Lillian Blue's Blog: The Blue Print - Posts Tagged "secondarycharacters"

When I was writing Command My Heart, it was always in the plan to have Boss and Noon as the main characters. Based loosely on some Thai BL actors and images I had found of them online, my story was inspired by a singular image of these two actors in military-esque regalia. It was easy to plan for Boss and Noon, but I didn’t want the world to be that small. Everyone has friends, meets new people, and life moves around them. I didn’t want them to become this pair who only saw each other, and the world faded away in the background.

I knew that I wanted to have secondary characters. The first one to come to mind was Pan. I wanted to have this happy-go-lucky ray of sunshine type character that also, like Noon, didn’t fit in the military environment they were placed in. Unlike Noon, Pan had volunteered for his military service early to get it out of the way so he was just happy to be getting it over with.

Initially, Pan seemed like he would be a fairly simple, basic side character. He was there to be Noon’s friend and to help him have someone to talk to and vent with as he began to fall for Boss. Yet, Noon wouldn’t stay in his lane, he was consistently pushing out and finding his voice. His character's voice was loud and proud. During the scene where he gets drunk at the bonfire, Pan truly steps into the role of a full-on character. He was someone who had a bit of a story, not a lot of trauma, but he had something to give to the story that was more than just a back-up character.

This was a similar case with Dark. Dark was created to initially be another friend of Noon, someone who was a bit more serious and who would be able to ground Noon and Pan, who were much more extroverted. Dark, too, ended up having this enigmatic flare that wouldn’t stop coming up in full force. Pairing him and Pan together was initially to be something minor and small; it was supposed to just be this simple moment and not the foundation of what was to come. Yet, both of them couldn’t stop coming up in my mind.

Consistently, I found myself drawn to Pan and Dark. Their story began to be equally as important as Noon and Boss’ because they had their own life to tell. As I write, I enjoy separating the main story of Boss and Noon and the special story, which covers Pan and Dark. However, I found that as I gave more time and let Pan and Dark tell their stories, they became fully second male leads. Boss and Noon were most definitely the main leads in this series, but Dark and Pan were standing right there beside them.

Even though I had initially planned for them to be just background characters, Dark and Pan would not allow such. This also helped me flesh out so much of the world outside of Boss and Noon. Dark and Pan experienced parts of life that Boss and Noon didn’t, and vice versa. The world was much more fleshed out, and Dark’s past and family dynamic came to light through writing and continues to develop even in the second book, which should be publishing soon.

Let me know in the comments if you have any questions about Pan and Dark! I would love an opportunity to talk more about my characters and their book!