Who's your favorite side character?

[rosebudliquor]

I wrote a chapter of an ongoing story, where two college-age sisters meet two football-player roommates and immediately have sex. I made one of the football players black and one white and named them Ben and Jerry, like the ice cream. Side characters, quick & dirty characterization. Turns out they're bisexual, and fun to write about. So far they are both in love/lust with one of the two sisters, but they have sex with the other because she's there and the absent sister doesn't want them tempted by any other college classmates. The absent sister was a side character, the two football players were side characters, and they've hijacked my story for several thousand words...so far.

 

[NoTalentHack]

I’m writing a story for one of my side characters now, Sarah from After the Future is Gone. She’s the woman in the bar that points out to the MC, while he’s hitting on her, that maybe he should be getting with his cute best friend instead. I felt like she deserved her own happy ending.

 

[Duleigh]

I just finished and submitted a story for a pair of my side characters, a set of twins. Guess how it goes down. Go on, guess!

 

[Rustyoznail]

I just finished and submitted a story for a pair of my side characters, a set of twins. Guess how it goes down. Go on, guess!

Let me see... If it's like my story, on each other?

 

[Euphony]

I just finished and submitted a story for a pair of my side characters, a set of twins. Guess how it goes down. Go on, guess!

Secret twins only handshakes.

 

[Duleigh]

Secret twins only handshakes.

*stomps foot in anger* I knew I missed a trope!

 

[Djmac1031]

1) Do you write side characters? (Why or why not?)

Of course. They serve a variety of functions.

Just a for instance: in my series Caring For Carrie, I brought in a side character, Lizzie, to serve several purposes. First and foremost a friend to visit and help the injured Carrie, then have to turn more intimate duties like bathing her over to her father because she had to leave for a vacation.

I could have left Lizzie out, but Carrie was supposed to be outgoing and popular and it would have made no sense that at least one friend didn't come to visit or help while she was laid up in bed all summer.

Lizzie later served another function; to point out the contradictory feelings Carrie's dad was having. As a father, he'd never considered his own daughter, or her friends, in a sexual way, staying in what he called "dad mode" whenever they were around.

Now, while he was becoming more intimate with his own daughter, he found that while he admired Lizzie's beauty, he still couldn't bring himself to cross that line with her.

2) Have you ever liked a side character so much that you gave them a bigger role? Who were they and what did you like about them?

Yes. Trish. She started out simply as the main female character Jenna's best friend, tagging along on her first date with the male lead / narrator, Tom.

She was there to question and keep an eye on her best friend who'd suddenly started seeing a much older man.

Eventually, Trish started participating in their little exhibitionist/ CFNM adventures, and her role continues to grow as she's become closer with both Tom AND Jenna.

Trish grew as a character very naturally and she was a handy tool, often helping guide events along or even take them to the next level.

3) Who's your favorite side character that you've written? What are they like? Why are they your favorite?

Again, Trish. She's bold, even brash sometimes, but always loyal and there for her friends.

4) What would you say is the utility of side characters in your story?

Generally, to help play off the main characters, either by causing some kind of conflict, or an influence over story events, either directly or indirectly.

Example, back to my Jenna series; it's Trish who influences the events that lead to Tom posing nude for her and Jenna, giving him another CFNM opportunity that wouldn't have happened without Trish's direct suggestion of it.

Back to Lizzie; she'd been helping take care of Carrie for the first week after her injury, sparing her father from having to be in overly intimate, awkward situations with his daughter. But then by having her leave, it forces dad to take over those duties, progressing the sexual tension.