: Re: Are different levels of character development required for primary as opposed to secondary characters? Primary characters would normally include the protagonist, antagonist, and maybe one or two

Yes, you can develop secondary characters, and should to the extent your narrative has room.

While they are multi-volume arcs, David & Leigh Eddings's Belgariad and Malloreon series are good examples of this. The main character is Garion, later Belgarion. Other major protagonists are his aunt Polgara, grandfather Belgarath, and eventual wife Ce'Nedra. There are five or six secondary protagonists who travel with them on their quest, and all of them get enough backstory and character development that you know who each person is individually and separate from Belgarion's story.

You don't want to overwhelm a single book with eight characters' backstories, but each person should get enough presentation that they are distinguishable. And please try to give everyone a personality and at least a suggestion of a life which has nothing to do with the hero. This is critical for a love interest. The Love Interest should have a life which starts before s/he meets your hero. Family, friends, hobbies, history, a job.

If everyone in your book exists solely to perform a function for the protagonist, your book may feel flat. You don't have to have 20 heroes, but yes, some fleshing out is good.

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: Re: Are different levels of character development required for primary as opposed to secondary characters? Primary characters would normally include the protagonist, antagonist, and maybe one or two

More posts by @Carla500

: Writing without a contract About 8 months ago a small game development company approached me to write dialogue for quests. They loved my writing and I quickly became the narrative designer for

: How much of a character's past/background should I let on? I've been starting something really interesting lately, which is writing each of my main character's back story before writing the main

: Redeeming a Good Character Who Does a Bad Thing Is it possible to redeem a character who is supposed to be good, but does something inexplicably bad? Let me give you an example so you can

: Larger structure - followup to Sense of Style by Steven Pinker I have read Steven Pinker's Sense of Style, which is a great book. In chapter 4, he talks about how to form lucid coherent

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