Anyone can write an awesome main character.

Ok, that was probably heretical. But it’s true.

Writers are told to make their main character awesome, someone their readers want to spend time with, someone they connect with and can relate to. So, naturally, a lot of time and effort is spent in making the main character awesome.

Which is really, really easy to do.

Why?

Because you get a lot more time with the main character than you do with anyone else. Writers have a lot of time to develop them, to show you all their facets, to make them awesome.

But show me a writer who can make you love even those with the most minor roles in their stories, and I’ll show you a writer who has found the secret to creating awesomesauce characters.

What stories do you recommend? Which writers do you find to consistently create amazing characters, no matter their role in the story?

One story I recommend for its characters is the movie The Fifth Element. As for authors, L.M. Montgomery is pretty much the queen of creating fascinating, multi-dimensional people to populate her books. Her Emily of New Moon trilogy is superb.