TECH: Make A Scene #24: Secondary and Minor Characters

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Chapter 24: Secondary and Minor Characters

Whoops. Almost lost track of our friend Make a Scene by Jordan Rosenfeld. Let's see, we are well along into the other scene considerations, and today we're going to look at secondary and minor characters. So what does Rosenfeld have to say.

First, think about the protagonist. This is the person that the significant situation focuses on, the person who gets challenged and tested in your story. There might be multiple protagonists. They are the stars of the story, working hard and talking a lot. Their conflicts are what the reader focuses on.

Secondary characters affect the protagonist in meaningful ways, initiating change and conflict, offering help to the protagonists, and making the narrative richer. We're not talking about minor players, but true secondary characters that affect the narrative and the protagonist. There are two main types of secondary characters, antagonists and allies. [tink adds, "villains and sidekicks?"]

Antagonists are the people who work the goals of your protagonist. They cause conflict and put pressure on your hero. They may not be in every scene, but every scene should have some pressure, menace, or uncertainty because of their actions. Make sure you know what motivates the antagonist, and that you show the reader. The antagonist may not develop like the main character.

So what do you need to know about the antagonist?

1. Why is the antagonist blocking the protagonist? What's his motivation?
2. What does the antagonist expect to gain?
3. What does the antagonist expect to lose if he fails?

Basically, you want to know what's pushing the antagonist -- and show the reader in enough detail to make them believable. Antagonists push protagonists are providing a looming threat, making the protagonist take action in fear of the antagonist, or inciting the protagonist to defensive or courageous acts.

Allies include friends, allies, loved ones -- anyone and everyone who supports the protagonist and let's him succeed in facing his challenges. Allies often get involved in sacrifice to let the protagonist carry on, making a surprising act of strength or courage to support the protagonist in a crisis, or bringing in support groups in the nick of time (think of all those troops of cavalry coming over the hills just in time, usually with the faithful sidekick leading the way).

Minor characters are there to add spice and realism. [tink says, "remember the actor's platitude, that there are no small parts, and make even your minor characters memorable."] They are all the little people who interact and challenge your main characters as they move around your world. Frankly, without them, story worlds tend to seem too empty, like ghost towns and stage sets.

What do minor characters do for you?

1. Offer a piece of plot information.
2. Act as a witness to major plot events, tying threads together.
3. Provide a calming influence.
4. Add realism. Daily life brings us in touch with a lot of other people -- your main characters will too.
5. Add comic relief
6. Cause trouble. Trouble and conflict make the story go, but it doesn't all have to be a huge conspiracy. Minor characters can add to the stew, too.
7. Provide distraction. Think about a mystery where the only other person besides the detective is the bad guy. Guess who did it? Having several other minor characters certainly helps camouflage whodunit.

How do you keep from letting your secondary and minor characters take over? [My hint -- remember the stage? Don't let your secondary characters or bit players upstage the main characters.] Rosenfeld suggests that these smaller characters should

1. Make infrequent appearances -- they shouldn't appear in every scene.
2. Demonstrate little or no internal reflection. This doesn't mean they have to be dumb, but the internal monologues and wrestling with himself is for the protagonist.
3. Not be emotionally complex.
4. Have actions or personality that challenges or helps the main characters
5. Act as catalysts for change or a reaction by the protagonist

Sometimes you'll want to promote a secondary character. As you're writing, you realize that this character is rich and vivid, that they appear in almost every scene, that they have their own emotional transformation, and that they are a key part of the plot. Your choice -- do you cut back, promote them into co-protagonists, or maybe put them in another book?

So that's Rosenfeld's advice. Think about the antagonists, the allies, and the minor characters. These are the people in your world. Make sure they play appropriate parts, so that your protagonist and plot shine.

Next time we'll take a look at scene transitions. In the meantime . . .

First exercise. Take a short story or novel that you like. Draw up the Dramatis Personae -- the list of players -- for this work. Identify the protagonist, antagonists, and main allies. You'll probably find this is a fairly small group even in complex works. Now take a look at the minor characters -- you may not want to list all of them. There's the taxicab driver, the doorman, the hotel clerk, and so forth and so on. Do they have names? Take that story apart and look at the people inside.

Second exercise. Now, take a short story or a novel that you are working on. Or (especially given that we're approaching Nanowrimo -- National Novel Writing Month) a novel that you are planning to work on? And draft the same kind of list. Who is the protagonist? What about the antagonists? Who are the allies of the protagonist? Are there minor characters to list ahead of time, or will you just make those up in each scene as needed?

That's probably enough for now. Just remember . . .

Write!

dancing in the starlight, under a paper moon

EXERCISE: who's that screaming?

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So we're about to get into the Halloweenie season, and start cranking out stories? Sounds like a plan.

Tell you what, pick a number from one to six. Come on, you know you want to. Pick one now.

No, you can't go on until you pick a number. Now pick that number.

Good. You have chosen:

1. You hear a woman screaming in the parking lot behind your apartment building. Do you try to help?
2. On a cold winter day, you notice a bum who has passed out on the sidewalk. No one else is around. Do you try to help him?
3. You're driving alone on a highway at night. A desperate looking person tries to flag you down. Do you stop?
4. Waiting at a bus stop in a downpour, you see a blind man attempting to cross the street. You are in a rush and see your bus coming. Do you offer to help?
5. A man on the street says he and his wife (who is standing nearby) are stranded and have no money for food. He asks for anything you can spare. You won't miss a five dollar bill. Do you give one to him?
6. You're driving at night and hit a dog. Do you stop and see that the dog gets medical attention?

Six little moral dilemmas, courtesy of A Question of Scruples, the game that makes you think.

