Character Types

Let’s talk about the types of characters you can use to people your novel.

There are stereotype characters who are an over simplified characterization of a type of person which generally are flat and motivationless characters. Once example may be a bartender used in one scene in your book.

There are cliché characters such as the brooding rebel without a cause. Cliché characters run toward predictable and can be boring but with some fresh writerly magic can be brought to life.

There are stock characters (these fit somewhere between an archetype and a stereotype) who intentionally fit a predictable narrow window description. An example of a stock character might be the crazy cat lady who lives next door. She is eccentric and may be just the character you need to discover the body in the parking lot for your murder mystery.

There are archetypes which is a character who represents a specific set of universal, recognizable behaviors. We will discuss these in more depth later.

The sidekick character can be a stereotype, a cliché, a stock character, and/or an archetype and the kind of sidekick will depend on how they are fleshed out.

Generally, a sidekick is a secondary character. They travel with the protagonist and are the protagonist’s main support. Even though the sidekick is a secondary character, they should still have their own motivations, goals, and conflicts that are separate from the protagonist’s motivations, goals, and conflicts. And the sidekick character should be a contrast to the protagonist in personality, abilities, qualities. If they have the same traits, then the chances are they won’t bring anything to the story.

Your sidekick will need to change over the arc of the story, and their character arc should, in some way, complement the protagonist’s character arc. Your sidekick may need to be involved in a B plot (sub-plot).

Your sidekick can also provide a vehicle for emotional growth for your protagonist if there is some friendly conflict between the two. These characters can challenge each other and these challenges can allow for growth over the story arc.

The sidekick can make your story more complicated, but they can also make the story more interesting to the reader. Where would Captain Kirk be without Spock?

Next time, more character types.