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I had the good fortune of participating in RMFW's Colorado Gold writing conference this weekend. While I attended several productive workshops, I found a few to be especially informative, including one about sidekicks in fiction. With the permission of presenters Mario Acevedo and Warren Hammond, I'm writing this post so you can also benefit from what I learned.
I confess; I didn't plan to attend this workshop. I had a gap in my schedule and wandered over, thinking sidekicks only applied to Batman. I figured if that was the case, I'd listen for a few minutes and then wander somewhere else. Instead, I absorbed every word, because the presenters not only turned my concept of sidekicks on its head, they effectively showed how an author can use them to enhance the depth of the hero (or MC, if "hero" doesn’t sit right in your mind). If you're like me, you’ll discover where the sidekicks you didn't even know you had fit in your story.
There are several "types" of sidekicks, including:
1.The Foil (example: Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock)
The Foil enhances the MC through contrast. He is in almost constant conflict with the MC, challenging him and generally making life difficult (though not just for the sake of making life difficult). Through these "safe" conflicts, we can see the MC develop and predict how he'll react when faced with a real conflict.
2. The Mentor (example: Luke Skywalker and Obi-wan Kenobi)
This is the classic teacher/student paradigm. The MC can't develop to his full potential without the teacher.
3. The Indispensable Loyalist (example: Frodo and Sam)
Similar to The Mentor, the MC can't succeed without The Loyalist, but in this case neither is "ranked" above the other. The Loyalist is the MC's partner and comes to his rescue when needed.
4. The Resource (I forgot to write down the example, but maybe we can think of one. Write it in the comments if you do.)
This sidekick fills gaps in the MC's skill set (like Stella was to Charlie in The Italian Job, perhaps). Also, he’s the one who always "knows a guy" who can help get a job done.
5. The Understudy (example: Batman and Robin)
There's Robin! The Understudy is basically the opposite of The Mentor. He has to learn all the things and provides a way for the MC to relay important information. Hopefully he isn't too annoying.
There are other ways a sidekick can develop the MC or the greater story both outside and within these types. They can:
The sidekick can also be in a close partnership with the MC to the point that they take turns being the MC, so to speak (example: Mulder and Scully). In addition, it's a good idea to consider sidekicks for the antagonist. When this point came up in the class, I immediately thought of Magneto and Mystique.
At the end of the class, I realized I have two types of sidekicks represented in my two WIPs – The Foil and The Resource. This is useful information because now I can consider their motives in this light – what would The Foil say to the MC in that scene? Or what would The Resource do in that situation?
What kinds of sidekicks do you have in your fiction?
Allison is a blogger and author of the best selling historical mystery The Fourth Descendant. Visit her website: allisonmaruska.com
Responses to this blog
In my sci fi thiller (that went through CC by the way) I'd get comments that some of the characters weren't developed. How EASY and BETTER it would have been to simply cast them into one of these lights to help bring out their role in the story! Genius!
This is a post everyone should read and consider.
Do you think there are more categories and maybe combo categories?
And who's to say that characters won't grow out of one category into another, the mentor and understudy being the most obvious ones to grow out of.
I like the terminology listed above, from the sidekick workshop. There are other names that fit characters in this type of situation as any self help group will quickly throw around the terms, enabler, enmeshment, sadist...(and no I'm not talking about me).
It's great to examine how we bounce off each other in life and how that transcends to our relationships on paper.
Thanks for sharing.
E6
When I was just an avid reader, before I started to write, I couldn't have said why a promising novel failed to live up to my expectations. Now I know that flat secondary characters can be a contributing cause.
When we're submitting our work to critiquing groups, we may be working on early drafts, still figuring out the nuts and bolts. On top of that, we submit in bits and pieces. Secondary characters often fly under the critting radar. We don't always get the feedback that jolts us into fully developing them.
Where we can't depend on having others ask the important questions, it becomes especially important that we know to ask them of ourselves. Thank you for posting this.
That's so true, and maybe that's where the feedback from betas comes in. They see "big picture" issues that we critters can miss in reading a novel over the course of four months.
Very interesting...thanks for sharing.
Interesting article. I wonder how the principal applies when the MC is the sidekick—that is, when the story is about one person, but told in the viewpoint of a secondary character in the story. (Come to think of it, this may apply to Dr. Watson.) I suspect the same categories apply, and this may give me some insight into an MC in a story I'm currently working on.
Thanks!
That would be a fascinating experiment! Create narrator sidekicks of various varieties - a Foil narrator would tell it differently than a Loyalist one would.
My current WIP, Rosa Redux, has an unplanned sidekick. The original plan was two MCs and several colorful minor characters. One of the minor characters grew into a sidekick. Why?
The plot has romance-like elements, the MCs take turns avoiding each other, and I needed a Go-Between. She is the conduit for information to flow from one MC to the other. She's also the sounding board so each MC can dialogue thoughts about the other without long passages of inner-thoughts narration.
Since Shakespeare and before, romantic plots have featured Go-Between sidekicks. Is this a sixth category of sidekick, or is it subsumed under one of the other five?
Sounds to me like she's equal parts Resource for both MCs!
When a writer starts worrying whether the sidekick is coming through stronger than the MC, that's a sign he's done a great job of 'pumping up' the sidekick to the point readers will truly appreciate the character's impact on the story.
Thanks for sharing...
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