Name: Side character formula
Brand: LIBRAIRIE COREENNE
SKU: 161415
Price: 26.00 EUR
Availability: InStock

Side character formula

€26,00

Side character formula

Description

Book Introduction

Side characters, the hidden force that determines a work's success! Scene-stealers, sub-characters, supporting roles, cameos, sidekicks... The new guide to unlocking the potential of "side characters" has been released, "The Side Character Formula," a comprehensive guide to writing that thoroughly explains how to do just that.
Up until now, there have been many guides on character setting and background direction, but most of them have had to be satisfied with dealing with main characters.
Powered by bestselling author Sasha Black's wry humor and pen, this how-to guide shows you how to use side characters more skillfully than any other writer: they connect the plot elements, weave villains and heroes together, and bring your work to life.

Sasha Black, an Amazon bestselling novelist and a writing teacher for writers, analyzes supporting characters in classics we all know and love, including Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Sherlock Holmes, The Avengers, Toy Story, Friends, and The Queen's Gambit.
It is subdivided by weight, role, and presence of narration, and a concept method appropriate to the topic is also introduced for each type.
If the character's intentions and goals are not meticulously designed, the story quickly becomes a dead end, and the reader's heart becomes as cold as a corpse.
It presents concepts such as scene anchoring, scene power, and character lens, as well as psychological knowledge, and suggests ways to solidify the story's framework and flesh it out delicately.

The more complete and intense the work is, the less meaningless the characters are.
The more you think about side characters without ignoring them, the higher the quality of your work will be.
Are you neglecting characters who could shine in your story simply because they aren't the main characters? This book is full of vital ideas that will help you stop neglecting supporting and minor roles.
Let's master the tutorial on how to draw supporting characters that will grab attention just by appearing.

You can preview some of the book's contents.
Preview

index

Go in and throw away the rules

Step 1 What is a side character?

1-1 Definition of important words
1-2 cameos
1-3 secondary side characters
1-4 Main Side Characters
1-5 How many side characters do you need?
What are the roles of side characters 1-6?

Step 2: Weaving the Spider Web of Your Work

2-1 What is the topic?
2-2 Building a character that matches the theme

Step 3 Blood and Flesh

3-1 Side Character's 'Why'
3-2 Perfect Defect
3-3 Origin Story
3-4 Backstory
3-5 It's me, it's me!
3-6 Anchoring Side Characters
3-7 Best friends or just friends

Step 4 Angel's Voice

4-1 Side Character Lens
4-2 Non-POV Character Lens
4-3 General Chat

Step 5 What is the role of the side character?

5-1 Best Friend
5-2 Guide
5-3 Obstacles
5-4 Hermes
5-5 Cunning Fox
5-6 Joker
5-7 world

Step 6: Knitting the Arc

6-1 Deformation of the arc
6-2 Who needs which arc?

Step 7: Kill Darling

7-1 Wrong Reasons to Kill a Character
7-2 Justifiable Reasons to Kill a Character
7-3 Invisible Death
7-4 Death and Side Characters

Step 8: A fight for your life

8-1 Internal conflict
8-2 Micro Conflict
8-3 Macro Conflict
8-4 Climax

In conclusion, this book does not die.
Acknowledgements
References

Detailed image

Into the book

Side characters are the heartbeat of the protagonist, a new point of view and perspective, a generator of conflict, and a mover of subplots.
When you get into the sticky inner workings of a story and its characters, every character is the thought behind the story.
In other words, it is a topic.
They bring the topic to life through conversations, actions, and obstacles related to the topic.
Characters are metaphors that make the ideas and concepts of a subject realistic.
We can understand the true meaning of a subject through the characters' actions, emotions, and interactions.
---p.29 From "Step 1: What is a Side Character?"

But as a humble storyteller, I can humbly state my opinion that when all the side characters are intimately connected to the theme, the whole of the work becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
Even if you don't go as far as making love to the subject, you should at least hold hands lightly.
If you want to write a book that's on a whole other level, this is the way to take your writing to the next level.
It gives the reader a sense of connection when all the characters are part of a larger whole.
What matters is the moment when the meaning beyond the story is conveyed, and when all the strands of the book feel seamlessly woven together as a whole.
When characters are connected rather than isolated from each other, the story lingers long after the last page is turned.
---p.75 From "Step 2: Weaving the Spider Web of Your Work"

