In a post on Writer Unboxed, Kathryn Craft offers advice for showing inner conflict with non-POV characters, when your readers aren’t privy to their thoughts. “Major secondary characters deserve a life of their own,” she says. “Their robust inner lives and unique perspectives will motivate their actions in each scene and put them into conflict with your protagonist so that they don’t come across simply as an author’s ‘tool.'”
Introducing inner conflict is one way to do that, Craft says. While that task is easier with your main character, you can also accomplish this with your non-POV supports. Craft suggests six techniques using Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation as a model. In the book, the main character is the ebullient Poppy, a travel writer. The main supporting character is her best friend, Alex, an English teacher from Poppy’s hometown. The gist of the story is a will-they or won’t-they romance.
Poppy is the protagonist, but Henry uses the following methods to show Alex’s internal conflict.
- Body language. A character’s physical actions can show when they are conflicted or weighing multiple options.
- Dialogue. Subtle verbal cues can show what your supporting character is thinking. After Poppy and Alex share a drunken kiss, Alex says it shouldn’t have happened “like that”, suggesting that it should have happened a different way, but still happened.
- Dialogue beats. Bits of action inserted in your dialogue can highlight the difference between what a supporting character is saying and what they’re hiding.
- Contradictory actions. As above, characters often say one thing when they mean something else. Taken to its strongest point, they might lie outright about what they’re thinking or feeling.
- Revealing actions. In contrast, characters can strongly reveal what they’re feeling with choices and actions. In People We Meet on Vacation, Alex gives up a trip to Norway to nurse Poppy when she’s fallen ill.
- Through another character. If your supporting character isn’t being forthright, another supporting character can express what they’re thinking.
