Why I love minor characters...

I have always, since childhood, supported the underdog. I was never a fan of the flashy, heroic head-lining characters who seemed to have everything going for them (or him, in most cases). I loved the sidekick, the underrated villain, the quirky character who pops up for some comic relief or merely as a plot function. They were the ones I supported. Not only because I felt they were undervalued but, in some cases, I was able to fill in the gap about them in my imagination. I didn’t know their backstory, wasn’t explicitly told what drives and motivates them, wasn’t exposed to obviously narrated clues to how they are currently feeling. I could decide. I could create them to be so much more of something in my mind.

My favourite character in the Harry Potter series is Narcissa Malfoy. Her love for her son and her decision at the end of the series (no spoilers) completely and utterly enthralled me and trying to truly understand her motivations, the intricacies behind her decisions, was something I wasn’t plainly told, I had to think about it, work it out. I am much more fascinated by Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest than I ever will be by Randle McMurphy and TV show-wise, having finally complete Pretty Little Liars, Mona has to be my absolute fave. (Some spoilers)-  I often found myself rooting for her over the others and was in complete denial that she was as cruel and sadistic as she was initially made out to be- I knew there was more to her and I liked second-guessing her motivations, her desires, etc.

I think those examples reveal that perhaps I am more fond of the morally questionable characters that skirt along the sidelines, inciting conflict, toying with being undeniably evil but then doing something that makes me wonder if that really is the truth in it, are they unquestionably antagonistic or is there more them than that? And I will never know, because they aren’t the narrator, they aren’t the glory-seeking protagonist. They are there, mostly as a function, something to cause complications or spur the main character on. I think that is why, in my own writing, I end up being more excited and intrigued my minor characters than my major ones. I end up loving them more and enjoying the fact that they aren’t revealing all, they are keeping parts of themselves hidden and unwritten and, if I ever do have any of my writing published, I hope readers really notice them, give them the time of day and try and fill in the gaps themselves.