Making the Most of Walk-On Characters

Walk-on characters are often the neglected heroes of fiction. If the protagonist didn’t have other people with whom to interact, most stories would quickly fall apart. So, whenever the need arises, we stick in a taxi driver or a receptionist or a bum on the corner.

Often, these unnamed characters fulfill the needs of the moment, disappear from the story, and are never thought about again by either the protagonist or the readers. This isn’t necessarily a problem, particularly since you don’t want a bunch of dead-end characters cluttering up your story and getting in your hero’s way as he attempts to get from Point A to Point B.

However, this nameless, faceless multitude of minor characters still presents a wonderful opportunity for bringing depth and memorability to your story.

David Guterson’s East of the Mountains offers an incredibly complete cast of characters. Every person in this story, even those with the shortest of walk-on roles, strikes the reader as a complete human being.

We never doubt that Guterson’s protagonist is surrounded by a world of living, breathing, three-dimensional people. The walk-on characters in this story don’t just serve to push the plot forward in necessary ways. Every single one of them leaves fingerprints on both the main character and the reader.

The key to achieving complete walk-on characters is to envision them as complete people—and not just cardboard cutouts to fill the gaps in the plot. Every person has a story; every person has a life that extends far beyond his interaction with the protagonist. Each minor character should be unique and detailed.

You don’t need to share each and every minor character’s life story, but if you keep their backstories in mind as you write, you’ll end up with a rich and varied supporting cast.

Wordplayers, tell me your opinions! Do you have any walk-on characters you might be able to flesh out a little more? Tell me in the comments!