One of the rules to follow when characterizing is to always omit anything that is not relevant to the character.
Why? Because what might be exciting to you is just exaggeration to the reader.
Readers read books to see the characters, not the author.
They want to know something important about the character.
If you include details that don't convey two meanings at once, or don't reveal information about the characters, story, setting, or foreshadowing, you're just wasting precious characters and space.
---p.100 From "Step 3: Blood and Flesh"

Don't make your character live a Robin Hood-like life, intolerant of injustice and always on the side of the weak.
He must have some loose ends to his opinions.
His words and actions are also a bit unlucky, so others have to point them out and argue about them.
Give every character a weakness or flaw, whether hero, villain, or supporting character.
Let them mess up and make mistakes.
That look is much more attractive.
---p.108 From "Step 3: Blood and Flesh"

Let's pick a section of your manuscript where there is a lot of dialogue.
Leaving aside explanations and prefaces, only the dialogue remains.
Can you tell whose line it is just by looking at it? Probably can.
Because you wrote it yourself, you probably know it inside and out.
But let's ask someone else to read that manuscript.
I wonder if everyone can tell whose lines these are?
---p.175 From "Step 4: The Angel's Voice"

The most common mistake writers make is thinking that once they put a certain archetype on a character, that character should stay that way for the rest of their lives.
But that's not the case.
While it can help to give a character consistency and deepen their unique traits, archetypes can change and be reclaimed at any time.
---p.189 From "Step 5: What is the role of side characters?"

Let your characters interact with the world and feel the world.
Don't just pick one sense.
Build up your senses layer by layer.
It is rare for only one sense to be used.
If you hear the rustling of leaves and branches, you may be able to see a forest or a field.
When you taste the potatoes, you will also smell the meat or cooked vegetables.
When creating a world in a story, try using more than one sense.
---pp.219~220 From "Step 5: What is the role of side characters?"

Side characters, like the main character, must struggle to achieve their goals.
Beat up the side character and make sure he never gets to his goal easily.
But as you know, there is a limit to the number of pages you can give to side characters.
If it's a character that appears frequently, you can beat them up sometimes.
Give me a piece of your mind.
It can provide exciting tension to the readers.
---p.235 From "Step 6 Arc Weaving"

If you kill off a character just to give the reader an unexpected shock, it's neither surprising nor satisfying.
Let me paraphrase Donald Mars' quote from the beginning of this chapter:
To make a character's death meaningful, you have to love their life.
It means that you need time to fall in love with them before suddenly killing them.
And above all, there must be a reason.
---p.261 From "Step 7: Killing Darling"

The most acute conflict is the impossible choice, the one that cannot be decided at all.
This is the case when a gay character cannot come out to his conservative parents for fear of being kicked out or losing a loved one.
There is no best option in this situation.
It's an impossible choice because there is no answer that will satisfy everyone.

---p.291 From "Step 8: A Fight for Life"

Publisher's Review

“Side characters are created with thorough calculation and rules.”
―Cheon Seon-ran (novelist)

* Hidden details about the supporting character who is calling for a spin-off revealed by an Amazon bestselling author
* The very book chosen by Angela Ackerman, author of "The Dictionary of Trauma"
* Strongly recommended by Kim Bo-young, author of 『Savasamsara Seo』, and Cheon Seon-ran, author of 『Mower』

All impressive movies and novels have one thing in common.
Let's think about Harry Potter.
Any reader or viewer who has seen it even once will recall a specific moment in their mind right now.
In that scene, Harry would be buried under a pile of hundreds of admissions letters carried in by a flock of owls, eating chocolate frogs with two friends, or flying around with a half-broken broom.
The character is looking at someone or will soon be talking to someone.
Yes, there is always a side character next to the main character.

An interesting writing guide has been published that introduces side characters who make a work shine with just a little detail.
A side character is a person who is not a central character, and is also called a supporting character, cameo, sidekick, or sub character.
In this book, the various names that have been scattered and not yet established are collectively referred to as side characters, and are defined accurately and concisely.
Side characters may not be revealed in depth, but they are as important elements as the main character in driving the story.
While there have been many writing guides on character development and background direction, most have focused on the main character. This book, however, focuses on side characters, establishing a structure between the villain and the hero, and smoothly connecting the plot to create a story where all the elements become one and seem to come alive in reality.

Sasha Black, an Amazon bestselling novelist and a writing teacher for writers, analyzes supporting characters in classics we all know and love, from novels like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and Sherlock Holmes to films like The Avengers and Toy Story, and TV shows like Friends and The Queen's Gambit.
The idea is that a character who is flawless and speaks only the truth will not be able to resonate with the reader, so they need to appear a little clumsy or unlucky.
Character flaws not only help to portray characters realistically, they also add human appeal and create conflict that makes the story more interesting.
Additionally, by pinning down a few props and locations that effectively reveal the character's traits, you can leave a strong first impression in the minds of readers and audiences.
If you actively utilize the special moves taught by Sasha Black, you will be able to create a side character that is as strong and attractive as the main character, even with a limited amount of screen time.

