Books can contain a lot of characters—the first Harry Potter book alone contains over fifty!
So how much should each player in a story be developed in terms of complexity?
As a general rule, the more scenes a character appears in, the more complex the reader will
expect the character to be.
I like to think of character importance in terms of a four-tier pyramid.
At the base, you have your protagonist, who is the most complex by virtue of how much
time the reader spends with them; the audience knows more about the protagonist’s desires,
motivations, and flaws than any other character.
For example, even at the start of the Harry Potter series, we already know a great deal
about Harry.
We know his backstory: He’s an orphan who lives in a cupboard under the stairs and is
constantly bullied by his relatives.
We know his personality: He’s principled, cheeky, and brave, not to mention impulsive
and reckless.
With his parents dead and the cruelty of his other family members, Harry has always been
alone in his life, until he arrived at Hogwarts.
Scene by scene, we experience his moments of sadness, anger, confusion, wonder, and
joy—as well as the complex character reactions that come with those emotions.
On the second, smaller tier of the pyramid, you have the other major characters, the most
important players in the supporting cast.
These are often antagonists or friends—your Rons, Hermiones, Hagrids, Dumbledores, Snapes,
Dracos, and Voldemorts.
From the start, each of them have defining features and quirks that make them complex.
We have a character who comes from a big family of red heads; a friendless know-it-all; a
kindhearted guide who was expelled from school; a cheery and powerful mentor who gives sage
life advice; a teacher who hates the protagonist’s father and fame; a snob from a pureblood family
who at first tries to befriend the protagonist; and a villain whom no one dares to call by
name and who must live on someone else’s body.
These major characters all have backstories and goals independent of the protagonist.
Think of the Mirror of Erised, which shows the viewer’s deepest desires, and how the
different characters view themselves: “Ron saw himself as the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain
and Head Boy, holding up the Quidditch Cup, as he has always been overshadowed by his
brothers and is always striving to be noticed by others.”
On the third tier are your minor characters, the ones who only appear in a couple of scenes,
such as parents or childhood bullies.
In this category, you want to avoid obvious stereotypes.
One of my biggest pet peeves is generic bully characters—people who try to knock the protagonist
down a peg for no reason and in uncreative ways, like the mean preppy girl who trips
the protagonist in the hallway.
You can avoid such clichés by adding detail.
In the case of a bully, give them a motivation and an interesting way of bullying.
Dudley Dursley, for example, is a spoiled, overweight mama’s boy who thinks he’s
the center of the universe, so it makes sense that he would think himself above his cousin
and use fake tantrums to get Harry in trouble.
That’s as far as you need to go in terms of complexity for minor characters, unless
you plan on having multiple books.
In the case of a longer series, these second- and third-tier characters should experience
some kind of character arc.
Even as antagonists, both Draco and Dudley mature in later books and begin to doubt their
antagonistic roles.
Over the course of multiple volumes, new backstory may also be revealed, changing the protagonist’s
and the reader’s perception of a character, such as in the case of Snape, Dumbledore,
and Voldemort.
At the tippity top of the pyramid are your background characters, who usually appear
in just one scene.
Many of them may be unnamed and known by their role—guards, goons, red shirts, shop owners,
thieves, and so on.
This also includes characters who are mentioned by name alone, such as authors of books or
unimportant classmates.
The presence of interesting background characters can make a world feel larger and lived in.
For example, in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, even the boa constrictor at the zoo
has a certain level of complexity, as described in its Wiki entry:
“Lonely and bored, the snake found it highly annoying to have zoo visitors tap on the tank's
glass front every day.
He had also always dreamed of living in Brazil.
He also had a rather playful side, as he made a point of snapping at the heels of panicking
Muggles as he left his former prison but without intent to hurt them.
Interestingly, the snake seemed to be capable of reading; when Harry asked if it missed
its family in Brazil, it pointed to a sign which read RAISED IN CAPTIVITY.”
Rowling could have simply had Harry see the snake and wish that it would attack Dudley.
Instead, she chose to make the snake a sympathetic character whose trapped situation mirrors
that of Harry’s.
As it’s leaving, the snake even has a fun line of dialogue.
Of course, you don’t want to spend too much time developing one-off characters.
However, if the protagonist interacts with them for even a page or two, you can still
add flair.
They could speak in an interesting way or have a single defining personality trait that
adds humor or subverts expectations: a self-conscious thief, a philosophical guard, a chef who’s
missing three fingers, a mistrustful innkeeper who suspects everyone is trying to burn his
damn place down.
By adding a few small details, you can give even the most minor of characters a unique
backstory and personality.
Think of all your characters as having different levels of complexity and adjust the amount
of detail you reveal according to how often they appear in your story.
Here’s the breakdown:
Tier 1 = main character(s) [appears in most scenes]
Tier 2 = major characters [appear in many scenes]
Tier 3 = minor characters [appear in a few scenes]
Tier 4 = background characters [appear in one scene]
Try listing all the characters in a book as you read.
How complex does each one feel to you?
I’m curious to know more examples like the boa constrictor from Brazil, so tell me your
favorite background character in the comments.
Whatever you do, keep writing.