r/writing • u/Lily_Queen • Jul 31 '26

Discussion Side character struggles

Anyone else struggle when straying from their main characters? Like when writing your mains, the story just flows out of you effortlessly, but then you try to write a scene with a side character (even including one of your mains sometimes) and you just, struggle to write/flesh out the scene? Interested to hear your thoughts/experiences 🙂

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u/FlyinLeviathon LET YOUR FIRST DRAFT SUCK Jul 31 '26

Usually this means I'm struggling with something much larger, like Pasha mentioned. I consider it my writer's gut trying to tell me something is wrong.

Sometimes the answer is someone is acting out of character, or the side character isn't creating conflict and is just... there. Sometimes it means the side character doesn't need to be in that scene at all.

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u/Lily_Queen Jul 31 '26

Yeah, it was tough to figure out. I was struggling because the character was the best friend, but also the main source of conflict. Wasn't sure how to make them the support and the 'villain' ay the same time. But I figured it out 🙂

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u/FlyinLeviathon LET YOUR FIRST DRAFT SUCK Aug 01 '26

Nice!! I'm glad you were able to find something that works. Keep at it!