Developing backgrounds and side characters!

Sorry it took me awhile to get anything out that isn't comics this month, but Raeven brought this topic up, and it's something I actually have some thoughts I can expand on, so here we go! Let's see if I can keep said thoughts organized.

So, like I've mentioned in a few other posts, I try not to get too bogged down in developing every character right off the bat. I generally want characters to have a purpose to the story, and in this case, the story is "Malaya is a werewolf learning to be a werewolf," so most characters and themes are going to revolve around her and reflect off who she is. Initially, I didn't have much of a backstory for most of the side characters other than some very simple aspects of who they were: age, job, temperament, etc. As I saw places where these characters could be developed in ways that would serve the story, I tried to take those opportunities. 

Let's take Marin for an example. I knew that initially, I wanted her to be a lawyer, and I knew she was gay. By the time I got to the end of chapter 2, I designed Marisa somewhat on the fly (and this is why it took me so long to realize my lesbian couple both had names that started with "Mar"...sometimes planning is good), but I wanted her to physically contrast with Marin quite a lot. I liked the idea of Marin being very strong and smart, but somewhat outside of the norm, so I started thinking how these two met. I pulled from my own life experiences with all the religious people in my family, a few of whom are pretty extreme, and that spiraled into Marin's backstory pretty quickly. 

As I started working on her backstory, I started to see ways that Marin's story could contrast with Malaya's story and personality. Where Mal was bitten as a kid, Marin was bitten as an adult. For Mal, being a werewolf was a hindrance, something she felt she had no choice in that keeps her separated from people. For Marin, becoming a werewolf brought her the connection and family she always wanted. It was a choice for her. Then I had to figure out, now I know Marin's lesbian backstory, but where'd the werewolf thing come from? A lot of Marin's cancer story was inspired by my own parents having died of cancer, and was sort of a wish fulfillment of having someone saved at the end instead of dying. It fit as a plausible reason someone would get bitten by a werewolf, AND it worked out well because it would give Marisa a job: she could be a nurse, which would provide a plausible reason for them to meet.

So a lot of my efforts in building side characters and trying to give everyone a believable backstory is a combination of what serves the story themes I'm trying to make clear, and what are some real world experiences I've had that I can pull from to make these characters feel real. Did I really need to have Marin and Marisa's backstory flashback-in-flashback included? Not really. They'd stand on their own okay without more context, probably. (Though initially, it took awhile for comments to wear off like "who are these random women?" because there wasn't enough info about them right off the bat lol.) Eventually, adding more information gave me a way of 1) solidifying that Marin, Marisa, and Malaya know each other well enough for more of an intimate conversation, and 2) conveying that being a werewolf isn't a universal experience, and 3) giving contrast to Malaya's fears about embracing the whole werewolf thing more.

Like I've said, I made a point to jump into this story feet first, without stressing forever about whether or not I'd fail, and that meant that a lot of development took a leisurely pace. That worked in my favor, because without feeling like I had to know every character inside and out immediately, I could let them develop in a way that served the story without marrying myself too much to any character traits that would get in the way at some point. (It also worked out well, because Marisa being a nurse gives me multiple points for her to explain things...like a nurse would lol.)

I guess this advice boils down to:  don't bog yourself down trying to figure out exactly who every character is immediately, draw from real life experiences and people so your characters feel real, and try and find ways to develop characters that feel like they support and feed the story you're trying to tell rather than just feeling like they're tacked on to a greater narrative. Your story is chess, and your side characters are the pawns. Let them help you win the game, rather than only moving the really important pieces around.

I think my next post will be about Connie, and the idea of writing a villain that apparently people want to murder and kill. I don't think it's that hard to write a really good villain, but I don't see them very often, so we'll get into that next!