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To make a supporting character more vital, give her her own arc. How does she grow and change over the course of the story? What does she really think about what the MC is doing? What backstorie...
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#4: Attribution notice removed
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/40371 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/40371 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
To make a supporting character more vital, give her her own arc. How does she grow and change over the course of the story? What does she really think about what the MC is doing? What backstories does she bring to the table? You don't have to use these things explicitly, but have them in mind. Have them inform the small things, like how she responds to the MC. Details like the expression on her face, the couple words she says, her body language, and her response time will reflect her inner state. With enough of those tiny bits, your reader will have a better sense of her. She will start to feel like a real person and not a device.