After spending a year plotting a story, I've decided I could easily write about my characters adventures over a series of books. Each story will be unique but I want to build a 'bigger' plot if you get my meaning. My problem is this - part of the bigger plot involves characters that are very minor in the first story. I was considering just leaving them out of the first one and writing them in when appropriate but I felt it added to one of my main characters story just by having them in the background. anyone any opinions on this?
I'm planning on writing a series, and some major characters in later books are (or will be, rather) minor characters in the first one. I think that this is a good idea, because at least the readers will be a little more familiar with the character, and you can flesh out their personality and backstories in the later books.
Keep the "minor" characters in the early stories. They are still developing, and when their stories rise to the fore, your readers will alredy recognise them, maybe even have some attachment to them. "Why, I knew him back when he was only..."
I agree with the others; keep them in the first story, even if they're just in the background. I notice that characters that I place in the background often take on a life of their own in later stories, and I find the thought intriguing that "Wow, this person was just a nobody way back then! Who knew they'd be such a major character later on?" Having minor characters at least mentioned early on serves as a type of foreshadowing for later works, and the minor characters thus fit in much better later on. A bonus is that, even if they're in the background, you're developing them as characters already.
Especially if, in the few times they do appear as minor characters, you make them very interesting as characters and make the readers think, "I wish that guy was in the story more."
