DIY MFA Prompt: Fav Supporting-Character Archetype?

Short Stories vs. Novels

I started today’s writing prompt reflecting on characterization in my novels versus in my short stories.

I love and hate short stories.  Love them for how (relatively) quickly I can pump them out and submit them; hate them for how I inevitably end up cut-cut-cutting the hell out of them, because they always go over prescribed word counts <sigh>.

All that being said, my shorts are protagonist-focused, of course, and so my supporting characters tend to come out pretty one-dimensional (ie: they serve a single purpose in advancing the story).

Novels – Where Supporting Characters Shine

The supporting cast get to shine in my novels.  And many of them seem to fill the role of BFF / sidekick… with one unique caveat.

I’ve discovered (today, as I reflect and write on this…!), that my ‘main’ supporting characters each seem to possess skills that surpass my protagonist.

For example, in my novel DARKSEA, ‘Ragna’ is a badass warrior woman who accompanies scrawny, ill-adjusted Egin on his blundering adventures.

A fantasy portal novel that I’m world-building, has two supporting characters picking up the pieces, while the self-centered protagonist forces his way through the story.

And without giving away spoilers, my latest work-in-progress, entitled THINK, Inc., has a supporting character who unknowingly out-classes my protagonist in skill by many orders of magnitude…

            I guess you could say my supporting characters act as portable deus-ex-machina’s, should there be a need to overcome some of the more mundane obstacles my protagonists face, leaving the main-dudes to work through their personal issues, unfettered.

Shall I Try a Different Archetype for “The Next Novel”?

Now that I’ve read more about some of the other archetypes Gabriela writes about (nemesis, mentor, love-interest, fool), I’m wondering if I might inject future stories with someone other than a good-ol’ BFF to hangout with my prot?

            Happy writing!

Spread the word, eh? ;)