What happens on a discovery call?

A discovery call is a thirty minute chat about what you need help with. It’s very informal, and is like having coffee with a friend.

What will we discuss on a coaching call?

We will talk about anything you like to do with your writing. I use my experience as a creative writing tutor to both offer possible solutions to issues, as well as coaching you to understand why you are experiencing the issue and how we can move forward. I also set tasks outside of our time together so that you can work toward your goals. All our conversations are confidential.

Can we meet in person?

During Covid I am happy to work with your time zone and meet you on Zoom.

character arc – Rachel Grosvenor Author

Craft

Do Your Secondary Characters Deserve More than You’re Offering?

Post author By Rachel Grosvenor
Post date April 6, 2026

Ah, the secondary character (or deuteragonist). Sometimes I feel for them, pushed aside for the protagonist, but the main character of their own lives. Hang on…they are the main characters of their own lives, aren’t they? If you’re thinking about your secondary character(s) now and answering ‘Well, I don’t know…’ then we have some work to do.

Your protagonist needs to have a supportive team of characters around them. In this context, I don’t mean supportive emotionally, but rather, characters who seem just as real and well thought through. There are some wonderful examples of this in fiction. The most obvious? Probably Samwise Gamgee. Tolkien even considered Samwise the hero of the story, and if we’re talking about well fleshed out deuteragonists, you can’t get better praise than that.

But how do we do this? Let’s see.

1) As I’ve said, consider each of your secondary characters as the main character in their story. After all, we are all the main characters in our lives, aren’t we? Take Samwise, for example, who wants different things than Frodo (a good meal, for starters), or Lizzie’s sisters in Pride & Prejudice. Lydia’s desires are so different from Lizzie’s, her life goals so at odds, that she drives herself right into a rushed wedding to a soldier and changes the plot of the story. Your secondary characters need their own goals in life. Make a list, and consider what they each want, and how that impacts the journey your protagonist is on.

2) To help you do this, consider making them a character arc. A character arc is like a plotline for an individual character, and it focuses on how they develop as a person. Let’s look at Lizzie and Lydia again for this. Lydia runs off and marries Mr Wickham. This brings to light everything from Wickham’s history to Mr Darcy’s generosity. It allows Darcy to step into the role of hero. Lydia’s character arc, therefore, impacts the story, and her development as a person impacts our protagonist, Lizzie.

3) Focus on something unique to your secondary characters. For example, in Witchborne, Saskia smells so strongly of honey to the main character, Agnes, that everything becomes poisoned with the scent. As the story develops, Agnes even begins to taste honey and bans it from the house. This means that whenever Saskia is near, the reader only needs a faint whiff to pass their nose to know what is happening. In fact, we humans even process scents we associate with danger earlier than those that have a positive connection with! If that isn’t a sign to tie a scent to an antagonist or secondary character in your work, I don’t know what is.So, as you see, it’s not just the characters that will benefit from having their own lives, but your plotline and story, too.

Found this useful?

Check these similar reads out for more craft help:

What Does It Mean to Edit for Genre?
Plot-Driven Novels vs Character-Driven Novels: Which Is Right For You?

Tags character, character arc, character development, character work, characterisation, characterization, characters in fiction, fictional characters, secondary characters, writing characters

Craft

Is Your Character Comfortable with Their Status?

Post author By Rachel Grosvenor
Post date May 4, 2025

Are You Comfortable with Your Status?

Oh, sorry, not you. Your character.

Let’s chat about it. Your character’s comfort in their status can say a lot about them. It can be a window into their mindset, confidence, and more.

Let’s explore this for just a moment (with an excellent example from How To Own The Room by Viv Groskop):

Your character is at a cocktail party. It’s a fancy, black-tie affair, and everyone is dressed up. Your character is wearing a suit, bowtie, and, it turns out, exactly the same attire as the waiting staff at the party. A peer walks into the room, looks around, and catches eye with your character. They go over, and instead of introducing themselves, they ask for a martini.

Now, pause for a moment…

What does your character do?

If your answer is that your character makes the martini, gives it to their peer, and laughs about it later with a friend, your character is happy with their status.

If your answer is that your character tells this person exactly who they are and that they should check themselves, getting irate, your character is unhappy with their status.

And so, if they’re unhappy with their status in society, in life, with their friends, what does this do to your novel? It creates a storyview* in which your character is prone to be the victim, ready to take offence, and quick to rise in temper. This, in turn, changes how you might introduce your character and what might drive your plot forward. Think of how they speak to other people (or dragons, depending on what you’re writing), how they dress, who they strive to be and where they want to go.

Could your character’s comfort level in their status be their sacred flaw? (Not sure what I’m talking about? Check out last month’s blog post!).

*Not a typo! Storyview vs Worldview is a concept explained by Jeff Vandermeer in Wonderbook – The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction, chapter 6.