Tag: supporting characters

Your Hero Doesn’t Have to be the Hero!

Quan

The vast majority of stories are told from the perspective of the altruistic (even if flawed) hero facing the odds to accomplish whatever goal he or she has n mind. They may stumble and fall, but it is clear that particular lead character is the one you as a reader should be rooting for to solve their problem and succeed. This is a tried and true method of storytelling, and it obviously works. Having a likable, relatable character makes it easier for readers to get invested in the story because they genuinely want to see if their protagonist can overcome the obstacles put in their way. Even tragic heroes that are doomed to fail have some redeeming qualities that readers can get behind.

But what if I told you there was another viable way to approach the story? What if you told the story with the villain as a protagonist? Or with a companion to the actual hero as the protagonist? These are storytelling approaches that have also been done, and done well. Ahab was the hero of Moby Dick, but the story was told through the eyes of his first mate Ishmael. The legendary exploits of Sherlock Holmes were told trough the eyes of his trusty sidekick Watson. And L. Ron Hubbard’s epic sci-fi saga Mission Earth was told almost entirely with the central villain of the story, Soltan Gris, as the point-of-view protagonist. It can be done.

Writing the story from a different perspective allows you to add new nuances to our story. Watching the story through only the hero’s eyes can be like watching with blinders, and you don’t really get to see what is going on beyond what the hero is paying attention to. But if you tell the story through someone else’s eyes, you can point out details about your hero, the situation and the world your characters populate that the hero will miss. A supporting character can see your hero’s more vulnerable moments, faults and foibles better than the hero, and may be in a position to comment on it. Telling the story through the antagonists eyes allows you to poke holes in the logic and idealism that drives you hero to try to complete their mission, and also might serve to humanize the villain and make him more relatable. Telling the story from the perspective of an everyman passer-by or a random person caught up in the crossfire of he story adds a different, more detached viewpoint, that can focus on the realtime consequences of the hero’s actions and how they affect everyone else that isn’t directly involved with the events transpiring. In a recent Magic: The Gathering story set on an ancient Egypt-themed world, a series of short stories were dedicated to chronicling the average people of that world caught up in the middle of an epic struggle between the heroes of the story (The Gatewatch, a collection of powerful mages dedicated to protecting the multiverse) and an army of undead warriors and evil gods led by the ancient elder dragon Nicol Bolas. By reading the events of the story through their eyes, you can get a very real and relatable sense of the stakes of this battle and how it really affects the world the battle is taking place on.

The first thing you want to do is take a look at the basic framework of or story and ask yourself who is involved in it. Obviously your typical protagonist will be there, but usually the protagonist isn’t alone in their journey. Who else is in the story, and how can they offer a different perspective on what is happening?

Or maybe the hero’s journey isn’t the most interesting aspect of the story. Have you taken a deep dive int your villain or antagonist, and followed their story? What if that was the more fascinating tale? The protagonist of The Talented Mr. Ripley series is charismatic, likable and relatable. He is also a liar, manipulator and cold-blooded murderer who will doublecross and destroy anybody in his way to get what he wants. And for many of his books, there is nobody else hat can match how despicable he is to make him come of as more sympathetic or heroic. He is no antihero. He is clearly the villain of his own story, but what he does and how he does is is an engaging read because readers are actively wondering if he is going to actually get away with everything he is doing, and who – if anyone – will be the one to finally stop him. That is a formula that can work for you, if handled properly. There is a reason why iconic villains like Darth Vader, The Joker, Lex Luthor and Dr. Doom often get to be the protagonists of comic books. Even the villain is a hero in his own mind.

I am currently working on a series of fantasy stories where the actual hero of the entire saga only makes brief cameo appearances, and the reader doesn’t realize that the protagonists I’ve been telling the story though aren’t the real heroes of the story until the very end. Unreliable narrators make for very engaging protagonists. You can really play with tat, and mess with reader expectations, by portraying a less-than-noble protagonist in a noble light. It can really add some depth to your story and keep the reader guessing.

