On September 2, 2023, Kasie and Rex continued character study with the best friend and love interest roles in the story. Here are the show notes:

Theme for the day

Best friends and Love interests: supporting characters take center stage

Agenda

• Role of the best friend, FAQs
• Role of the love interest, FAQs
• How to write good supporting characters

link to podcast

Segment 1

In August we attempted a series on characters: Episode 240 was about the protagonist. Episode 241 was about the antagonist and Episode 242 was, too. Last week we were off to assist SCWA with their one-day Indie Author Camp and that was too much fun. We’d promised we’d do best friends and love interests and longtime listeners might think, “haven’t ya’ll done that?” and the answer is yes, kind of.

In Episode 100 (way back in June 2020 – COVID anyone?) we talked about Romantic Subplots and in Episode 159 Catherine Peace made her first appearance and we talked about romance as a genre and in Episode 160, we added Ella Shawn to the mix and the three of us giggled through all the subgenres of romance.

And in Episode 98 (also way back in 2020) we talked about the role of the best friend and in Episode 131 just six months later we talked about why you have to kill the best friend character. We hit that topic again in Episode 214 earlier this year when we advised our friend Abby to kill one of her characters off.

So why do it again?

Because best friends and love interests are NOT the protagonist or the antagonist (except in romance working the friends-to-lovers trope). They are supporting characters who can do a variety of things:

• Complicate the plot – make it harder for the protagonist to choose to pursue his goal
• Offer encouragement to the protagonist – prop them up, cheer them on
• Serve as a foil – show what the protagonist is not i.e. impulsive, cowardly, or ruthless
• Prove the protagonist is likable – the thing about friends is, they teach strangers that we can be trusted, that we have redeeming qualities; in a story like After December, Brian’s friends tell the reader that people like him and if we don’t because we’re in his head, that’s less because he’s actually a jerk and more because he’s showing us who he really is.
• Give the protagonist something to lose – Raise the stakes! When the best friend disapproves or the love interest is in danger, the protagonist has to make a tough choice

Segment 2

Let’s talk through some frequently asked questions about best friends:

1. Do they / should they have their own character arc?
   1. Yes examples – Hermione Granger, Samwise Gamgee
   2. No examples – Melanie Hamilton, Goose, Sam in Casablanca
2. Should they support the protagonist?
   1. Yes examples – Ron Weasley (until he defects in the last book), Kit from Knight Rider, Nick Carraway (doesn’t question Gatsby)
   2. No examples – Watson to Holmes, Mercutio to Romeo
3. Should they challenge the protagonist?
   1. Yes – The Last Starfighter – Centauri challenges Alex to become a Starfighter, so does Grig, Cameron from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off; Charlotte Lucas to Elizabeth Bennett in P&P; George Knightly to Emma Woodhouse in Emma
   2. No – Tin Man, Lion, Scarecrow to Dorothy
4. Should they betray the protagonist – especially if the protagonist is in the wrong?
   1. Yes – Neville Longbottom is a tattle tale; Benedick tricks Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing because Claudio humiliated Hero under false accusations
   2. No – Iago betrays Othello because he’s jealous and in that way becomes the enemy of the protagonist; Edmund betrays his siblings by going to the witch in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Fredo betrays Michael Corleone because he feels he’s not getting what he deserves.

What’s the role of the best friend in the narrative?

• They’re the protagonists’ confidante – they know the secrets
• They provide counsel – that sometimes the protagonist ignores
• They deliver exposition – they have visibility to things off camera and can be a conduit for information the protagonist needs
• They witness the protagonist’s struggle and can be a proxy for the reader – Nick Carraway as an example
• They’re a foil to the protagonist – they’re cowardly if the protagonist is brave (Piggy), they’re smart of the protagonist is dumb (Hermione)

Segment 3

Let’s talk through some FAQs about love interests:

1. Should they have their own character arc?
   1. Yes – Daisy Buchanan (arguable) is she always what she ends up being – too invested in her own security to risk following Gatsby? Or was there a moment, ever, when she might have taken a different path? Edward Cullen starts off trying to avoid Bella and the attraction, but eventually learns to trust himself and her (enough to even kiss her!); Ilsa and Rick in Casablanca – she leaves him in Paris to fulfill her duty to her husband, in Casablanca, duty fulfilled, she decides to betray her husband for Rick, but he won’t let her, it’s not really who she is, and so he puts her on the plane.
   2. No – Charlie in Top Gun stays pretty steady, she’s there to coach and reflect Maverick’s choices and risks; 
2. Are they on the protagonist’s side?
   1. Yes – Sloan Peterson in Ferris Bueller is along for the ride and in awe of Ferris and his antics, she goes along with them; 
   2. No – the “Knightly” character in Clueless “Josh” played by Paul Rudd, is the older step brother, college student, fully judgemental of everything “Cher” the “Emma” character does. It’s his challenging her that forces her to change.

What role does the love interest play in a narrative? (this link)

• Shows the protagonist is vulnerable
• Shows the protagonist is not singularly focused on their mission or goal
• Can distract or provoke the protagonist in important goal-achieving or mission-derailing ways
• Can create conflict in the narrative – anxiety in the relationship, will-they-or-won’t-they anticipation can strengthen the story
• Can enable the protagonist to prove themselves as better than they were at the beginning of the story

Segment 4

So how do you do it? How do you create a good Best Friend? Or a good Love Interest?

From this blog:

• Give the character their own arc – backstory, arc, goals, etc
• Give them something in common – Vannelope and Ralph both feel like outcasts
• Give them meaningful differences –  skills, approaches to conflict, reactions to danger
• Give them a history that is evident – an inside joke that comes back around, a silly argument or dispute they can’t settle, nonverbal communication
• Give them a glue – what is keeping your friends from parting ways? Why are they stuck together?
• Create some meaningful moments for them – test the friendship but give them tenderness, too
• Don’t make the relationship perfect – how do they annoy each other? When have they let each other down?

Love interests can be guided by the advice on this blog:

• Use one of the tropes for their meet-cute / origin story – enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, love at first sight, fake relationship, opposites attract, arranged or fated relationships, second chances or love triangles; go nuts.
• Choose the chemistry you want to see: bond over shared experience, enlighten one another by sharing stories/perspectives, shared admiration for one another’s spirited behavior
• Know your protagonist and specifically the answers to these questions: what physical traits do they find attractive? What kind of love interest would challenge their flaw or fear? In what ways does the protagonist feel alone and how can the love interest assuage those feelings?