The importance of the supporting cast in crime fiction
Often when we talk about crime fiction, we talk about the main players: the antagonist and protagonist, as well as a couple of other key characters who play a major role within the story. However, we also shouldn’t forget the supporting cast. They are hugely important in crime fiction, adding depth and interest to the story.
After all, without good, well-written secondary characters, the novel will never be as good. In order for it to be believable, all of the characters need to be believable – even the ones that only appear in one scene never to be seen again. They all need to add something to the book; they might not advance the plot much, but their purpose should still be felt.
They also help to build up intrigue and tangle of plot threads that characterise so many great crime novels. That’s not to say you couldn’t have a brilliant crime story with only two or three people – of course you could – but by and large, a strong supporting cast will help add to the quality of the story.
You might, for instance, have a secondary character who only features briefly in the novel, but on whom the entire story rests. You might have a couple of characters who are important in a subplot that runs not just throughout one novel, but throughout a whole series of books.
Which brings us onto another point. The supporting cast is vital if you are planning to write a series of crime novels. They are often what provide the backbone and familiarity of the world, while the ‘crime of the book’ offers the difference and newness that crime stories thrive on. We also get the pleasure of coming to care – or not – for these characters as the series progresses, and of finding out more about them.
There’s also the satisfaction for the writer of being able to explore people’s lives over an extended period of time: maybe your supporting cast won’t feature in the story that much at first, but will become more relevant with time, eventually coming to play a central role in your crime story.
Supporting characters are always important, no matter what style of novel you are writing. Yet they are arguably even more important in crime fiction, where so much depends on the layers and intrigue and unpredictability of the story’s outcome. If you are writing a crime novel, it’s certainly worth taking the time to get the supporting cast right.
