why? Because later on the police will arrest Mr. Nervous and accuse him of the crime. Max can again question him and Mr. Nervous will again swear he's innocent. Max will prove that Mr. Nervous didn't do it and catch the real murderer.
  
  By adding one bit of information to the Mr. Nervous we've made him an important part of the story. Now there are two reasons why Max has to catch the criminal which will make Max catching the criminal that more satisfying to the readers. Mr. Nervous has gone from the guy that gives a clue to the guy that has rebuilt his life and is now in danger of having it all taken from him again.

So.. those are my thoughts.

 

[Ray Dario]

Great Comments

Wow! Thanks guys.

All these comments have made me go back to the story I was writing. At present I am ripping the shit out of it and trying to make it a better story.

I really appreciate the input.

Ray

 

[garyblue]

Never's Incredibly Interesting Thoughts about Detailing Characters

• 
  <snip>You want to read these? Go back up the thread.

So.. those are my thoughts.

Really well said, Never.

Thanks,

g

 

[Andreina]

umm...

call me platinum blonde but what is a secondary/tertiary character?

 

[Ray Dario]

A primary character is the Hero/Heroine/Villian of your story -- Those characters without which, your story doesn't exist.

A secondary character is one that contributes materially to the advancement of the plot -- People like parents, ex-boyfriends, and sidekicks.

Tertiary characters, Cameos, and bit-players are those who do things that need to be done by someone other than primary or supporting characters. The Druggist who sells the condoms, the the traffic cop who delays a blowjob by telling the players to move on, etc.

LittleDevil See above

Or at least this is WH's opinion, and he has lots of opinions

Ray

 

[poohlive]

Here's something that might help you out.
What I love for an author to do, is be incentive with the characters. That means, let the narrator analyze and critique the characters.
Now, let me explain. First off, you have to remember that you are the author, and the author of a piece and the narrator of a piece don't necessarily have to be the same.
If you differentiate, the story can become ten times better. I know, in some of my work, it makes all of the difference.
Now, analyze and critique.
It could be as simple as a character wearing clothing, or how they walk. It could also be in their speech or in just about anything.

"She walked into the store, a sleek black dress swayed just barely above her knees. Despite the fact that she got it on clearance from K-Mart, it still made her look like a million dollars."

Boom! Now, you've already described that she looks good, she's cheap, she probably doesn't have a lot of money, and that she's trying to impress someone. You've given the reader more thoughts to ponder on, to think about.
Ok, first off, don't do this a whole bunch. Because, then you'll turn the entire work into sounding like some cinical seventy year old man wrote it. That's that last thing you want, especially from an erotic story.
Second off, don't let it disturb from the flow. It's nice when people are being introduced and it does add flair, but it brings the entire work to a near stop when it happens. When the rising action and the climax come up, those critiques should take a sideline for more important stuff in there.
Ok, that about does it for me. Just an english major, who keeps finding cool stuff each and every day. Make sure you be true to your self though, don't go ripping apart stories because one person doesn't like how you are developing secondary characters.
Although, I do admit there are some wonderful ideas in here.

 

[The Sex Master]

Opinion

A primary character is the Hero/Heroine/Villian of your story -- Those characters without which, your story doesn't exist.

A secondary character is one that contributes materially to the advancement of the plot -- People like parents, ex-boyfriends, and sidekicks.

Tertiary characters, Cameos, and bit-players are those who do things that need to be done by someone other than primary or supporting characters. The Druggist who sells the condoms, the the traffic cop who delays a blowjob by telling the players to move on, etc.

No matter how well drawn a tertiary character is, you can't promote them to secondary or primary characters, because they can be replaced by other well-drawn bit players that serve the same function. The Druggist could be an acne ridden convenience store clerk, and the Traffic cop could be a curious kid chasing a ball that escaped the playground.

Secondary or "supporting" characters are easier to promote, but only at the cost of demoting one of the existing primary characters or changing the plot. That doesn't mean that they can't be as well defined as primary characters.

Notice, that I use "defined" instead of "developed." The distinction being that you can make a character seem real and/or distinct without them changing in the course of a story. You cited a couple of stereotypical characters that don't change through your stories. There's nothing wrong with using stereotypes to help define your minor players as long as your version of the stereotype has something to make them unique -- or at least different.

About using dialogue to define characters: Can you tell who is speaking without dialogue tags? If you can't , then your characters need more definition. If everyone speaks the same, then they're interchangeable silhouettes.

I'm going ALL the way with Wierd Harold,~~~Yeah,what HE said!~~~on this one.