Creating Character: The Extras

You’ve got your
protagonist and the jerk that’s against him all laid out and ready to go. Now
the real fun can begin. No, we’re not starting to write just yet. When
beginning a novel, it’s easy to forget that your protagonist and your villain need
a strong supporting cast of players to bring it all together and to breathe
life into your story. And they shouldn't be thrown in all willy-nilly. The “Extras” are the color, the interest, the little bit
of something that sets your story out from the thousands of others like it.
Getting to know the supporting cast is as important as knowing your main
characters. When you know all of the extras like the back of your hand, then
you know before you begin each scene which of them are needed at each stage and
which ones are useless decoration or filler. A lot of writers treat extras like
fluff. They’re little more than ornamentation, stereotypes and clichés. No. No.
No. This makes your plot and your main characters weak. Don’t give them the
same, tired old best friend or jilted lover. Get your thinking cap on and make
the extras as memorable (or damn close) as the protagonist.



Shall we have a look
at our extras? All right then, here we go:



 
The Main Character






The main character is
the person we view the story through, and I’m adding him as an extra because
he’s not always the protagonist. He’s the narrator of the story. Writing your
story via the POV of another character, a secondary, less important character,
who can only see the action from the outside and assume this or that about the
protagonist can add depth to the protagonist. I mean, we don’t see ourselves
and what we do as others can see us, and your protagonist can’t either. Anne
Rice proves how well this can work in “Interview with the Vampire” where Louis
is narrating Lestat’s tale, and who is it we remember most? Exactly. While
Lestat is the character the story is centered on, the driving force behind the
plot, Louis’s narration adds color and intensity that Lestat’s POV could not
have done.



 

The Voice of Reason



The Voice of Reason
character is calm, rational and cool. This extra character might even be
perceived as cold or boring. She’s the one that bases everything on logic and
reason, and may be on the protagonist’s side, or the antagonist’s. She might
not be on anyone’s side. Her purpose is to rein shit in and make everyone just
calm the fuck down and take stock. She may or may not be tangible. The voice of
reason is sometimes a character’s conscience, an event, or a relationship.
While not specifically a person, the voice of reason plays an important role in
keeping things moving forward.



She might not do this
via dialogue or even intentionally, but the voice of reason is a tool that can
create excellent tension and conflict in your story, and she has no bigger a
role physically than the guy at the bar serving drinks to the killer’s first
victim.



I’ve seen many a tale
where the voice of reason is misused. Instead of using this character subtly,
the writer just inserts her as a fact-giver, or a way to drop some backstory to
make everything before her insertion make sense. No, good God, don’t do that.
Look at how Gandalf plays the voice of reason in “Lord of the Rings,” for
example. When the main characters get all bent out of shape and lose sight of
the goal, a brief scene with Gandalf in it gets shit back on track. He reminds
them of the logic of the situation, with a few lines that aren’t obviously
saying “Get your shit together, boys.” and they’re back on track. Inserting a
doctor, lawyer or scientist, or any figure of authority, merely to give facts is
lazy. The voice of reason must remind the other characters what’s at stake
without literally reminding them what’s at stake. Sometimes it’s as simple as your
protagonist (let’s say it’s a romance) is losing steam, losing motivation, and
perhaps his goal is to win the girl and live happily ever after, but she’s
playing so hard to get that he just thinks maybe that sweet blonde next door
would be way easier to win. He meets the blonde, maybe takes her out on the
town, but as she talks and he gets to know her, he realizes the other girl, his
goal, is everything this blonde is not. She’s the only one who makes his heart
do this and his mind do that. In this case, the blonde is the voice of reason
because she makes him refocus his attention on his goal, which he realizes was not
just finding an easy lay. She doesn’t do it intentionally or obviously, but she
still gets shit back where it should be, and she adds a little tension in the
meantime. I mean, the love interest is going to be all “I thought you loved me,
and here you are dating Blondie,” and he’ll be all, “Yeah, but…” and you go
from there. Yeah, cheesy example, but you see what I mean, right? Good. Moving
on.



