Secondary Characters

Yoo hoo.  Sunny, I'm here.

Yeah, she's thinking.  About time, you b*tch.  (She might think that.  I, personally, wouldn't. I just don't use that kind of language much.)

The bad news for me is that Sunny would be justified in thinking it.  I told her back in January or February that, yes, I would be delighted to be a participant in her blog.  You see, I love writing.  I love sharing my opinions and ideas.  I loved her slant and ideas for this blog.  I love Sunny.  She's one of my fallback, supportive, most-encouraging, consistently upbeat, optimistic (for me) friends. Why wouldn't I want to be a part of Safari of the Writer's Soul?  

The good news for all of you is that Sunny is the Primary Character here.  I'm a secondary character.

We are all the Primary (Protagonist, Heroine/Hero, Lead, Main) Character in our own stories.

And we are all secondary characters in the lives of the people we know.  (In some peoples' lives, we're just walk-ons. Not even minor characters.)

Secondary characters have only two jobs in our stories.

They can either be a help--they are there with a shoulder when it's needed, available to listen, or share adventures with, interact with, make you think, give you feedback and try to help keep you on track, and receive the same from you, etc. They are supportive and help the main character make progress in the story.

Or they can be a hindrance.  As in all stories, the bad guys can be obviously that: striving to stop you from achieving whatever it is for nefarious reasons or striving to gain what is YOUR goal and you both can't achieve it. (The 'other' woman, for example, in some of the classic traditional romances.) Or sometimes they can be disguised as good guys, subtly throwing roadblocks in your way or undermining you by encouraging you to make choices that take you further from your goals.

So far, in Sunny's Safari, this particular secondary character has been a hindrance.

But I'm the main character in my own story.  I control what happens to me. I decide a lot of it by where I go, who I hang out with, what I decide to do, how I decide to spend my limited time.  Yes, sometimes I have no control over what happens while I am wherever I am.  I don't totally control the demands job, family, day to day obligations make on my time. But I do control whether to set aside a half hour to do something I've promised I'll do or whether I'll use it to play a couple of quick games of Spider Solitaire.

As the Main Character in my own story, I'm going to choose to be the good kind of secondary character in Sunny's story. Expect me back soon, Sunny.  (Hope I don't scare anyone away...)