Secondary Characters: A Story of Their Own?

Today is the birthday for one my little sister’s favorite characters. I don’t know for sure how old he is because I don’t remember when he came into being.

But I know what he originally did for a living and what he now does. I know what kind of house he lives in. I know what make, model and color of car he used to drive and what make, model and color of car he now drives.

Oh, and I know his birthday is August 28. That’s what my sister told me.

Granted, he’s never appeared in a finished manuscript, but he has been mentioned in one form or another in one or two of them and has been the lead character an in idea or two that lurking in my folder of story ideas.

Just like the lead character and ‘offspring’ I mentioned in a previous post, Characters: Where They Start; Where They End Up, this secondary character has been through many permutations ranging from old west cowboy to contemporary private investigator. The only difference is that other than two ideas in which he was the lead, he’s never advanced much above faithful friend or loyal sidekick and is often even further down the character ladder than that.

Poor guy!

I don’t need more ideas and I’m not sure I need a new lead character these days, but I can’t help but wonder what I might be able to do with this particular character. His two careers are an interesting real-life (literally speaking) combination with an interesting and versatile skill set that would work in any of a number of situations.

His acquaintance with existing characters in other stories also provides an established setting and contacts.

What’s even better from a writer’s point of view is that he has personal history and character traits that set him up for struggles and difficulties through no fault of his own, though he is perfectly capable of causing his own problems. Just like the rest of us.

Secondary characters can be a good source of inspiration for new stories and new ideas. In theory, every character in every story should be unique and interesting enough to stand on their own, even if they appear in the story for a paragraph or two. Every character should serve a purpose, too, or they are not needed in the story.

So they can be the perfect candidates for stories of their own.

Granted, not all secondary characters have a story to tell, but many of them either appear with a story or a story can be developed quite nicely around them. It may be worth while to give them the center stage for a chapter or two and see what happens.

You never know when that supporting character might be ready to take the step up to center stage.