My Writing Guide

On Writing Friendship in Fiction

I've noticed while reading that a lot of people, includingmyself, have difficulty writing realistic friendship in fiction. Here are somequick tips on how to make your fictional friendships more realistic. There willbe a lot of Harry Potter references in this, so get ready.

1. Shared History: Unless your characters just met, they have to have some kind of past with each other. Sketch out a history for them. Inside jokes don't just come out of nowhere.

2. Best Friends Are People Too: Sure, they're not the main character, but never forget that best friends have personalities and flaws too. That's what made Harry Potter so awesome. Harry's friends, including Luna and Neville, had memorable personalities and character flaws. Your best friend characters may not have a major role in the novel, but you should at least figure out what makes them tick. Few things annoy me more than best friends who only exist to make the main character look more popular. (Hey there, Rebel Belle).

3. Friends Have Other Lives: This kind of goes hand in hand with point #2. Friends have lives outside of your main character, don't forget that. That's kind of what I like about Cora Carmack (yes, I read everything) . Say what you want about her, but the secondary characters in some of her novels have lives outside of the protagonist.

4. Yes, they have common interests but they are not the same person: It's true that friendships are often based on common interests. Harry and Ron both love Quidditch, have a certain disregard for the rules, despise Malfoy, and occasionally slack off in class. However, Ron has other interests outside of that. He loves Wizards Chess and teaches Harry to play with him even though Harry doesn't appear to like it as much as Ron does. And think about Hermione. She loves books and studying, and Ron and Harry don't like that at all. So friends don't have to have EVERYTHING in common.

5. Sometimes there are rough patches: Good friendships have rough patches. Sometimes one character or person is annoyed by their friends for some reason or another. Sometimes all of our flaws get the best of us. This is something that you can make use of in your novel. Once again, look at how J.K. Rowling worked in rough patches with the trio.

6. Sometimes friendships just don't work out: Sadly, some friendships run their course. Snape and Lily Potter, anyone?

If you take nothing from this post, just remember to make your friends (and secondary characters) real people. Just because they don't carry the plot doesn't mean that they deserve to blend into the background. A good secondary character can make a story, and a beautiful friendship in fiction can potentially spawn a lot of subplots.

Source: bookshopped