In an effort to get more writing in my life (because it's just sad when your spouse writes more than you do and you're supposed to be the writer in the family), I decided to focus on my characters and start picking on a few of them (read: ALL of them).  So for the next few posts, I think I'll share what I've discovered with you.

I've talked about plotkillers and villains.  Now I want to focus on the sidekick.

Sidekicks aren't just for superhero comic books or really bad spinoff movies.  A sidekick doesn't have to wear a stupidly garish costume and rush in to save the hero's life in the nick of time.  Sidekicks can be cool and will end up being very important in your story as you develop it.

What kind of story would Lord of The Rings be without Sam, Legolas, Gimli, and the rest of the gang?  What kind of story would you have if you took Isabelle and Alec out of the Mortal Instruments?  The In Death series wouldn't be very good without Peabody, McNab, Mavis, and Summerset either.

So last night, while stuffing my face with Taco Bell, I thought about what my story would be like without Ulrich, Lincoln, and Chocon.  It would be pretty darned boring and I'm sure Seven would be dead right about now.

The sidekick is important because your hero has to have other people in his life besides himself.  Do you have people in your life besides yourself and/or significant other?  Of course you do.  In real life, they are our friends (and family, but family doesn't always count), but for fictional purposes, we'll call them sidekicks.

Without the sidekick, your hero stands alone against everything, good or bad.  There is no wingman watching his six, there is no warrior with a sword standing at his back.  There's probably no comic relief or deep, revealing conversations.  Your hero is in black and white.  Sidekicks bring the color (not gaudy latex color all the time either).

But if your sidekick is hokey, campy, or bland, you'll probably have a hokey, campy, or bland story (and if that's what you're going for, kudos to you).  Sidekicks have their own stories as well.  Dick Greyson has his own story line in Batman.  Stevie Rae has her own story line in the House of Night series.  Ulrich has his own story in Awakening and Lincoln had his in Forbidden.  Chocon is getting a turn later on.  It gives you the chance to make the sidekick real for the reader instead of a wallflower at the big dance.

My husband said to me last night that just because you call them a sidekick doesn't make them dorky.  I finally agree with him.  I had a hard time picturing Ulrich or Chocon as anyone's sidekick.  But now I see it.  Without them, my hero isn't the character I created him to be.  Remember that when you create a sidekick.  Your hero will thank you later on.