New Character Necessity

Ever wonder how a writer comes up with new characters?  Do they map it out in accordance with a detailed story outline?  Is it because they need a foil for the main characters to bump up against?  Perhaps they’re looking to show something about the duality of man, and this new character accomplishes that.

In reality, we just kinda wing it.

When I start a novel, I have two or three characters in mind that I see as essential to the story.  However, those characters have to deal with their environment, and those environments usually need people.  Truthfully, that’s how most of my new characters show up – there’s a new setting necessary, and I need people to fill it out.  I wish it was more complicated than that, but it’s not.  From Gary in Salvation Day to Ethan in Akeldama, I needed someone for the main character to bounce off of, so these characters made their debuts.

Sometimes these characters stick around and surprise me.  Sometimes they make little more than a single appearance before disappearing forever.  But they almost never start out as planned.  There’s a new scene, no current character fits to do what is needed, so new folks are born(in the artistic sense).

So the next time you read your favorite book, ask yourself how many of those you’re reading about started out as integral to the story, and how many began as throwaways that grew into the role.  Might be fun; might make you nuts – who knows?