A minor character is one who makes one or two appearances in a story, or if he has more appearances, he has no real character growth. He can be anything from the stable boy who tends the horses to the best friend’s brother who has a few comic moments.
Here are things to consider when you have minor characters in a scene.
If all the characters in a scene are minor to the plot, you need to ask yourself whether you need the scene.
If the scene is only there to tell readers something about the main character, then you should move it to a scene that is necessary with characters who are more important.
If the person is familiar to the point-of-view character, very little physical description is needed unless the physical description has importance in the scene.
For example, Jim studies his friends and decides to take Fred with him to meet the bad guy because Fred is built like a linebacker and is good in a physical fight.
However, if it's in the heroine's viewpoint, and she's introduced to the hero's friends, she will pay attention to what they look like and their names so more physical detail is needed.
If the scene needs a waitress who adds nothing to the scene beyond taking the food order, you can use some line like "the waitress took their order and left."
If the hero is flirting with the waitress to make the heroine jealous, then a bit more of a physical description may be needed and a bit more personality if the character flirts back.
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