Now, you might want to use these as the basis for a Halloween story. I think any of us can pretty easily imagine how these scenarios could get worse. In any case, take your dilemma, and make a list of five ways for things to go wrong. You might want to consider different alternative responses -- going to help or not going to help, either one can turn into complications and contusions. You might want to think about some different background stories. For example, what if there's a demon involved? Or perhaps just a run-of-the-mill terrorist? What about your local psychopathic murderer? Or maybe . . . well, pick your own horrifying characters, and consider how they might be involved in the scenario that you are developing.

Add some motivation, raise the stakes, think about the crucible, ticking clock, maybe some other complications -- double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn . . . oh, you remember. Well, put your fenney snake in, and make that cauldron shake!

Write.

TECH: Make A Scene #23: Your Protagonist's Emotional Thread

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Chapter 23: Your Protagonist's Emotional Thread

Wrapping up the last pieces of Make a Scene by Jordan Rosenfeld, this chapter looks at the transformation of the character really across the scenes. Most narratives include some growth or change in the character, which really adds meaning and depth. This emotional thread cuts across the individual scenes, and Rosenfeld has some comments about it.

First, of course, is the point that changes in personality -- in beliefs, attitudes, and so forth -- shouldn't be sudden or easy. People don't change without a struggle. To make it feel authentic, to give credibility to each scene, you need to make sure that the change is motivated, and probably somewhat gradual.

In the early scenes, we're establishing everything. Characters, conflicts, problems, etc. Right up front, you can include character-related plot threads:

• Involvement. How is the protagonist related to the significant situation? Is it his fault, centered on him somehow? Is he integral to it or does he stumble into it?
• Stakes. What does the protagonist gain or lose because of events?
• Desires. What does the protagonist want?
• Fears. What scares the protagonist?
• Motivation. Why does the protagonist do things?
• Challenges. How does the significant situation challenge the protagonist?

At the end of the early scenes, you as author can ask yourself if the protagonist is shaky enough? Are there enough problems and conflicts that readers will be worried? Is the protagonist directly involved in a significant situation? Does the protagonist seem to be struggling, trying to act, being forced to change? Is there enough uncertainty -- readers should be trying to figure out what will happen, not betting on a sure thing.

Scenes in the middle make the reader and the protagonists work. This is where the protagonist gets tested and stretched. These scenes need to include:

• opportunities for crisis and conflict. Makes things harder, more complicated, add problems on top of the problems.
• opportunities for dramatic and surprising changes. Given the pressures and complications, the protagonist can start acting differently, perhaps in anger, perhaps in achieving more than seemed possible.
• opportunities for plot complications. Things were bad before, now they're going to get horrible. New complications and new complexity.
• opportunities to test drive new behaviors. Emotional reactions can start to pop under the pressure and stress. The protagonist can surprise us.
• opportunities for dramatic tension. Put the protagonist in danger, emotional or physical, and build an aura of tension -- tighten the suspense.

Desperation, uncertainty, trials and tribulations. Some protagonists get worse before they get better. That's okay. This is the part where the character shows how they really behave when things get hot and tough. The protagonist learns who their real friends are and what their own strengths and weaknesses really are, all in preparation for the final scenes.

The final scenes are where all of the changes get wrapped up. This is where we show who is left after the climax -- who has the protagonist become? So you need to know:

• what are the consequences of having desires met?
• what are the consequences of having fears realized?
• did what the protagonist wants change? What is it now?
• did what the protagonist fears change?
• how does the protagonist view the significant situation now?

This is where you demonstrate character change. You need to show through action or dialogue what has changed. You also need to answer any plot questions that are left. Tie up the major consequences. In most cases, this includes showing:

• the protagonist has learned something
• the protagonist's attitudes and behavior have changed
• the protagonist has started a new journey or direction

"The key to successful character transformation is to let your character changes unfold dramatically but also realistically. Let the reader see your characters change by how they act and speak, and by the choices they make within the framework of scenes, not through narrative summaries."

That's what Rosenfeld says about the emotional threads in the plot.

What shall we add? Well, how about taking a look at a story or novel that you like, and consider the growth of the protagonist? Even in a thriller or action story, we're likely to find that the protagonist learns something, changes, faces up to their fears and beats them down, etc. So start at the beginning, and track that golden thread of the protagonist's emotional fabric, beliefs, etc. How is it set up in the beginning? What happens to it in the middle? And at the climax, how does the writer handle it? Normally there is a definite shift from the well-worn emotions at the beginning through tearing and holes in the middle into a restructuring and rebuilding at the end. Something like that, anyway. How does it work in the stories you like?

Then, turn around and consider a story or novel that you are working on. Do you show the readers the emotions, the beliefs and attitudes of your protagonist? In the beginning, do you let them know how the hero feels, and where the flaw is? What about in the middle? Do you keep that thread going? And in the climax and ending, do you show how the person has grown and changed? You don't have to spend pages in internal turmoil and debate, but make sure that the reader feels for the protagonist.

S'aright?

How about a third one? Okay, let's start with picking two numbers from one to 12. Two different numbers, okay? You may roll two pair of dice if you like. Got your numbers? Now find them in this list:

1.  sadness  2. distress  3.  relief  4.  joy
5.  hate  6. love 7.  fear  8. anticipation
9.  anger  10.  guilt  11.  gratitude  12. pride

What you have there is two emotions. Maybe sadness and guilt. And here's the exercise. Consider how you might show a reader that the protagonist feels sadness, right at the start of a story. And then consider how you might show a reader that they feel guilt -- at the end of a tale. And for bonus points, consider how sadness transforms into guilt. Now can you put that together into a story? From sadness over his parents' death to a lurking sense of guilt? Or . . .

Get those writing neurons crackling, and write.