Major Versus Minor Characters in Literature

​Today’s post dives into the developmental side of edits. If you’ve ever received feedback from a reader who expressed confusion about your opening chapter(s), there might be too much happening. Maybe the reader doesn’t feel grounded enough. Or maybe they’re unsure about the cast of characters. The purpose of this post is to help you differentiate the major characters from the minor ones—so the reader is clear about which characters to focus on.

​What is a major character?

​This type of character includes your protagonist, antagonist, and characters that matter to the plot and the conflicts that occur. 

​What is a minor character?

​This type of character is used as filler for your story, a character that exists but doesn’t matter to the plot. A character that’s simply there to support the major characters. 

​Why is the distinction between Major and Minor characters important? 

The reader needs to know who to root for and who to hate. As a writer, if you give as much detail about a minor character as you do a major character, you risk the reader becoming confused.

I’ve read a few manuscripts that left me baffled by the end of chapter one. Why? The author offered too many names and details of everyone at the beginning of the story. I wasn’t sure who the minor characters were from the major ones; I knew who the protagonist was, but the rest of the cast was a jumbling mess. And if a reader doesn’t know which characters to focus on, it can be hard for them to connect with the story.  

When writing draft one, it’s okay to give as much detail as you want about the characters. But when you revise with fresh eyes, make sure to distinguish your major characters from your minor ones. Here’s a tip that will help: The more detail you give about a character, the more important they become to the reader.

A great example of a book that introduces many characters in Chapter One, and distinguishes the minor ones from the major ones, is The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.  

If you found this post helpful, please consider sharing it on social media. To hire an editor or ask a question, email me. I offer free sample edits for the first 500 words. ​Have fun writing!

Author

Dawn Husted progressed into offering her editorial services to clients in 2016, eventually opening Yaupon Berry Press LLC. She is the author of five books and has spent ten years in the writing industry. She’s a member of SCBWI and is represented by Tabatha Pope from SBR Media.  ​