I’m going to confess loving one of my secondary characters in Silver Scars, and from some of the reviews the book has gotten, I’m not the only one. I don’t love Frankie as much as Gilbert or Keith, but it’s close.
Here’s a little taste of the kind of friend Frankie is to Gil in Silver Scars.
You’re my oldest friend. I couldn’t leave you to deal with this shit alone. It might’ve been what you thought you wanted, but that’s utter bullshit. You need friends. You need people to love you, especially when you shove them away.
Frankie and Gil have been friends since their preteen years and they’ve been through it all, including coming out to each other at a young age. They attempted to date several times, but Gil knew it was best if they didn’t. Eventually they decided it was best to remain friends, because they are fantastic friends.
Frankie knows just what to do to get Gil out of his head, and after a bomb exploded at Gil’s house and Gil pushed everyone away, Frankie stuck around. I love that Frankie persisted, that he kept coming back even when Gil told him to go.
Secondary characters are a great way for us to learn about main characters. We see them interact and that reveals a lot about the nature of their relationship, how they deal with people, and if they’re nice people or not. When Frankie and Gil are first on the page together, it’s very playful and silly. Gil wants to get out of his head because he’s obsessing about Keith, the guy he met while on a work trip. He lives 1,500 miles away from Keith, so the thoughts Gil’s having are not helpful. Of course, the conversation soon ends up on Keith, which delights Frankie.
Later, we see parts of how Gil and Frankie’s relationship has worked over the years. We see them serious together, supportive, and might get a glimpse into why it could never have worked out between them.
Writing the scenes with Frankie and Gil was easy. They flowed off the page for some reason. Frankie gives some fun comedic relief and gets Gil to lighten up. I don’t know how I pulled that off, but apparently I did. Haha. I’m not a funny person, unless you consider intense sarcasm funny, but Frankie came off playfully. I still wonder who I was channeling.
I fell in love with Frankie because of his humor, but mostly because of what a great friend and support he is to Gil. And Gilbert needs friends like him. He needs people to appreciate him, scars and all, just like Keith does.
This isn’t the first time I’ve fallen for a secondary character, and I love it when readers have come to me to ask me more about them, like they did about Summer in the North Star trilogy.
What do you think makes a good secondary character?
