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Developing Supporting Characters
So, I’m starting my second novel and developing the supporting characters. I’m also about to take my third Linnea Sinclair month-long class, which will be on secondary characters. So excited! I highly recommend signing up now for it. It’s only $30.00. She is an AMAZING teacher (and writer). So, I will have a lot more insights into this at the end of this month (but you have to take her class for those). But for now, here’s where I’m starting from.
Only dolls would volunteer to be photographed for a “supporting characters” picture–which leads to some other advice I’ve heard: everyone thinks they’re the MC. Use Supporting Characters to Create Conflict and Add Dimension
The best analysis I’ve seen so far on developing your supporting characters is Billy Mernit’s analysis of the TOOTSIE characters in his book, Writing the Romantic Comedy. And if you are writing a romantic comedy or love watching romantic comedies, I HIGHLY recommend reading his book. He has an amazing pictorial representation of the characters.
“[T]he supporting characters are all in some way reflections of Michael [Michael is the name of the character who becomes Tootsie] and thus force him to confront his issues.”
Writing the Romantic Comedy, by Billy Mernit (2000) at p. 76.So, as an example, in my current WIP, if my protagonist is going to be emotionally reserved, then another character has to be very emotional. Supporting characters should conflict and bring out different traits in the MC. Here’s an initial circle representation, based on Mernit’s picture for Tootsie.
Good luck reading my handwriting! Even I can’t read it sometimes 🙂 But you should get the idea. (To be honest, I keep going back and forth on whether she will be emotionally reserved. Emotional might be more fun.) In my first not-yet-published novel, Partner Pursuit, Audrey is a workaholic, while Jake, the love interest, is trying to live life to the fullest.
Add a Friend
Unless the person is a lonely introvert, then I suggest adding a friend. I always wonder about characters who don’t seem to have any friends. Also, this gives your protagonist someone to confide in. And then the buddy can give advice. As Billy Mernit says, “Buddies move the story forward.” (at p. 68). For example, in OVERBOARD (2018), it is Eva Longoria, the best friend, who suggests to Anna Faris that she should pretend she is his wife and he can work to pay off what he owes her.
Assign “Tags” to Supporting Characters
If you have a lot of supporting characters, and I’m reading late at night, tired, I might get lost and confuse them unless you give them a “tag” or dominant impression so that I remember who this character is. Here’s what writing guru Dwight Swain advises:
“A tag is a label. You hang tags on story people so that your reader can tell one character from another. An impression, dominant or otherwise, is created by the tags a character bears.”
Techniques of the Selling Writer, Dwight V. Swain, at p. 226.This is something I also need to improve in my writing.
Let’s Talk
Who are some of your favorite supporting characters? Why? What advice do you give about supporting characters?
And let’s talk about the topic on everyone’s minds: I am trying to stock up for the coronavirus, but it’s practically impossible. The food seems to be eaten as soon as it comes in. It’s like the opposite of doing laundry–I empty the hamper and do the laundry and yet, it’s full again of dirty clothes. Here, I load up the refrigerator and the cabinets, and yet they’re empty. The only thing I can safely say is that we seem to have enough toilet paper. Hurray for that.
Wishing everyone a great weekend. Keep washing your hands.
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Three Lessons on Internal Conflict from Story Genius
Here are my three lessons on crafting internal conflict from Story Genius by Lisa Cron. I just finished reading it and Wow! I highly recommend it.
Three Lessons on Internal Conflict from Story Genius.
- “[T]he protagonist’s internal struggle is the story’s third rail, the live wire that sparks our interest and drives the story forward.” (p. 18)
- Write the “Origin Scene” – the scene in which your protagonist’s misbelief originated– and three Turning Point scenes “where her misbelief was the deciding factor in a decision she made” and which confirms that misbelief as “right.” (p.114)
- In each scene, what connects that scene to that third rail? What is the “story-specific emotional component to give it meaning and drive it forward?” (p. 247) Why does what happens matter to your protagonist? How is it slowly changing the misbelief?
Of course, these three lessons are just the tip of the iceberg. Crafting these four scenes made me really focus on my protagonist’s internal conflict and gave me backstory to insert into the novel. It showed me how what’s happening is making her change her “misbelief” and how to tie my scenes more closely to that third rail.
