Gosh, I think friends are really hard to write. They have to have a reason for being there and I often end up using family or co-workers instead. I was gonna suggest the pet too. And you can write what ever you want. If you want a Vampire Pet go for it
There is a theory that says we are attracted to people who seem to be our opposites because they will bring us closer to being whole. So if you look at friends from that perspective, look for ways that a character or several characters can better help your protagonist become whole. Maybe pair her up with someone who is more outgoing and things like that. And then come up with a situation where your protagonist can see these other characters and respect them. Maybe build in some desire in your protagonist to make friends and break out of her shyness. To answer your question though, I have a lot of different protagonists. The current one I'm working with is definitely a loner and that is one of his biggest flaws. He's simply extremely hostile to just about anything that breaths.
I hate to just literally say, "What he said," but what ^he^ said. With my current project, my protagonist has only a few friends, to better allow me to develop them as supporting characters. Everyone else is just an ally or comrade to him. He knows the use of an extra hand, but in a wartime setting, friends are dangerous- losing one can cripple you physically, mentally, and emotionally, but losing a comrade is more of a setback, something that will be overcome as new comrades are found.
@Line and NeedMoreRage: thank you both for great suggestions @JPGriffin: hey, that makes a whole lot of sense. Thank you
When I create the main character, I create a supporting cast around him/her. Once the secondary characters have been created, I classify them into three categories: 1) I would die for you 2) I would leave you behind 3) Judas Iscariot "For only a friend can betray a friend. A stranger has nothing to gain." ~Michael Card Friends in fiction, and in real life, are integral to a person's makeup. Friendless people tend to be moody, distrusting, and somewhat paranoid. Just a few thoughts. ~Mordred
I tend to make my MC a bit different from those surrounding him/her... usually him. It makes him stand out more without making him look cheesy. As for friends, well those who befriend him usually have a big role to play in the plot, they don't just happen by. In my newest story, the MC is a solitary, indifferent and uncaring person. He had some trauma in his youth that made him feel nothing for others, so I had to make those who befriend him have a very important reason to stick with him. It depends on what your MC needs, do they need friends or not? Can the story move on and develop with/out them or not? That's what I ask myself.
I've written a tiny bit on a somewhat similar character, that is to say, a character in a similar position. I haven't gotten all that far on this particular character's story, but it seems to me that from time to time we may end up with "companions" out of necessity, without actually choosing them.
There's this one story I'm working on where the protagonist has a bunch of friends (like seven). They're all regular characters that last throughout pretty much the whole story. I only kill off like two. & they all work together, as well. So conflict can derive from their partnership. Gives me something else to write about.
I don't usually write about people who are messed up like that... my latest MC is sort of like a policewoman/ninja, so her friends are her comrades, until she fakes her death; then she's mostly friendless for a while until she can come back to life. The MC before that ran away from her owner (she was a slave) and met three other kids who had run away and fell in love with them... yeah, my protagonists usually have friends. But I don't know what I'd do in your situation. I'd suggest some other people who have similar problems, unless that messes up your plot, or someone who's her polar opposite, such that they're strangely drawn to each other...
