Guest Blog: When Your Support Characters Become Protagonists

Today we welcome author Catherine Green to TMtV as she tells us a little about her characters and how they seem to come to life within the writing process. Catherine has written several vampire orientated novels, including the Vampire of Blackpool.

It is surprising the number of characters you will discover when you finally write your manuscript. Originally you might begin with a hero or heroine, and perhaps one or two supporting characters. Then they begin to interact with each other, and they bring in their own friends, acquaintances, colleagues, family members, and before you know it there are a lot more people to write about.

Identifying your characters doesn’t just mean knowing who they are and why they fit that particular story. You have to understand why they developed, what makes them important to you, and maybe sometimes if their story could be told in a separate novel, perhaps as a spin-off.

Take my Redcliffe novels as an example. I have a vampire character called Marcus Scott. Originally he was a vague, supporting character. Somewhere along the line he became more important, both to my heroine Jessica Stone, and to me, the author. As a result I wrote him a separate novel telling the story of how he became a vampire, and what it is that causes him to act the way he does. That novel is The Darkness of Love; a Victorian vampire romance with Gothic undertones.

Ultimately, your characters develop because they are very special people in their own right. Sometimes you have to be strict with yourself and decide whether it is really imperative that you give them so much space in your novel. Maybe you could compromise, and put them somewhere else. Perhaps you could include them in a sequel, and give them the story time they deserve.

Always remember to look at your manuscript from the point of view of your readers. Will they be confused? Will this cause them to give up on your books? Above all, do not abandon a character simply because you don’t know what to do with them. They might give you that big break into the world of fame and fortune… you never know!

Did you enjoy this article? Join my tribe today, and I will send you a fabulous FREE book to get you started… (be warned, my vampires do not sparkle, and my wolves will bite!)

Author’s BIO:

Author of British paranormal romance series The Redcliffe Novels, Catherine Green was raised on books from a young age, and has happy memories of Saturday mornings spent in her small local library, devouring the contents of the shelves. Catherine has always been fascinated by the supernatural world, and it feels natural for her to write about vampires, werewolves, witches and other mystical creatures in her contemporary stories.

If you sign up to Catherine’s newsletter, she will send you a free copy of her Redcliffe short story, It’s Complicated, to introduce you to her fictional supernatural seaside town in Cornwall, England.

More recently, Catherine released her contemporary English Gothic novel, The Vampire of Blackpool. These novels will show you the darker, sexier side of our favourite British seaside resorts!

You can find Catherine in the following places: Facebook, her Author blog, Twitter, the Pagan Housewife Blog & Instagram.