Part 3 of 12 of Job titles for Story Characters • © 2020 All Rights Reserved - Catherine E. McLean www.WritersCheatSheets.com
In a story, the Protagonist will have helpers, that is, other characters will lend the Protagonist a hand in dealing with The Story Problem, be that problem a Who or a What known as The Antagonist.
The Protagonist doesn't live in a vacuum, well they might if it were outer space. For a story to have verisimilitude, that is believability, the story world will be populated with other people. A few, a very few, will interact with the Protagonist and Antagonist.
Here's a list of characters that might associate with or relate to The Protagonist—
Friends, men
Friends, women
A Love Interest or The Romantic Lead
A Mentor
A Coach
Pals (drinking buddies, poker pals, bowling pals)
Family (parents, siblings, other relatives)
Neighbors
Work associates
Food industry workers (bar tender, waitress, etc.)
Health workers (doctor, nurse, etc.)
Tradesmen (plumber, mechanic, pool man, etc.)
Professionals (law enforcement, banking or financial, veterinarian, etc.)
...and so on.
Now as you can image, some of these may interact with the Antagonist, which can lead to all sorts of calamities for the Protagonist. Of course, the Protagonist will be shocked or angry when he or she finds out.
Some of these entourage characters will have names, and fall into the category of Minor Named Characters and others are Prop People. Neither group will have POV-Viewpoint in the story. More on those two types of characters will be covered in August's blog post.
Now, only a rare few individuals on the entourage list will merit being a Second Major Character and they might have a POV-Viewpoint (but it will be limited). Second Major Characters have specific story job titles and responsibilities. We'll discuss them in April's blog post.
Lastly, remember a story can host only so many characters so you must avoid a cast of thousands.
Next Month
2020 — April — The Second Major Character
Romantic Lead, Sidekick, Mentor, etc.
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