8 Steps to Side Characters: How to Craft Supporting Roles with Intention, Purpose, and Power

Sacha Black

Jul 2021 · Atlas Black Publishing

About this ebook

Do your characters fail to bring your story to life? Are they flat, boring or have no depth? Is your story lacking a little cohesion or sparkle?

In 8 Steps to Side Characters, you’ll discover: 

+ A step-by-step guide for creating side characters that bring your story alive

+ The main types of side characters and what you should do with them

+ The key to crafting character depth that hooks readers

+ How to harness your character’s voice to deepen your reader's experience

+ Tips and tricks for using details to enhance characterization 

+ Methods for killing characters that will help deepen plot, theme and story

+ Dozens of ideas for creating conflict with your side characters 

+ Tactics for differentiating characters and making them feel real to your reader 

+ Character archetypes and functions

+ The most common pitfalls and mistakes to avoid 

8 Steps to Side Characters is a comprehensive writing guide that will help you create the side characters your story needs. This book is packed with tips and tricks for polishing characters for writers at any level.  If you want to power up your characters, eliminate dull and lifeless archetypes, and perfect your characterization, this is the book for you. By the end of this book, you'll know how to strengthen your characters to give your story, prose and plot the extra something special it needs to capture a readers and fans for life.

If you like dark humor, learning through examples and want to create better side characters, then you’ll love Sacha Black’s guide to crafting supporting roles with intention, purpose, and power. Read 8 Steps to Side Characters today and start creating kick-ass stories.

Ratings and reviews

If there's a craft book you need to have, it's this one. I bought the hard copy to this and it was well worth it. Side characters have just stepped up. Just when you think you have done what you can for them, Sacha helps you level them up. Where they need it and where they don't. Whats a protagonist without their side character(s)? Sacha also gives you some examples to help explain what she means. There are a few spoilers in there but don't worry, she puts the warnings in before if you want to skip those parts. Reading it is like having her there in the room with me through the book. And what a joy it was. If you're not one for a few swear words, then this may not be for you. It definitely doesn't take away any gold information needed to help you on your writing journey. It has helped me so much!

This book has a lot of wit and humor and colorful language. A very entertaining read. If a bit of swearing bothers you then you may not enjoy it as much, but highly recommend it. Sacha breaks down terminology, uses examples, and talks about the gambit of side characters and their roles. I learned a lot reading this book and her previous books, 13 Steps To Evil How To Craft A Villian, Anatomy of Prose, 10 Steps To Hero, all the book are lively, funny, entertaining, and chock full of valuable information for writing great characters.

I’m so used to listening to Sacha’s podcast that I read this book in her voice. She writes just how she speaks, which is part of what makes her nonfiction so unique. While her writing style is amazing, it's the contents where this book really shines. Whenever I read Sacha’s books or listen to her podcast I learn something new, and that’s with too many years of studying writing to count. Side characters are often neglected, but as Sacha demonstrates, they serve an important purpose in all books. Without them, there’s no conflict and our protagonists feel flat. The examples are spread across genres, meaning there’ll be something you’re familiar with. There are also spoiler warnings at the start of each chapter, so if it’s something on your to be read/watched list, you can skip the spoilery bits. Personally I like those parts as it helps me decide if I want to spend my time watching/reading something, but I know that’s not for everyone. The advice in the book is in-depth without feeling over-explained or condescending. The activities also help you to think long and hard about why you’re really writing your side characters. I particularly liked the chapter on the different types of character death. Too often this is overlooked by writers instead of being a significant part of the story - as any character death should be, whether it's a literal or metaphorical death. Whether you’re a beginner writer or an advanced novelist, there’s something in this book you can learn from. And likely some recommendations for you to discover along the way.

About the author

Sacha Black is a bestselling author, rebel podcaster, and professional speaker. She writes educational nonfiction books for writers and fantasy books for both Young Adult and adult audiences. She lives in Cambridgeshire, England, with her wife and son.