So when you start writing your next story, take a look at all of the characters involved, and consider experimenting with who you tell the story through. You might get a more engaging story by telling it through someone else’s eyes and voice.

The Art of The Spinoff

Quan

There will come a time when, while writing a story, you will create a supporting character that will resonate either with you the writer or with your audience, more than you expected. Or maybe you will start a subplot arc or thread in your story that has potential but you just won’t have enough space in your story to explore it fully.

So what do you do with that breakout supporting character or that unresolved subplot? Spin it off into a new story, of course! Spinoffs are a great, organic way to expand the world of your stories, and are the most convenient way to create those shared universes I wrote about in a previous post. Having a different character interact with your setting, or expanding on a story element within that setting helps a lot with world-building and can make your universe more immersive and engaging.

The most organic way to create the shared universe

If you’re looking for that holy grail of franchising – the shared universe – then spinoffs are the most organic way to it. Everything you create in your spinoff is a direct offshoot of your original story, which adds more relevance to the original. You can, at any time, have characters and other elements from the original story make an appearance in your spinoffs, which creates that inter-connectivity of the two stories. Pratchett often had Commander Vimes from his Watch series of stories make cameo appearances in his other stories, just as a reminder that the new stories do indeed tie into the older ones.

How to tell if something or someone is spinoff worthy

Unanswered questions, dangling plotlines and unexplored character beats can be a great catalyst for developing a spinoff. If your story finishes and you as a writer, or your beta readers are asking about any plot development you may have inadvertently left dangling, that can be excellent fodder for your spinoff story. Also, take a look at your secondary characters. Examine how you’ve developed them and how they performed during your main story. Did any of them stand out in any way to make readers interested in following them around? You could also go the opposite route and look at some of your more obscure, underdeveloped characters and consider giving them their own story to flesh them out more.

Backdoor pilots and how to do one

A backdoor pilot is pretty exclusive to Television. It’s where they take an episode of an established show and devote the entire episode to new or minor characters in hopes that they will spark an interest in getting their own show. You can actually do something similar in your story by taking a chapter (or a few) and devoting it to the character you think is worthy of a spinoff. Make that person or plot the focus while still tying into the overall narrative, and you can build interest in that element to warrant its own story. I did something like that in a story I am currently seeking representation for. The epilogue of my story features some of my background characters, being put into situations that can be explored in future novels.

When a spinoff is not a good idea

The key to having a successful spinoff is first having that offshoot character or idea be interesting. And the first gauge of that is you. If you don’t find that element compelling, then why waste time trying to make it compelling for your readers? The big franchise IP is the holy grail of storytelling, but you don’t want to get caught up in trying to create extra properties for the sake of creating them. If the idea isn’t interesting to you, don’t feel obligated to develop it. Find another element that does interest you and work on that.

Let the world dictate the spinoff

For added insight, I spoke to my good friend Anne Zoelle about the process she went through in creating her spinoff books to the Masquerading the Marquess book she wrote as Anne Mallory. Here is what she told me:

“When I was writing my first book, the story plot demanded a character that both of the main characters knew—someone whose presence could bind them together as well as cause tension between them. The character who fit that slot turned out to be a very fun one to write—and from his first sentence of dialogue I knew he was getting his own book. So while I wouldn’t say that I planned a book for him right from the get go, as soon as he was on the page, I knew he was going to be a future hero. 🙂

“There was also another element that pushed toward a series as the writing continued on that first book. The backstory for the hero contained a trio of men who worked together as spies for the Crown—who were allies in society and out. That backstory ultimately bloomed into three connected books—one for each of the men.

“I think when it comes down to why writing or reading a series can be so fun, it’s that it’s interesting to have characters who aren’t islands—who have lives outside the main storyline. In order to keep stories tight, though, that might mean the extended cast has a central thread or goal that defines the series. That thread can simply be a club, brothers/sisters/family, a knitting circle, soldiers/team, etc.—but finding common elements that extend your characters into other, future character’s lives is a way to extend your story world outward while still keeping the main threads focused. It can deepen the characterization elements in the characters in your current story and give them lives outside the current story threads.”

To see how she applied that, check out her first three novels here.