Welcome to Gaia! ::

I'm actually in a strange situation when it comes to side characters at the moment. smile

The novel I'm working on now is set to have three following novels written. The first novel focuses on my MC, and the second novel focuses on her twin sister, who is a side character in the first novel. The third focuses on their younger sister, and the fourth, final novel focuses on a little chinese girl who is a side character throughout the entire first three novels. smile

It's funny that you should mention side characters being your favorite, because the little Chinese girl is one of my absolute favorites through all three novels, and I can't wait to focus the action on her in the forth book.

Another favorite side character is the younger sister. She is so freaking awesome, and the plot idea I have for her is even better! I can't wait! biggrin

I think some of the love for the sides might also come from the fact that they're not as well known. In my case, at least, I insert and use characters as I need them. Some of them seem fascinating, but I actually know very little about them other than their reason for existing in the few scenes they exist in. Something in my always wants to delve into their minds and find out who the hell they really are.

I'm not saying I don't love my mains, I just find that, after working with them for awhile, they get kind of dull.

Until you create side characters for their story and fall in love with them instead. xd

I think that's why a lot of series go on for so long. Aside from the income, authors don't like to let their characters go. I know when I get to the end of my series, I'm going to cry. The second I type the words "The End" I'm going to go curl up in a corner and bawl my eyes out.

But then, like any good obsessive fantasy writer, there's prequels. twisted

I develop all of my characters to the point where if I wanted to, I could put them in their own story. Main, secondary, side, there are very few I do not like to work on, but I think my favorite characters are about evenly split between them all.

I think my current favorite side character is a ten-year-old vampire who was a cancer patient in life. I created her to add a bit of variety to my vampires, and to show how the vampire society is very different: not every vampire is turned when they are young and vibrant and of age, and ranks differ based on the vampire's true age and how well they climb up the social ladder, not how they physically look. I use this on a lot of aspects of vampires, going so far as to remove taboos that would have been present in life (best example: I have an old man and a little girl who are a couple. The girl is legal jailbait).

She was turned by accident, as she was already at Death's door, but her sire got a little careless. Because of her actual age (i.e., how long she has been a vampire), she actually has more power and influence in the vampire community than, say, an adult who was turned yesterday. While my vampires retain their minds and personalities once they get beyond their animal instincts (there is a time after they are turned where they are more or less animals, and it can stay that way if they are not properly guided by their sires), they are able to grow and mature, and she is clever enough that she has in a few instances done trades on the black market.

She was also made as a contrast to a teenage vampire: the teenager is an immature twit and actually much younger than the cancer patient, and the cancer patient sort of forces the teenager to grow up a little bit: she points out that the teenager has a lot of things she wanted in life, the biggest one being a body that works properly and that she was turned at an age where it is easier to be taken seriously. Even though the cancer patient is stronger as a vampire, she does feel fatigued more easily than other vampires, and her body is frail and emaciated compared to someone who was changed in good health. And because her body is small and frail, she has a hard time getting others (sometimes even other vampires) to respect her. Any respect she has, she had to earn.

Sometimes I read through what people have posted before me so my reply is in accordance with what others have been saying.
I didn't feel like doing that tonight. I am so ornery.

I love side characters too. I love Samwise and I love Kronk. I agree that a big reason for loving them is because they're stable, and you can just know who they are.
But I think a key point to main characters is that they change through out the course of the book, whether you're writing or reading. So I don't criticize that.
Of course I love my MC, cause I wouldn't write an entire trilogy on someone I wasn't infatuated with, but I LOVE my side characters too. I always want to make them more important (which I do).

General, I just got back from a long and kind of unsuccessful trip which is why I was ornery. I'm okay now (I finally got enough sleep).

I think changing to a different MC through out your books is a brilliant idea.
I also think that in an epic series, changing between MC's would be very conventional and functional. I wish it would happen more often. I don't know if you read Fablehaven- its more for junior high kids and maybe highschool- but there are two MC's, and for a good portion of the books, they're not even together. That was fantastic. I loved the changing points of view, and there was just so much happening, one person was not going to cover it.

(I lose interest in books all the time. Especially cause I think mine are going to be better)

The more importance you can bring to more characters, the better. Generally. I actually just read this book called The City of Flowers and the POV changed around so much and so many people were crucial to the plot, I couldn't keep it straight in my head.

I actually shortened my 'series' from six books, to three, because I realized I didn't want to write that much on the same topic (as much as I love it). I didn't have enough material to really fill six books, and now I feel more confident that I can actually get it done.
I'm also really tired of series- I mean, I love the adventure but it does need to end some time, and series just drag it out forever. I don't want my work to be so long. Besides, it takes forever to find all six, or seven, or [insert number here] books of the series. Books only need to be long enough to get the story across. Even though its their story, I feel like alot of authors just waste time.

I, too, have switched protagonists in a series. It just worked better that way for me. I also had the opposite "series" problem: I had to extend mine to three books because it got so big. This is not counting two "aside" books that take place in the same universe. I just simply could not contain it all in one story. I also will be sad, but I like the ending that I have planned. It neatly wraps things up, but leaves some things to the imagination.

I think the most "switched POV's" in a series I have read is eleven, and that was the first arc of R.L. Stine's HorrorLand series. The protagonist literally changes with every book, though the last two books of the first arc had the same protagonist. He is writing two more arcs that also switch the protagonist each book save the last (though so far, it seems none of the characters from the first arc are returning). While I have just started the second arc, the POV count is now up to nineteen (this is counting books that I know of that have not been published yet). I must say, though, it works for this series.

I am also in agreement with stories being only as long as they need to be. I do not rush out for the latest trend installments (mostly movies---I have ranted about the Shrek series, and feel no loss at not seeing the fourth). I also tend to ignore things that either make no sense (like certain comics...I am admittedly lenient and willing to forgive some aspects of comic book science, but the Scarebeast pushed even my willing suspension of disbelief over the edge), or were unnecessarily extended (like most Disney sequels).