We all know the primary focus of a novel is the main protagonist(s), but sometimes the most memorable personalities in the book are the scene-stealing sidekicks. Some of the funniest characters are the secondary ones who sometimes shine brighter and make more of a lasting mark than the hero or heroine.
My favorite books are Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series. And as much as I love Stephanie, the bungling bounty hunter who keeps her gun in her cookie jar, and Joe Morelli and Ranger, her scorching hot love interests, it’s Lula and Grandma Mazur, with their madcap hijinks and deadpan one-liners, who usually make me laugh the hardest.
This is true in film as well. Think of how much we love Donkey in Shrek, how some of the best lines in Guardians of the Galaxy are delivered by Drax and Rocket, and Melissa McCarthy absolutely stole the show in Bridesmaids. I almost died laughing when she took home all those puppies.
The role of secondary characters is not always to make us laugh. Samwise Gamgee showed us the value of friendship, and Luna Lovegood’s warmth and charm taught us about accepting others, and ourselves, for we are. And where would Sherlock be without his steadfast and loyal Dr. Watson?
Secondary characters are often critical to the story. They can play a key role in the main character’s growth. They often support the main character but can also add conflict if they disagree with the protagonist’s choices or decisions. And the secondary characters are also the ones who can convey critical information about the story to the reader.
As a writer, I try to create my secondary characters from real people I know or from actual experiences I’ve had. I was very close to both my grandmothers, and they were both funny women full of spit and vinegar with huge hearts and witty charm. So, some of my favorite side characters to write are sassy, spunky little old ladies. In my Page Turners cozy mystery series, Edna Allen is the eighty-something member of the mystery-solving book club, and she is often the one who comes up with the most harebrained schemes and crazy plans, like when she convinces the book club to go undercover at a biker bar to investigate some counterfeiters in Tangled Up in Tuesday or when they dress in costume to infiltrate Comic Con in Easy Like Sunday Mourning.
I believe in the value of friendship and treasure my female friends. They are the ones who support us, listen to us, cry with us, and make us laugh until our cheeks hurt. So, I always try to show the importance of friendship, especially among women, in my books. But my characters also get into some of their stickiest and most hilarious situations with those friends.
In my newest Bee Keeping cozy mystery, Kill or Bee Killed, mystery writer, Bailey Briggs finds herself trying to solve a murder after her best friend, Evie, becomes the prime suspect. But Evie is also the one who she finds herself in the goofiest situations with. And there is no shortage of spunky old ladies in this series either, from Bailey’s grandmother, Granny Bee, to her great aunts, Aster and Marigold, and the rest of The Hive, Granny Bee’s book club and posse. And I put them all in the funniest circumstances. During the local bee festival, Evie is participating in a restaurant bake-off, the great aunts have entered the beauty pageant, and half the town shows up wearing bear suits to take part in the annual 3K Bear Run.
Scene-stealing sidekicks can also come in the form of furry friends, like the lovable and loyal golden retriever, Cooper, who is introduced in Take the Honey and Run, the first book in my Bee Keeping mystery series. Or Chewy, the furniture-eating hairy beast of a dog in Easy Like Sunday Mourning. And if you like romance, you have to meet Otis, Tiny, and Shamus, the ornery goat, fashion-conscious pig, and mini horse who steal every scene they’re in, in my Creedence Horse Rescue series.
Sidekicks can steal a scene through witty one-liners or wacky predicaments. They are special and interesting and can surprise the reader and make a story hard to put down. They can be a friend, a sibling, a love interest, an assistant, or even someone in the community. One of my favorite side characters in the Bee Keeping series is Dr. Leon Foster, the local medical examiner, who has a rare and witty sense of humor when it comes to his job, as evidenced by the first time he meets my heroine, Bailey, and he invites her to come down to the morgue to talk shop while they ‘crack open a cold one’.
I absolutely love creating scene-stealing sidekicks, and I hope readers love meeting the characters and the community of Humble Hills in my new book, Kill or Bee Killed. I want readers to feel like visiting Bailey and Granny Bee and the Hive is like visiting old friends, and I want them to feel part of the love and friendship these women have for each other. I hope readers fall in love with some of my other scene-stealing sidekicks, like the handsome sheriff, Sawyer Dunn, who was Bailey’s first love, Leon Foster, the kooky coroner, and Spike Larson, the burly biker bar owner who has a heart of gold and loves making cupcakes with his grandma.
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