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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/26587
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/26587
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Every character had an arc. This does not mean that every character has their own subplot in your novel. But it means that they are driven in the same way that your hero is driven: they want something and they are exploring just how far they are willing to go to get it. You may not follow their arc, but they are on it, and the fact that they are on it drives everything that they do. Even the people that are on the protagonist's side have their own desires, their own arc, and therefore a limit to their loyalty and subservience to the hero.

The consequence of this is that there are other things going on in the world. Everything that happens in a world, no matter how incidental it may be to your story, is the result of someone pursuing a desire. If you forget that, the rest of the cast, major and minor, become mere drones and satellites to the hero, and the story falls apart.

Since you used a TV example, I'll propose another one. In the TV show Suits, every scene is an argument, a confrontation. There is literally no let up at all. Lovers argue. Friends argue. Colleagues argue. Rival argue. In every scene it is perfectly clear what each person wants, and how the desires of the two bring them into conflict. Even two characters who are declaring their love and devotion to each other, do it in the form of an argument. A scene may end in tears and reconciliation, but every scene start with burning cheeks and glaring eyes.

Everyone has a desire, everyone had an agenda, and everyone is pursuing that agenda, and therefore whatever is in the foreground of any scene, there are a half dozen other things going on in the background.

Original score: 1