What’s That Other Character in the Scene Thinking?

Happy September!

Does it feel like fall yet where you are? Here in Missouri, we’re at the stage where it’s cool in the morning and evening, downright cold overnight, but still hot in the middle of the day. I’ve resorted to switching the HVAC from heat to air conditioning.

September marks the third anniversary of the release of Your Life Has Been Delayed (Sept. 7) and the second anniversary of My Second Impression of You (Sept. 20). To celebrate, I’m currently running a giveaway for a signed copy of YLHBD on Instagram. It closes on Thursday, Sept. 12, but please enter if you don’t already have a copy. In addition, my September newsletter, out today, includes bonus features for both books.

In August, my family took a trip up to Montreal, which is a fascinating city, with its French and British influences. We stayed in Old Montreal, near the Place d’Armes. There was a very interesting piece of art in the square that I think speaks to point of view. Make sure you read the caption, which I copied directly from the plaque.

I love how this art shows an inside glimpse of each of these people–who are definite stereotypes–and then also the dogs, who rise above. In general, I love playing with perspective. If you’ve read My Second Impression of You, you’ll already know that, as it’s all about Maggie getting an inside look at other perspectives. For that particular book, I gave readers a glimpse inside other characters’ heads along with Maggie, but it’s not a new concept for me as a writer. I do it quite often as I’m drafting and revising.

Let me back up a minute. Before I start drafting, I fill out detailed character sheets for not only my main character but the supporting characters in each of my books. These character sheets include basic info like their age, physical description, personality, habits, and mannerisms, but they go beyond the surface. Often I’ll include paragraphs of backstory to explain their motivations, highlighting their internal and external conflicts. Even with all of this planning, there are scenes where I need to actually get inside their heads to figure out why they’re behaving a certain way in that moment. It’s generally because it makes no sense to the main character and by extension the reader. But once I write it from that other character’s point of view, I can flesh out the scene from the POV character, who will likely interpret those reactions in a very different manner.

I’ll give you an example. I recently was working on a mystery, and I struggled with the motives of a number of characters. There were big questions like:

Why did they commit this crime?Why would they go along with this scheme?How could they be so clueless about this other character?Why did they make this obviously outrageous (to the reader) decision?

But there were also smaller ones like:

Why did they react–or not react–during this key moment?What are they thinking when they say…?Are they putting on an act or do they have no idea what’s going on?What do they hope to gain by taking x action?How does this character react when cornered? Calm and calculated or panicked and reaching for anything to save their skin?Does the character rely more on logic or emotion?

Sometimes instead of writing out a specific scene, I’ll do a full synopsis for the other character. That’s the case for my most recent project. Instead of needing to see how the love interest would react within their scenes together, I needed a fuller picture of what happened in between. I wrote out a synopsis of the story from his point of view, including scenes that didn’t involve my main character. Some of those scenes are referenced in the book, but some are just for my own information, to understand his actions/reactions.

I’m sure you’ve heard the statement that every character is the main character of their own story–even the villain/antagonist. The reader may not get the opportunity to see inside those character’s minds, but they should still see glimpses through the main character. The book will be that much richer for it.

What are some of your favorite secondary characters in books? What made them stand out to you?

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