I started reading Story Genius because I am taking an online class by Linnea Sinclair called “Inside Out: Crafting your Character’s Internal Conflict.” She recommended reading it. This is my second course with Linnea and I highly recommend them: https://www.facebook.com/Linnea-Sinclair-75135631090/. They’re fun and chock full of writing tips for your toolbox. And completely affordable. So much value for your money.
Now I also have to figure where I am going to input the snippets of backstory that I wrote as part of the Story Genius exercises, without it seeming like a backstory information dump.
Book Recommendation: Gabriel’s Ghost (RITA winner)
I also just finished reading Gabriel’s Ghost by Linnea Sinclair (RITA winner, Paranormal Romance) because reading authors is another way to learn the craft. It was my first paranormal romance and it was so good. I highly recommend it, for readers and writers alike. I couldn’t put it down and just bought the next in the series.
Let’s Talk
What do you think is a story’s third rail? Do you think it is inner conflict? Have you read Story Genius? And have you read Gabriel’s Ghost? Are there any books you recommend?
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Create More Action and Tension in a Manuscript
I labeled my scenes action vs. dialogue per my earlier post, so now I think I need to create more action and tension in my manuscript.
How can I add action when my protagonist is sitting in an office? I can’t invent a space ship or aliens attacking her. (Well, I can, but I’d be in another genre.) She accidently staples her fingers?
So now I’ve added another antagonist who is metaphorically trying to staple my protagonist. Mwuah hah hah.
I also turned to my craft books for advice.
Creating More Action and Tension in a MS Per Dwight Swain
Dwight Swain’s Advice – Add Feeling, Action, Speech
I read Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight V. Swain, recommended by Linnea Sinclair and I found what I needed to do.
1) To add tension, you need to show the character’s reaction to an event.
2) The character reaction is “feeling, action, speech.” (p. 56).My character usually talks in reaction, which made me realize I‘ve been leaving out the feeling and the action. I definitely haven’t been using all the “glandular and muscular reactions” (at p. 72). (Am I really supposed to use glandular reactions? That feels so raw.)
a. What is feeling? Dwight Swain explains:
“Panic races through you.
Panic is feeling.
Like magic, sweat slicks your palms and soaks your armpits and trickles down your spine. . .
Actions, one and all.” ( at p. 57) (Also very glandular.)Or his example:
“Hi Jill!” he called. “How’s it going?”
Feeling: A glow of warmth at his friendliness crept through Jill.
Action: She smiled.
Speech: “Just fine, thanks,” she said. ( at p. 58)He’s not recommending that you always use all three components, but rather add it to your writer’s toolbox.
Tension – Internal and External Conflict
And just as I was thinking about this, this on-topic post from https://nybookeditors.com/2019/05/how-to-raise-the-stakes-in-your-novel-and-create-a-gripping-story/ popped up. They suggest adding internal conflict among several other items on the checklist. I recommend reading article and getting the checklist. My protagonist has external and internal conflict, but I haven’t always highlighted the internal conflict.
As Lisa Cron writes,
“[T]he protagonist’s internal struggle is the story’s third rail, the live wire that sparks out interest and drives the story forward.”
Story Genius, by Lisa Cron at p. 18End In Disaster
I also re-read parts of Jack Bickham’s Scene and Structure, another craft book I also highly recommend.
“Disaster works (moves the story forward) by seeming to move the central figure further back from his goal, leaving him in worse trouble than he was before the scene started.”
Scene & Structure by Jack Bickham at p. 42.What are your thoughts?
Do you have any advice on how to create more action and tension in a MS? How do you develop your protagonist’s internal conflict? What kind of books do you like to read?
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Can there be too much dialogue in a manuscript?
Two Friends Talking Can there be too much dialogue in a manuscript?
According to some, yes.
Robert McKee’s Advice on Film Dialogue
I was taken aback by McKee’s advice: “The best advice for writing film dialogue is don’t. Never write a line of dialogue when you can create a visual expression.”
As he explains in Story, “But if you write for the eye when the dialogue comes, as it must, it sparks interest because the audience is hungry for it.” (Story, p. 393). Of course this is for film, and that’s different from a novel, but I still like the notion of the audience or reader being hungry for the dialogue.
I love writing dialogue. I also like to read dialogue. I read that much faster than long paragraphs of description. And of course, the above advice is for film. So does it also apply when writing a novel?