Sexy rivals, dreamy best friends, and eye-catching cameos
How are side characters created in masterpieces we know?

Side characters may not be in the spotlight, but they still linger around the protagonist, transforming into various masks.
As a sexy rival, a fantasy best friend, and a cameo that somehow catches the eye.
Maybe he'll stay on stage longer than the main character.
Why do side characters always exist behind the main plot? Most of us prefer safe and certain choices over taking big risks.
The same goes for the main character in the work, who maintains his original state unless a special occasion arises.
Then the story cannot progress forward, so side characters are needed.
Side characters bring about change, either positively or negatively, that allows the protagonist to change course.
Additionally, it is subdivided according to weight, role, and presence or absence of narration, and each type has an arc and plot setting method that matches the subject matter.

It's easy to spend so much time creating villains and heroes that side characters take a backseat, but you shouldn't leave them as mere clay figures that just flop around with the flow of the story.
If the intention and purpose are not meticulously designed, the story will quickly drift into a rut, and the reader's heart will become as cold as a corpse.
Sasha Black, who majored in psychology and has been working as a novelist and writing instructor for a long time, uses her experience to emphasize why side characters are important and how to create them.
In addition to providing psychological knowledge such as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, it also suggests various methods for building a strong story framework and adding subtle details, using supporting characters from famous works as examples.
But you can put aside the pressure to memorize all the theory about side characters for a moment.
Even if you just read along with interest, you can internalize it and develop a perspective that allows you to see not only individual characters but also the entire work at a glance.

Character Enhancement Manual for Writers
The "side character" series, which connects the "villain" and "hero" of the "work is a character anyway" series.

This book is the third in the character writing series, which began with "The Villain's Formula" and "The Hero's Formula."
This is the latest installment in the "Anyway, the Work is a Character" series, which will be useful to any creator who often gets lost while writing a story.
Among aspiring writers in English-speaking countries, it was evaluated as a "must-read book before writing a novel," and word of mouth spread.
When the structure between the villain, hero, and side characters is well-established, the various scenes and lines come together without being separated from each other, creating a masterpiece that leaves a deep impression on readers and viewers.
If you pick a book and read it while thinking of the character you need right now, you can learn specific plot and character design methods that fit the topic.
If you read the entire series closely, you will be able to capture the reader's heart at first glance with character designs that are on a whole new level from the previous ones.

In particular, this book, "The Formula for Side Characters," provides an interesting guide from the basics on how to create attractive supporting characters that will lead to spin-offs.
From setting up character arcs for each character type to practicing dialogue with unique nuances, to effectively "anchoring" characters with a few props and locations.
It's full of gem-like ideas about side characters.
It is structured in eight easy and clear steps so that anyone can create their own special side character by simply following along.
If you read slowly, one step at a time each day, your story will soon become a more dense and solid web that will captivate readers and audiences.
This book also breaks the mold of thinking that confines supporting and minor roles by saying that not only people but also objects and backgrounds in a work can become characters, and opens up new possibilities.
Instead, we provide clear guidelines with a list of principles and questions to keep in mind, and we also provide a comprehensive list of channels that you can refer to when researching materials.

“The moment when meaning beyond the story is conveyed,
And it's important to have the experience of all the strands of the book being seamlessly woven together as a whole.”

In reality, we form different relationships with countless people and live in various ways accordingly.
Since stories are a space for limitless imagination based on reality, side characters should be like that too.
Even if you help the hero defeat the villain now, tomorrow you can go back to the office, sit in front of the computer, and pound away at the keyboard, or cook pasta for dinner with your lover at home in the warmth of your home.
A side character exists for the main character and must be organically connected to the flow of the story, but at the same time, he must have a life he loves.
That's why side characters can do things that are impossible for heroes and things that are out of place for villains.
The more we think about side characters without turning a blind eye, the more intensely the work will be.
Of course, the protagonist's spectacular and dramatic resolution of the case and short, memorable lines are important, but in a masterpiece that is overall well-made and leaves a strong aftertaste, there are no side characters without a reason.
Are you wasting your story's sparkling characters just because they aren't the main characters? With this book, master the art of writing supporting characters that will captivate audiences and drive your work to success.