 
The Emotional Pit






The Emotional Pit isn’t
a sobbing mess. This character can be many things. Energetic,
disorganized, angry, sad, elated; he is someone that seems to be uncontrolled and
driven by feelings. The Emotional Pit wears his heart on his sleeve and his
emotions are quick to ignite, whether that’s anger, glee or something else.
He’s also you’re go-to character for empathy and understanding. Perhaps he’s
the ex-boyfriend, or the weird neighbor who likes to make protest signage and
killed your antagonist’s cat last month because it was giving him messages from
Satan. Maybe this character is simply a child, which we all know can be
believably emotionally batshit. The important factor in this character is that
he must stand apart from the main plot line as an extra, but still manage to
crank up the conflict and tension. So don’t just have this crazy, lunatic type
come running in to say he’s all pissed at shit. That’s not adding anything.



Your Emotional Pit character
helps to make the protagonist identify some of his emotions, or perhaps he can
force other characters to realize the severity of the situation. He might even
be an obstacle in the protagonist’s way. He’s not the villain or the
antagonist, but he could be a pain in the ass just the same.



 
The Sidekick/Bestie






Ah, the
sidekick/bestie, your protagonist’s faithful go-to guy or gal who way too many
people think should offer undying support and love. The reality is that this
character can be the supporter of any character, not just the protagonist. And
he can support the protagonist without being a yes-man all the time. You can
give the villain, the voice of reason, or any other character a
bestie/sidekick. The role of this guy or girl is varied, but the potential for
cliché is huge, so use this one with caution and make sure he’s necessary to
the plot before you go dropping him in all willy-nilly.



Sidekicks might be included
for comedy relief, contrast, or they might be the method in which you reinforce
a character’s goal or beliefs. A sidekick/bestie can play dual roles, sometimes
being the Voice of Reason, the Emotional Pit or he might only play a sidekick. Your
protagonist and your antagonist might both have one of these guys at his side,
and this character doesn’t have to be faithful and supportive in that
nauseating loyal puppy dog sort of way.



For example, in Dirty
Truths, I have this character named Thomas. He’s a tall, dark and creepy sort,
who is kind of good, kind of bad. He’s Wade’s best friend, but he’s definitely
far from what you’d call a puppy dog. He threatens Kristina, the protagonist,
and kills off her obstacle character, Wade’s wife, but talks about love and
loyalty like a priest might, and he’s kind of inspiring when he does it. Later
he goes all badass on Wade, because Wade is obviously not thinking rationally,
and he’s quite scary.



A clearer example
(because most of you have no clue what I’m talking about with Dirty Truths)
might be Watson, Sherlock’s sidekick/bestie character. He’s loyal and all that,
but he sees Sherlock for what he is. In other words, this character doesn’t
have to be stupid or blindly follow the character he supports. He can play the
yin to that character’s yang. Get it? Good.



 
The Inconsequentials






The bartender, the
mailman, the hooker on the street that no one likes to admit knowing on a personal
level, the neighbor, the teacher…all the characters the reader thinks are part
of the set, but who actually play a big role in shit are the inconsequentials.
I should’ve used another word, because these characters have to be necessary,
not replaceable, but this is how we view them, so it’s easier for me to
remember them this way.



The inconsequential
characters are all the ones you need to add to make the story believable and to
help drive the action forward. If your character goes to a store, there needs
to be a cashier to ring in the crap he buys. If he dies and goes to Hell, there
needs to be an entity to meet him there. These characters are asides, not part
of the action or main plot line, but vital to it. Stephen King, Charlaine
Harris, and Dennis Lehane are all brilliant at creating inconsequentials that
are so dynamic and real, you can’t imagine another character playing the small roles
they’re given. Read a couple of their novels, and you’ll see what your goal
should be in creating an inconsequential. While their actions may not change
the outcome of the story, if you remove them, it affects the story and it’s “tone”
dramatically.



 
So there you have it.
There are probably at least a dozen or more other types of extras you can put
into your story that I haven’t listed here. In the interest of brevity, I tried
to keep it to the most commonly used ones. I’ve kept inhuman characters and love
interests aside. Those two deserve their own discussion in another post. So what are your
favorites? Do you have any tips for making them memorable?