I’ve written before on this blog about secondary characters taking over. The first time it happened wasn’t so bad, as the hero and heroine weren’t interested in each other.
So I was rather grateful for my secondary character to step into the role of hero. He’d been trying to take over the story anyway, so it was a simple case of substitution. With the added bonus that my former hero suddenly emerged as a far more interesting character.
But it’s not just me who has this problem. I’ve come across it in other books. A secondary character thread proves far more interesting than the hero/heroine’s story and they end up getting shunted to the side.
JR Ward’s Lover Mine has a sub story that is truly gripping. I soon found out that it wasn’t just me who’d been more absorbed in the secondary character’s story than the main one. Friends who’d read the book also commented on the fact that they couldn’t focus on what was happening to the hero/heroine because of the fascinating secondary thread.
I ended up reading the book again and finally finished the hero/heroine’s story, but only after finding out that Ward has promised a novella devoted to the secondary characters. Obviously it wasn’t just our little group that found these characters compelling.
So I’m on the warpath with my secondary characters. Keeping an eagle eye on their activities to make sure they don’t steal the limelight yet again.
A story only is as good as its subplot (or so I tend to think sometimes, in the grave moments of clarity between ad breaks). This is especially true in movies (eg the less popular girl ends up with the less popular guy and everyone, even the extras, live happily ever after). On a related note, I must check out Ward.
I think you might like Ward Liana. The characters don’t tend to monologue while having sex, (Mr Chivers) and that’s just for starters. An interesting subplot can enhance a story I believe, but only provided it doesn’t end up taking centre stage.
I definitely will 🙂
I had the same problem writing my second book. The character causing the problem was actually the anti-hero of the novel. I had to do some serious re-writes to rein him him. Suffice to say, I am currently writing the third book which is all about him – and it has been much harder than I expected. As the hero of this novel he still has anti-hero tendancies so making him consistant and believable is actually quite a job.
Great post topic by the way 🙂
Thanks Nicola and congratulations on the brilliant cover for Mimosa Black (great name by the way) : )