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Hello, hello dearest friends!! I could use a bit of help and your wonderful opinions on something.
Im currently doing some building before I begin writing again on my WIP. I’m making out character sheets, going to do some worldbuilding for A’Grend, some outlining, etc, etc, and while I am not yet starting on character sheets for anyone other then my MCs in book 1 at the moment, I was placing them in their correct lists (Side character or background character)
WHEN I SUDDENLY REALIZED….
I don’t know which character should go where….
Now, in my own personal opinion, a side character is one that shows up fairly often (as often as you’d like or as little, they don’t have to show up often but they can) such as a sidekick or someone that helps move the plot along (not that BG Charries don’t do this as well, but Side Charries are more prevalent in the story)
I then tend to view Background Charries as those…well…in the background. They’re mentioned, they might be of important (sometimes they are and sometimes they aren’t) and they can range anywhere from one of many Murder suspects to one of the many warriors you work with that get lost in the shuffle…
that being said….this presents a problem for me when differentiating some of my characters, because I don’t know where to place them….
For instance, Ara’s parents.
They do play a role in the story, and are in quite a few scenes, so I was going to put them in side characters.
But…
I don’t feel as though Ara’s father is really that much of a character in the book. He really is more in the background, despite being there. And even though Ara’s mother is in some scenes and helps Ara, I don’t need to know just a ton about her, only a few things.
Whereas another character, who doesn’t have a name yet because I decided to change his name (it was Mitch lol) was going to be put into BG characters.
then I realized “Wait…he actually plays a bigger role then I realized” and I need to know more about him then I do Ara’s parents.
Anyway, what is everyone else’s opinions on this? How do you all classify side character versus background characters?
#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSebI feel like @folith-feolin and @otherworldly-historian will have some good advice on this lol
#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSebHonestly, I feel like how you organize your character sheets is all up to preference. I don’t always use them, but when I do I classify the protagonist and the main side charries (golden trio, silver duo, bronze quartet, whatever you like to call them) in the same group. That way you can look at their relationships as a whole. But as for side charries… I don’t really have a system.
But maybe a great way to classify them, is to see who you have fleshed out (so much as to know their desire, fear, misbelief, etc and given a full arc), and who you only know a bit about. I don’t think the amount of charrie screen time matters as much as development (although screen time can be a useful indicator of importance). It’s all about who is important enough to you, that you gave them a full story.
So for example: I have two charries, a husband and a wife. They’re parents to a side charrie, and sort of adopted parents to the MC. Both get a roughly equal amount of screen time. But for me, I’d classify the wife’s place in the sheets higher than her husband’s, because she gets a full arc (being hopeful in the face of personal tragedy). While the husband is much more important world-wise, and I like him as well, he has a flat character arc and stays pretty much the same throughout the story. He is symbol of fatherly strength.
I personally do not think that every character needs an arc. Charles Dickens, Brian Jacques and Jonathan Stroud have left arcs alone for some charries. But the more screen time a charrie has, the more I urge you to include an arc. Screen time is an indicator of importance, but the arc is what makes the charrie important.
Sorry for the rant XD
“Everything is a mountain”
I will agree with @whalekeeper that organisation of your character sheets is personal preference. I also feel that while there are literary definitions for different types of characters, I personally feel classification can kind of be up to you because as authors we more need to determine the amount of character building necessary for the character.
As for my personal classification (I am writing a 3rd person multi narrative (and doing a large narrator one) almost every character falls into one of two groups with a different hierarchy. There are Narrators and Non-Narrators. The biggest difference is that I have a voice section in their planning area to kind of say what the story is like under them (this is kind of complicated but basically I am trying to tweak the style of the book’s writing under different narrators.
In my opinion I usually determine the characters rank within the hierarchy based on their importance. This can be direct (as in what the character does in the story) or indirect (such as what the character does behind the scenes or in the past (or sometimes what is planned)).
As for Ara’s parents it is probably important to determine how much they matter to her (or the world). This can actually help with Ara’s narration. If you are planning on having them be major influences on her it may be a good idea to flesh them both out. If you are having them make up part of her narrative style (for me I have a character named Rythin who os always reflecting on stuff his mentor/adoptive mother taught him) then you definitely should. Also if they matter to the story’s world (ie one of Ara’s parents used to be a monarch or something) or other characters (ie one of them did something that affects another narrator’s perception of Ara) I would definitely classify them as side characters.
Honestly though if you are ever unsure it is probably best to develop them because you never really know if you may need the character.
Through darkness,
light shines brightestWhen I’m planning (which happens more rarely than I would like, lol) I don’t normally separate characters distinctly on paper (or a doc). I just kind of have them set apart in my head. For example, Ami’s and Ev’s families are all side charries. Dao and a couple other charries I plan to add in are also side charries. But for background characters, I would say the man who “sold” the bus to the group, Joe, is a background character. He may come up a few times later on, like pressing charges against the group, but he doesn’t play an important enough role.
I like what @whalekeeper said,
But the more screen time a charrie has, the more I urge you to include an arc. Screen time is an indicator of importance, but the arc is what makes the charrie important.
I think a few of my side charries are going to have subtle arcs. But some, like Skyler, Fynn, and Adalynn may not. (It still isn’t clear in my head yet. XD)
In your case, I’d say that Ara’s parents are background charries and the other important man is a side charrie. Then again, it all depends on how important of a role they play. How much will Ara’s parents actions or advice affect her in the story. How much will they affect the story or the world as a whole? How will the man’s actions affect the story or the world?
In my situation, my MCs’ families play a huge role in the story. If I took them out of the journey, things would be a lot different.
So just some things to chew on.
Hope that helps!
Write what should not be forgotten. — Isabel Allende
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