It’s easy to fall in love with the heroes of a story. I mean, the entire tale is about them, right? They’re the reason we’re here. And villains, they capture our interest too. Personally, I love a really good villain. Sometimes I find them more interesting—and even more sympathetic—than the hero. But what about the rest of the cast

I’m talking here about secondary characters, the cast that populates a story. They may appear briefly, perhaps without even a speaking role, or they may take a more major role in the goings-on. Obviously, we’re not going to spend as much time with them or learn as much about them as we do the protagonists and antagonists. But, done well, secondary characters should take on lives of their own. They should feel real to us. And we might even wish that we had the chance to get to know them better.

Consider, for example, Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride. (Honestly, I could make this point with several of the other characters too, especially Fezzik.) His job is to be first an adversary and then an ally of Westley. We know some important things about his past and we learn quite a bit about his character. He’s not in every scene. The story could have possibly concluded well without him. But I want to sit down with him—probably over a bottle of wine—and hear about his adventures.

Another example of a secondary character almost stealing the show is Roy Batty in Blade Runner (yes, I guess arguably he’s the villain, but I find him much too sympathetic for that). We really don’t see much of him at all. But in that climactic battle with Decker, Batty truly becomes three-dimensional. He feels as important as Decker.

I have some favorite romance secondary characters too, such as Dreyfuss in Jordan Castillo Price’s PsyCopseries (and also Crash, who doesn’t count as secondary anymore since he ended up with a book of his own), Jenny Saint in K.J. Charles’s Charm of Magpies, and Scarlet and Claudia in Rhys Ford’s Cole McGinnis books. I’m always delighted when they make an appearance.

When I write, my secondary characters feel as genuine to me as the primary ones. I may not include many details about them in the story, because those would distract from the main things going on, but those details exist in my head (which is a very busy place). Sometimes I even fall madly in love with these characters, as happened with Molly the spaceship in my newest book. She wasn’t supposed to be especially vital to the story—heck, she wasn’t even really supposed to be a character—but as happens with many of the beings that populate my brain, she took on a life of her own.

Who are your favorite secondary characters and what draws you to them?

***

Kim Fielding is the bestselling author of numerous m/m romance novels, novellas, and short stories. Like Kim herself, her work is eclectic, spanning genres such as contemporary, fantasy, paranormal, and historical. Her stories are set in alternate worlds, in 15th century Bosnia, in modern-day Oregon. Her heroes are hipster architect werewolves, housekeepers, maimed giants, and conflicted graduate students. They’re usually flawed, they often encounter terrible obstacles, but they always find love.

After having migrated back and forth across the western two-thirds of the United States, Kim calls the boring part of California home. She lives there with her family and her day job as a university professor, but escapes as often as possible via car, train, plane, or boat. This may explain why her characters often seem to be in transit as well. She dreams of traveling and writing full-time.

Follow Kim:

Website: http://www.kfieldingwrites.com/

Facebook: http://facebook.com/KFieldingWrites

Twitter: @KFieldingWrites

Email: Kim@KFieldingWrites.com

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bau3S9

A complete list of Kim’s books: http://www.kfieldingwrites.com/books/