I love my secondary characters. They may appear only briefly in a story, but you can rest assured they’ve all had their backgrounds and motivations dissected in my mind. They are often pivotal to a plot, but the brutal truth is they are quite likely to be annihilated during the editing process. As much as I might have loved them, if they serve no purpose whatsoever – they have to go.
I am once again participating in the AW March Blog Chain. This month the theme is surprising secondary characters. Part one: Describe the character in your novel in 50 words or less. Part two: Post a scene that shows why this character is special in in 100 words or less.
The secondary characters I have chosen to write about surprised me because even after I had edited them out of the story they continued to live on in my brain. It was most disconcerting. I’d already decided that they served no good purpose and yet there was something about them that had me saving their scenes in another document instead of straight out deleting them.
In 50 words or less:
Heathcliff and Hathaway Jones are brother and sister. Until recently they were the leaders of a rebellion against a brutal dictator. Now, with their nemesis dead, they are in charge of the space station, Valhalla. Except Hathaway has other plans. She’s a woman scorned—and you know what they’re like…
In 100 words or less:
Hathaway threw a few outfits and some toiletries into a backpack.
“Going somewhere, Hath?” her brother asked.
“Yep.” She kneeled and pulled a box from under the bed.
“You’re not going after Rhodes, are you?”
“Yep.” She pulled a laser gun from the box, then tossed it into her backpack.
“You’re still angry with him?”
“Nope.” She pulled a machete from the box, then slid it into the backpack.
“You’re going to kill him?”
“Nope.” She pulled out a slim metal bottle and showed it to her brother. Truth Serum #9. “I just want to talk to him.”
“Poor bastard.”
Please click on the links to meet other surprising secondary characters. I’ll be updating the links as other writers join the chain.
Ralph Pinest- http://ralfast.wordpress.com
Yoghurtelf- http://thefarseas.blogspot.com– Link to her post.
Proach- http://desstories.blogspot.com– Link to her post.
Knotane- http://knotane.wordpress.com – Link to her post
LadyMage- http://katherinegilraine.com – Link to her post
You are here
Orion mk3- http://nonexistentbooks.wordpress.com – Link to his post
Smaddux- http://www.stephaniemaddux.blogspot.com – Link to her post
dianedooley.wordpress.com 
Hahaha, I love this! These characters sound awesome – maybe you can write a short story or two about them? They do seem like they deserve their own chapters 🙂
Ooh, short story, huh? Good idea!
Dangerous woman indeed.
I have actually written non-dangerous women before. Two whole times, I think.
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I like it. 🙂 And, yeah, I have the same tendency–to cut characters I like, then save their stuff for something else. There is a reason they won’t leave your head.
Yep, the old ‘cut and paste’ won out over the ‘delete’ this time.
I fell in love with Hathaway in such a short scene. She definately has a ‘bad girl’ streak in her. OK, maybe she didn’t work out in the book you’re working on, but I definately would encourage you to fit her into your next book.
Hathaway will be so pleased to have an admirer!
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Truth Serum #9, heh. Because Truth Serum #8 just made people tell plausible lies 🙂
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