Monday, November 19, 2007

Secondary characters and blog tour


Before I get started on today's post, I just wanted to let y'all know that my blog tour starts today. You can find the list on my website, but I have one new addition for today which is me getting interviewed over at Fog City Divas. I'm giving away a copy of SHOW ME from my backlist at FCD, mainly because some of the secondary characters reappear in next month's release, ONE MORE TIME.

What’s secondary about a character?

Well, aside from the fact that they are not in every scene, there isn’t a whole lot that’s secondary for them. In fact, it often surprises me (and I don’t know why I don’t expect it by now), how attached I get to them and if I can’t give them a happy ending in the book, then I plot happy endings for them.

I know, I’ve yet to write a real sequel to any of my books, but it keeps me happy to think that I could drag, say the young and obnoxious Viscount Winterton from SHOW ME, through all sorts of hell before he gets the girl.

I have a sequel in mind for ONE MORE TIME out next month too, where a certain Greek god gets his comeuppance, but I think the problem with sequels is that even though the characters have horrible things happen to them before true love wins out. I’m fond enough of them not to have the truly horrible things happen to them, or, the things are just so horrible there’s no relenting or joy.

So yeah, the likelihood of any of these sequel ideas getting published are slim to none, but they make me happy.

Anyway, ONE MORE TIME has a few characters from SHOW ME turning up. At the risk of spoiling SHOW ME (hey, I have books on my to-read shelf that have been out for two years and I still haven’t gotten around to reading them), the Wintertons turn up with an previously unmentioned new sibling in tow, and well, things get even more interesting.

So, readers and authors, how do you feel about secondary characters? Do you get so invested in them that you want to see their story?

7 comments:

Jane said...

I do appreciate secondary characters and most of the time I have a desire to see them get their own story. I'm all for the sidekick getting their own book.

Pam Rosenthal said...

I always want them to get their own books but I'm never able to. I tried and I tried to write a book where Matthew Bakewell and Fannie Grandin from The Slightest Provocation got together and I couldn't make it happen.

My one success in that direction was Safe Word, which was kind of a joke, because the whole point of the sequel to Carrie's Story was whether it had been Carrie's story at all, or really, Jonathan and Kate's.

(And no, I don't expect anybody else to remember those characters as well as I do. But it just goes to show how well I do remember them.)

Anonymous said...

I have an advanced case of secondary character disorder. I need to ask my doctor for stick-to-them, to keep my focus on the main characters. I get sidetracked by others' secondaries, and generally fall totally in love with one I'm writing. It's very disturbing, because I loathe writing and reading sequels, and you know these guys are going to turn up sooner or later. AARGH.

Unknown said...

I love secondary characters and love when they get their own book.

Celia May Hart said...

Well, you know, in Made for Sin, Lucy's sister and the rake were supposed to be secondary. They didn't like that *at* all. So it ended up being 50/50.

Joanna Chambers said...

I like to see well-written secondary characters and hate when they're just 2D sketches, standing around like cardboard cut-outs. If a secondary character has intrigued me, I do like to see a book about them. But I dislike it when an author starts with the sequel-baiting in the middle of a narrative. It can pull me out of the story.

Anonymous said...

I agree with tumperkin, I want secondary characters to be well rounded and realistic. If a secondary character is very intriguing, of course I'd like to see a sequel that focuses on her or him. It happens too often, though, that writers ignore the secondary characters. All they need is a few personal details about them (like a little window into who they are) to make them pop, and a reader will want to know more.