A supporting character is a character in a narrative that is not the focus of the primary storyline, but appears or is mentioned in the story enough to be more than just a minor character or a cameo appearance. Sometimes, supporting characters may develop a complex back-story of their own, but this is usually in relation to the main character, rather than entirely independently. In television, supporting characters may appear in more than half of the episodes per season.
In some cases, especially in ongoing material such as comic books and television series, supporting characters themselves may become main characters in a spin-off if they gain sufficient approval from their audience.[1]
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ Staff, THR. "6 Characters Who Became the Stars of Their Own Spinoff Films". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
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| Narrative | |
|---|---|
| Character | Antagonist • Antihero • Archenemy • Character arc • Characterization • Deuteragonist • False protagonist • Focal character • Foil • Narrator • Protagonist • Stock character • Supporting character • Tragic hero • Tritagonist |
| Plot | Action • Backstory • Chekhov's gun • Cliché • Cliffhanger • Climax • Conflict • Deus ex machina • Dialogue • Dramatic structure • Eucatastrophe • Exposition • Foreshadowing • Flashback • Flashforward • Frame story • In medias res • Kishōtenketsu • MacGuffin • Occam's razor • Pace • Plot device • Plot twist • Poetic justice • Red herring • Reveal • Self-fulfilling prophecy • Subplot • Suspense • Trope |
| Setting | Alternate history • Backstory • Dystopia • Fictional location (city • country • universe) • Utopia |
| Theme | Irony • Leitmotif • Metaphor • Moral • Motif |
| Style | Allegory • Bathos • Diction • Figure of speech • Imagery • Narrative techniques • Mode • Mood • Narration • Stylistic device • Suspension of disbelief • Symbolism • Tone |
| Structure | Linear narrative • Nonlinear narrative (films • television series) • Types of fiction with multiple endings |
| Form | Comics • Epic • Fable • Fabliau • Fairy tale • Flash fiction • Folktale • Legend • Novel • Novella • Parable • Play • Poem • Screenplay • Short story |
| Genre | Action fiction • Adventure • Comic • Crime • Docufiction • Epistolary • Erotic • Fantasy • Fiction • Gothic • Historical • Horror • List of writing genres • Magic realism • Mystery • Nautical • Paranoid • Philosophical • Picaresque • Political • Psychological • Romance • Saga • Satire • Science • Speculative • Superhero • Thriller • Urban • Western |
| Narration | First-person • Multiple narrators • Stream of consciousness • Stream of unconsciousness • Unreliable |
| Tense | Past • Present • Future |
| Related | Audience • Author • Creative nonfiction • Fiction writing • Literary science • Literary theory • Monomyth • Narratology • Rhetoric • Screenwriting • Storytelling • Tellability |