Writers – Attention Seeking Minor Characters – Blessing or a Curse?

Currently rolling my eyes at a minor character who has ideas well above his station.

There’s nothing worse than trying to write a scene and being distracted by some minor character who believes you made a big mistake when the casting for main character roles was being undertaken.

Some minor characters are born into your story knowing they are NEVER going to be centre stage and make it their fictional LIFE AMBITION to change this. 

What I want to know is whether attention seeking minor characters are a blessing or a curse to us writers?

Let’s first discuss minor characters:

Minor characters are great devices for relaying information about the main characters to the reader. They can also be useful in contributing to key moments in your story or in some cases act as a catalyst. In addition they can help set the mood of a scene or provide some light relief for the reader.

The important thing to remember is that minor characters play a small role and should not overshadow the main characters.

Attention seeking minor characters can be a pain. You will know when you come across one because when you are editing you will say things like, ‘not you again!’ and ‘blimey – this is not your story!’

They can be hard to control and if left to their own devices they will frustrate the hell out of the writer and take the story in an unwanted direction.

Minor characters can also turn into sparkly objects, especially when things get tough in stories. It’s no surprise after EIGHT drafts sweating I have found myself getting side tracked by someone funny, energetic and desperate for my attention. I end up finding myself writing about him when I should be writing about the main characters.

Needy minor characters can send your story down a new rabbit hole and at editing stage you can end up deleting pages as they got way more limelight than planned.

However, I don’t think they are all bad.

Attention seeking minor characters are trying to tell us something about our story or cast of characters.

The questions I think need answering when faced with an attention seeking minor character are:

Is there a reason why I am being pulled in another direction?Is this character actually trying to help me move the story forward or give the reader some insight into the main character?Are they stealing the limelight away from my main characters for a reason? Is my main character dull? Do they have a stronger voice than my main character? Who is in control here – me (the writer) or the handsome / beautiful minor character who is like a new shiny, sparkly object?Do I need to tighten up my book plan and not let them run riot.

So, I am going to sit on the fence and say attention seeking minor characters are both a blessing and a curse.

Please let me know your thoughts on this hot topic!