Studying the Techniques of Other Writers in My Genre
I can see that Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes has less dialogue than my MS. Some conversations are expressed via paragraphs like this one:
“When it got to the late afternoon, Evvie poured bourbon and made snacks, and they sat on the love seat with their feet on the coffee table and listened to the new episode of the true-crime podcast they’d both been following. Dean rolled his eyes and complained that the people were clearly never going to solve the case, and Evvie passed him a peanut butter cracker and said it was about the journey.”
Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes at p. 280So I ‘m going to review my MS and see what I can re-write in this manner.
And I’m in the middle of reading Star-Crossed by Minnie Darke (and I’m really enjoying it) and studying her technique.
And here’s a conversation that you definitely don’t want to hear in detail, which is the author’s point, as neither does her character Tara. Lol.
“Tara introduced herself to the silver-haired gentleman beside her, and before long was engaged in a conversation about an unpleasant-sounding bovine condition called campylobacter.”
Star-Crossed by Minnie Darke at p. 70.What is My Dialogue Doing?
As you’ve undoubtedly read, conversations have to move the plot forward or reveal something about the characters. See https://nybookeditors.com/2017/05/your-guide-to-writing-better-dialogue/. And I realized that some of my scenes were just fun banter. But can I keep some of that if it is humorous? I think they did reveal something of my protagonist, so I kept some of it, but shortened it.
The Well-Storied blog gives this great advice to “identify the tension at the core of the scene” and craft related dialogue. That’s just one of 19 good tips at https://www.well-storied.com/blog/write-better-dialogue.
And I also found this blog post from Ride the Pen very helpful about using body language tags to express emotion and convey conflict and character. See https://www.ridethepen.com/body-language-in-dialogue/ .
Adding Action
I also found this advice very helpful from The Editors Blog: “If characters only talk, if they don’t respond to the conflict with action, then that conflict isn’t accomplishing as much as it could. ” https://theeditorsblog.net/2011/10/25/dialogue-my-characters-talk-too-much/
All of the above blog posts are great resources, so I suggest reading them in full.
Three Take-Aways
- Review dialogue in MS and see if it is moving the plot forward or revealing something about my characters. (Or if it’s funny, in which case I also want to keep it.)
- Label my scenes as action vs. talking. See if I need to add more action. (Probably.)
- In talking scenes, check if the description can be enhanced such that it creates a “visual expression” (possibly via body language).
What’s your preference when reading? Can you share any advice about writing dialogue?
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Join Me on My Writing Journey
I’m embarking on my writing journey and I hope you’ll join me! I first started writing a romantic comedy many years ago; I saw such a bad one that I thought, I can write a better one than this.
Starting My Writing Journey
I started taking online writing classes (I’m a mom and I was working as a lawyer), so online was my best option. I enrolled in The Writer’s Academy Constructing a Novel, and it was so much fun. I loved writing, and I enjoyed talking about writing with other writers in the course. My writing tutor in The Writer’s Academy wrote that my scene was “sparky” and I was on Cloud Nine. An acquaintance saw me that day and said I was glowing as if I was in love.
Indeed I had found a new love: writing. Writing a really good scene makes me so happy. But I didn’t have the courage to leave my job (and source of income yet). So I tried writing part-time, but eventually I realized that I just couldn’t do it part-time. (Unfortunately, I’m someone who needs sleep too.) So I quit my job. And here I am.
Learning Writing Craft
I love attending writer’s conferences and taking writing craft courses. I can’t believe that I get to choose from course selections of “Sensual Love Scenes without Stuffing the Turkey” from Alison May and Liam Livings at the RNA Leeds Conference or “Character Torture” by Linnea Sinclair. (I highly recommend taking any courses offered by those authors.) Compare that to “Recent Developments in Securities Fraud Cases,” “GDPR Enforcement,” and “Cyber-Security and Privacy” (course selections at my lawyers’ conferences). You can see there’s a huge difference.
Which pile would you prefer to read? Not that I don’t miss practicing law at times.
Rejections and Encouragement
Because similar to my dating life when I was single, there have been quite a few rejections. But I am still plugging away, trying to improve my craft and making friends with other writers. I eventually found a great guy to marry after many dating disasters, so there’s hope! And I placed Third in the Los Angeles Orange Rose Contest for Women’s Fiction with Romance as a Central Element! They wrote that “You will be published.” (By whom? It’s like a tarot card reader who just hints at good news: “You will meet the man of your dreams. You will come into a fortune.”)
Woohoo! Join me!
So, join me on my journey! Have you changed careers? (Are you a recovering lawyer?) What do you like to read? Do you write? How did you begin your writer’s journey?