Wattpad brings you a guest post from Baker Lawley, author of the young adult novel “This Is The Play,” on the ways sidekicks and secondary characters can rock your writing:
I’d had the idea for my novel, This Is The Play, for a long time. There’d be a guy in love with a girl, and the guy was going to spread his grandfather’s ashes.
While I was writing the first two chapters about this guy and this girl, I was really digging them, but there needed to be another element, a further spark. Maybe I didn’t know this consciously, but I could feel it.
So, when my main character Lewis’s car broke down, he texted his best friend to come pick them up. And up drove Shoe, the perfect sidekick, who blurted out something about zombies and shot the story full of adrenaline. Really, the book wouldn’t have been possible without Shoe.
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They say that writing is sometimes 90% magic, and for me, Shoe was that magic. I can’t claim to have created him in a stroke of brilliance; he just drove up in his truck, ready to go. It’s like the story itself invented him.
In fact, Shoe became so important that he actually gains main character status in Book Two of the Such Sweet Sorrow Trilogy that I’m currently writing. (So far, it’s titled The Show Must Go On. Look for it here on Wattpad!)
Shoe’s appearance got me thinking about sidekicks, or secondary characters, or whatever you want to call them. They’re fantastic and really necessary in good stories. For my day job, I’m a professor at a college where I teach creative writing, and in my classes I don’t really see young writers using sidekicks all that often. It’s too bad, because sidekicks are really awesome.
What is it about sidekicks that gives them such awesomeness? So far I’ve figured out four things. First: their stake in the story is different than the main characters. So, they can do things and take chances the main characters never would. Because of that, we get the second awesome thing: sidekicks are catalysts for action. When they do things, they drive the story ahead at warp speed.
But they also add in layers of meaning. Because, third: sidekicks put the actions of the main characters into perspective. They can react and speak and contrast feelings that make us readers understand the trouble of the story more deeply. And, fourth and finally, sidekicks usually shoulder the burden of the subplots (think Han Solo falling in love with Princess Leia). Need a subplot? Get a sidekick.
Sounds good, I hope. It’s even better if we look at sidekicks in action. Here’s my list of the Five Most Awesome Sidekicks in all of Storyland.
[Image via TheMarySue]
5. Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley
Harry Potter gets the glory (and the titles of the books), but really, would they be the same without these two? Hermione’s smarts and Ron’s groundedness save the day over and over. Plus, they’re the love subplot we’re cheering for along the way. Without these two, Stephen King would never have been able to say, “Harry Potter is about confronting fears, finding inner strength and doing what is right in the face of adversity. Twilight is about how important it is to have a boyfriend.”
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4. Watson from Sherlock Holmes
Because who can actually relate to Sherlock Holmes? As readers, we’re like Watson, amazed and astounded and kind of in shock at Sherlock’s erratic genius. But Watson’s the one who’s smart enough to see Homes for what he is and explain him to the world, and that’s the real genius.
3. Phoebe Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye
Holden’s little sister is, for my money, one of the most overlooked and undervalued sidekicks in all stories. Who is Holden’s rock when his world is collapsing? Who keeps his secret that he’s snuck home and is kicked out of school again? Who puts on Holden’s red hunting hat, to take on the role of that catcher in the rye while she rides on the carousel? Phoebe. Caulfield. That’s who.
2. Nick Carraway from The Great Gatsby
Anybody who’s ever been in any English class that read Gatsby has discussed how the narrator, Nick, isn’t really much of a character. He doesn’t do anything, he just observes. But I say no to that idea. Look at how Nick guides the story with his beautiful descriptions, like this one of the novel’s namesake: “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter – to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… And one fine morning -”
(And he doesn’t finish the sentence, because he doesn’t need to, because it’s too perfect to, because it says it all already.)
1. Chewbacca
I have to put the Wookie at #1 because he’d rip my arms off otherwise. Plus, I do a very good Chewie imitation and needed to mention that somehow. But seriously, look at what the big furball brings to Star Wars: comic relief, physical attacks, fierce loyalty, intimidation, his own language, sharpshooting and flying skills, raw emotion, hugs, a taste for raw meat, good looks… Chewbacca is like the Swiss Army Knife of sidekicks.
What about y’all? How have you used sidekicks in your stories? Who are some of your favorite sidekicks in the great world of stories?
Read “This Is The Play” on Wattpad!
Lewis Champion is in love—total, hopeless, unrequited love—with Jubilee Marshfield. Which is complicated, because she’s his best friend.
And even though his other best friend Shoe, and his awesome grandfather, Paps, are both rooting for him, Lewis can’t get up the courage to tell her how he feels. He’s always been a wallflower, watching people and making theories rather than acting on his feelings.
In a last-ditch effort for her affection, Lewis acts in a play alongside his two friends, and he discovers a talent hidden within himself.
But when Paps suddenly dies and leaves in his will a most mysterious task for Lewis, he must find a way to follow through. And along the way, he discovers the secrets of stories, the courage to say what he feels, and a whole new meaning to the word “acting.”
The only question is, will his best friend feel the same way, or will he lose her when he tells her?
Baker Lawley, the award-winning author of THE BATTLE HYMN BLUES, spins a tale of love, drama, and friendship and a good old-fashioned road trip along the way. THIS IS THE PLAY is a fun ride on the meaning of acting and the way stories and plays help us make sense of the things we act on.