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Reviewer: LadyKeren Signed [Report This]
Date: May 29, 2022 02:22 pm Title: Developing Minor and Supporting Characters

You gave some thought provoking stuff here..

Of course when it comes to staff members of any kind I'm guilty of tossing in some original characters since the fact of the matter is we don't know every employee working for Michael..the ones with minor roles I wouldn't even try to give more details than what is necessary..

That said, I do all I can to flesh out the main original characters..and recently I tried a different approach I never had before..usually I develop the character as I go along but I actually made notes for the main original characters who will be featured in my planned fics..

Guilty of having some characters' name begin with the same letter or end of the same letter..what I would consider utterly confusing is if there was a character you know existed in real life was just an original character with the same name.

Reviewer: Roadrunner Signed starstarstarstarstar [Report This]
Date: Apr 05, 2015 09:03 pm Title: Developing Minor and Supporting Characters

Hey Redone! I was wondering if you could do me a favor and review my story for me. Please help me to improve it overall. Thanks!



Author's Response:

Done :)

Reviewer: TutThreeSevens Signed [Report This]
Date: Apr 05, 2015 11:53 am Title: Developing Minor and Supporting Characters

Holy hell!!!! Yes Ski and his fam from Miami, Asap Rocky, Mike Giants, Pharrell, Cece, Les Twins, John Branca, Dr Shaw, Pam (Stewardess chick) Michael's Fam Bill Bray,The Judge Sheeshhhhhhh. I'm sure I forgot some more people too. I cackled so loud at this. Lmaoooo. 



Author's Response:

Don't forget Shana....and probably a few more celebs. LOL. It's SO easy to include too many characters. The trick is knowing when to keep the minor characters minor. Some stories I get into, but stop when every minor character becomes a main character.

Reviewer: TutThreeSevens Signed [Report This]
Date: Apr 05, 2015 10:59 am Title: Developing Minor and Supporting Characters

LMAOOO. I Started rereading Inked last night to refresh myself being there at only really 2 chapters left and a 2 part epilogue. You're so right. There's mad people in there. 

Holy shit balls of fire. Though the names where unique there was a LOT!!!

Amos,Cali,Elard,Saul,Ren,Diana,Nye,Fenty,Pen's parents Talise and Seku! Damn they do add up. Cali and Amos where the only ones with notable back stories though. It's interesring what you learn when you come to the end of a story. 

Mi agree CTTG is easier to follow. The drama is enough. Lol. 



Author's Response:

LOL I'm glad you don't think I was completely out of line. I was wondering if I just have a low threshold or not. Don't forget Michael's family, the doctors, the people he tattoos, the one shot women, and everyone in Florida (right?).

It's interesring what you learn when you come to the end of a story.

^ agreed. That's why I know it's hard, but having developing a list of characters from the beginning, can help. Those who don't play a big role, might not even need to be described physically, and/or named. Then again, I'm of the opinion that if a chapter is needed to introduce the full cast of characters (not speaking to this story, as you didn't do that), then the cast needs to be cut down.

 

Reviewer: TutThreeSevens Signed starstarstarstarstar [Report This]
Date: Apr 04, 2015 08:57 pm Title: Developing Minor and Supporting Characters

You had me wracking my brain trying to see if any of my supporting cast members fall into any particular category you mentioned. Lol. I think have have a good balance of Characters in Inked. Amos and Cali both seem to be the voice of reason with Michael and Pen in times of questioning. I think. Lol. In CTTG there aren't really any extensive supporting cast exclusive to any of the Main characters. Meaning pretty much all the supporting cast interacts interchangeably with the OG/Michael or has some varying degree of a relationship with them. (Hope that makes sense?) I'm not too sure if that's a good or bad thing. 

The names I use are usually very unique so it's hard to mix people up. As for knowing everyone's middle name its funny when a character is mad or making a point and they have to use the other persons entire name to address them. Once in a while with particular people is fine but not everybody lol. It's odd to me.

As for places I feel I fall short is sometimes supporting cast members fall off the map for a little too long. I have to take heed not isolate the OG/Michael. That can happen pretty easy. 

More soon!! <333



Author's Response:

The only thing I could think of is that most of the names had two-syllables. I don't know if I just suck at tracking, it was too many characters introduced at once, they weren't around enough for me to be able to differentiate them, if it's just b/c I read other stories, or there were too many names that I wasn't familiar with, but I kept having to re-figure out who some people were. I'm not sure how avoidable that is/was. Diana, Elard, and Michael's family were essentially the ones that I didn't have to read back to figure out. I find CTTG much easier to follow simply b/c each OC is meaningfully related to the OG and/or Michael.  I feel for you as an author, trying to figure out how many characters can be balanced at one time without overloading the reader and while maintaining some realism.

The full names. I don't know most people's full names unless I'm looking at records. I get doing it if the first and middle names go together (e.g. Ann Marie, Gloria Lee, Marie Danielle, Tiffany Amber, etc). Then again, my parents and family members have never called me by my full name.

Your last point - I think that's the hardest part about maintaining larger casts. It's hard to begin with, but it gets incrementally harder with each additional character.

Thx!

Reviewer: HoneyToTheBee Signed starstarstarstarstar [Report This]
Date: Apr 04, 2015 08:54 pm Title: Developing Minor and Supporting Characters

Supporting characters are challenging. I think my best most consistent one was Lauren in GUPI. I do tend to leave out their backgrounds or bring across their intentions in the best way. That's why sometimes I want to talk myself into writing a chapter or paragraph from the supporting character's POV so the readers can see how they view the world and whats' on their mind...

My pet peeves about supporting characters (and I'm not sure if I've done this too) but is when they don't seem to have a life of their own. Everything revolves around the OG and Michael. 



Author's Response:

I laughed at your last line. You mean the OG and Michael aren't the center of everyone's universe?!

I agree on Lauren. When you mentioned her, I couldn't figure out the acronym (sorry, my mind is aflood with acronyms), but I could immediately remember Lauren and her heels. IDK about writing from a supporting character's POV. I think that can be useful if the supporting character is roughly on the same level of storyline significance as a main character, but that takes a unique plotline.  Otherwise, I see keeping the POV to the main character(s) as a way of keeping the supporting characters in their supporting roles.

Thx as always!

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