Side Characters

Adding Colour To Our Stories

In the rom-com movie, “The Holiday,” Arthur admonishes the main character Iris, saying something like, “In the movies we have leading ladies, and we have the best friend. You, I can tell, are a leading lady, but for some reason you’re behaving like the best friend.”

Iris is aghast as the realisation of truth hits her and then says, “You’re so right. You’re supposed to be the leading lady of your own life!”

I think we’re all guilty of doing this, Iris; it’s okay. Sometimes it’s easier to step back and sit on the sidelines for a while, just to have a breather.

Side Character Responsibilities

In stories, a best friend or a side-character has responsibilities too. They’re the scaffolding of the piece, the people who support the main character and give them life. They add colour and interest, and their own stories add contrast and balance to the main character’s drama.

Sometimes, as a writer, it’s easy to get carried away with a side-character. They tend to take on lives and personalities of their own. Often the main character is written as ‘the straight guy’, and it’s the people around them who bring the action. Think of Kermit managing the Muppet Show. He’s essentially the straight guy, trying to cope as quirky character chaos unfolds around him.

It’s easy to get sick of a character we spend so much time with, and more fun to run off on a side-quest with someone else. In one of my books, I disliked the main character so much I killed her off and rewrote the whole thing, making her frenemy the main character instead because her personality was way more fun.

In my upcoming book, ‘The Trials of Sandstone’, the main character was a side character we met early in ‘The Chronicles of Esha’. At the end of book three, Apoli disappeared into the wilds of the Kingdom of Swords, and we never saw her again. Until now!

I’ve attached a little sneak peek of the second half of Chapter One, set in the brutal and unforgiving Kingdom of Sands. Enjoy! (Disclaimer–it’s an unedited first draft, so don’t come for me for grammar and spelling: I know, okay!?)

The Trials of Sandstone (excerpt)

The heat was intense. Apoli scuttled toward the shadow of the dune and sat in its shade, thinking. The border must lie behind one of the surrounding dunes. All she had to do was scramble up one of them and see. As soon as the thought occurred, she was climbing, her boots sinking into the sand and dragging her back with every step, sand trickling over the leather sides and forming uncomfortable lumps beneath her foot coverings. The muscles in her thighs soon began to protest, and she leaned forward, using her hands for purchase. Sand eddied in the breeze, making soft whispering sounds that reminded her of the fallen fae trapped within the border.

She had convinced herself it would be there, and it was a shock when she reached the summit to find hundreds of dunes rising all around. She looked in vain, twisting back and forth, but the sepia border wasn’t anywhere that she could see.

“That can’t be right!” she exclaimed out loud, and was surprised at how raspy her voice was. The border had to be somewhere. It can’t have just vanished.

A rising sense of panic rose within her, and she turned about again, looking in vain for something, the border, a house, a track, anything, but there was nothing. No signs of life, no creatures at all. Just sand.

With no other plan and nothing else to do, she carefully began the descent down the other side. The dune opposite was taller. Perhaps she could see more from there.

Halfway up and she was already exhausted. Her muscles were twitching, and under the relentless sun her skin was red and sweating, which frightened her because she didn’t have any water with her. She couldn’t afford to lose much more moisture. When she finally reached the top, she collapsed onto the sand. Even behind her closed lids, the sun blazed, turning what should have been darkness into blood red. She cracked them a little, but could make out nothing but an expanse of yellow, the sand grains closest to her shifting slightly with the breeze, tumbling down the dips and hollows of the terrain, making a little rushing sound. It sounded almost like water, and she swallowed, her mouth impossibly gluey, her lips cracked and sore.

She lay there for a time, and when she could, she stumbled to her feet, swaying like a tree in the breeze. And there, below her at the bottom of the hill, was what looked like a patch of grey-green in a fold between the dunes. Trees, perhaps, or bushes. She could lie in the shade.

She started down the other side, but her legs wouldn’t hold her, and she fell, tumbling down and down. She sprawled at the base, panting and sobbing, and without the strength to stand, crawled instead. One trembling limb after the other, sliding her palms beneath the surface sand where it was fractionally cooler, while her trousers and boots took the brunt of the sand’s heat against her legs and feet.

A shadow flickered over her, and she raised her face to the sky’s glare, half-hoping it was a dragon who could help her. But of course, it wasn’t. It was a carrion bird. It had spotted something far below and was inspecting it to see if it would be good to eat. The shadow flickered over her again, and Apoli realised with a start of horror that the bird was likely inspecting her. She was the meal if she didn’t get to shelter quickly. The thought of being pecked to death made her quicken her pace infinitesimally, and by the time she reached the shrubs, she was shaking all over. A flock of tiny birds rose from the shrubs, squawking indignantly as she crawled beneath the branches. The relief of cool shade was immediate, and she broke into gasping sobs.

It was some time before she could gather herself, and then to her bewildered astonishment, saw that the branches overhead were starred with rose-pink berries, which the birds must have been feasting on. She plucked one, sniffed it, and then nibbled at it, presuming that if they were safe enough for the birds, they might not do her much harm either. It was sweet and delicious, and when she popped the whole thing in her mouth and bit down, the juice flooded her mouth and brought tears of gratitude to her eyes. With shaking hands, she gathered more and then ate slowly, feeling her strength returning with each bite. When she had finished her double handful, she lay back under the dappled shade and watched as the birds, flitting fretfully above, settled back onto the branches and began to feed, paying no attention to her lying below.

She watched them for a time and began to feel a little peculiar, a little dizzy. Slowly, she sat up. The movement made her entire body sway inside as though she were on a ship on the rolling seas, and she clutched at the sand beneath her, dazedly thinking that it was tilting and tipping her off. One of the birds peered at her, and she had the impression its dark beady eye was growing larger and larger, a shiny beetle shell, reflecting her own startled face. And now her face was dripping sideways, melting under the unrelenting sun. Alarmed, her hands flew to her face, and she tried to push the melting flesh back into place, but it was dripping down through her fingers. The bird's eye blinked and her fingers were made of sand, crumbling away to the ground beneath her, and she was nothing but sandy, melting flesh, and she screamed and screamed as the ground beneath her became a black void and she fell…

The Trials of Sandstone – coming soon!

Love Tab xx