Give even your smallest characters a moment in the spotlight—and watch your whole cast come alive.
Think about the last book you loved. Odds are you can name a character who wasn’t the lead—the tart-tongued neighbor, the loyal friend, the shopkeeper who turns up for half a scene and somehow stays with you for good.
Those characters do quiet, powerful work. They make a fictional world feel real, and they’re often the people readers grow most attached to. In this FREE one-hour webinar, we’ll look at how to build a supporting cast that pulls its weight—minor characters who feel fully alive, not just props arranged around your protagonist.
You’ll discover:
- How to give a minor character a life of their own—a goal, a point of view, and a way of moving through the world that exists beyond their scenes with your protagonist
- How to make a single-scene character land, so a brief appearance leaves a lasting impression
- How to build a recurring supporting cast that deepens a series and keeps readers coming back
- How to keep your supporting players vivid without letting them pull focus from your lead
Perfect for:
- Writers whose sidekicks, friends, or suspects read more like furniture or plot devices than people
- Series writers who want a recurring cast readers love as much as the lead
- Anyone writing an ensemble who wants every character, however small, to earn their place
A live Q&A follows the presentation to answer your questions.
Fill out the form below to reserve your FREE virtual seat.
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The Cameo That Steals the Show:
Writing Minor Characters That Leave Major Impressions
What makes a reader fall for a character who’s on the page for only a moment? Usually, it’s not more words—it’s the right ones. A want of their own. A way of speaking that’s unmistakably theirs. One telling detail that lodges them forever in the memory of the reader.
During our hour together, we’ll look at the difference between a character who exists to serve the plot and one who serves the plot and leaves a mark, and we’ll work through practical ways to build the second kind: walk-ons who feel real, sidekicks with inner lives, and the occasional minor character who earns a bigger role than you planned.
We’ll also talk about the supporting cast as a whole—how recurring characters can deepen a series and give readers people to come back for, and how to keep an ensemble balanced so the spotlight still finds your protagonist when it needs to. Whether you write cozy mysteries, thrillers, romance, or literary fiction, the same ideas apply: the more fully alive your minor characters, the richer the story.
Join us at our FREE virtual discussion:
October 17, 2026 at 1 p.m. Eastern
Reserve your spot at this FREE virtual workshop. I’ll send you the access details shortly before the event!
In Beat the Bots: A Writer’s Guide to Surviving and Thriving in the Age of AI, published in August, Jane K. Cleland shares practical exercises to nurture imagination, spark original thinking, and resist creative conformity. Her other books on the craft of writing, Mastering Suspense, Structure & Plot and Mastering Plot Twists, both won the Agatha Award.
Jane has also written fourteen novels in the multiple award-winning Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery series [St. Martin’s Minotaur, with short fiction published by Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine]. The series has been optioned for film and TV.
In addition, Jane is a contributing editor for Writer’s Digest magazine and the chair of the Black Orchid Novella Award, presented by the Wolfe Pack in partnership with Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Jane has served as President of the New York Chapter and Vice President of the Florida chapter of Mystery Writers of America, and was on the national board.
