Develop the secondary characters too

Supporting characters should not appear from anywhere in the book and then disappear just like that. Even though the main characters appear in more scenes, the supporting characters’ backgrounds should be explored too. If possible, let them appear in every major scene in the work to develop their place in their story.

Twist their story and make their sub-plots and roles interesting. Apart from the main characters, supporting characters also need to be interesting and not play a mediocre or clichéd role. A next-door friendly elderly neighbor can turn out to be an informant; a busy mum who appears harmless could be working with the villains.

Let them be supportive of the primary characters

So far, we have discussed how important supporting characters are to your story. In many cases, they are easily ignored. However, the opposite will also not work for your novel. Supporting characters should only play a supportive role. It is easy to forget this and concentrate too much on their parts.

Creating and developing supporting characters is about balance. While they should not be ignored and reserved for only specific moments, they should not also take center stage.

Give them easy to remember names

In the introduction, the main characters are identified with their full names, then the author can carry on with a nickname or first name. For supporting characters, full names are not essential and can make the work complex.

To give readers an easy time when reading your work, give your secondary characters familiar names that the reader will easily identify. You could match their names to their roles in the book. To easily differentiate characters, give supporting characters different backgrounds and matching names. They do not all have to be different ethnicities but a few differences will make the reading process easy.

Use different sounding names to avoid confusion. As supporting characters will not be as intricately developed as main characters, giving them distinct names will differentiate them and make them easily recognizable in the story.

Keep assessing each character’s significance to the work

As you continue writing the story and during the editing process, keep checking that each character’s role is essential to the work. Think of the story without or with a particular character and check what changes. Ask yourself whether a role played by two different characters can be merged into one or check if there is a character who is playing too many roles making it difficult for the reader to clearly define the character.

Give your supporting characters some motives and objectives

Justify why the secondary character is supporting a main character in the work. Have they been friends for long? Do they owe them a favor? Is there any monetary benefit? People act with their own goals in mind. No person will be willing to risk jail time by supporting the villain if they have nothing to gain. In short, let the supporting characters also have their personas and not just be an extension of the main characters.