Kathrine Plumber from Newsies: Why Side Characters Matter

Side characters can seem like more trouble than they’re worth. After all, we’ve talked over and over again on the blog about how a well-rounded, truly relatable protagonist will draw in just about anyone. There’s something magnetic about characters with goals, desires, and fears that makes readers unable to put your book down. It’s those motivations and internal conflict that make a protagonist truly compelling to just about anyone.

As powerful as those elements are, they can seem to make side characters obsolete. If you draw in nearly everyone with your protagonist, why even bother with other characters? Or, at least if they exist, can’t they be somewhat one-dimensional and simple, to let your protagonist’s true power shine?

In one sense, the answer is yes. Protagonist-centered stories can be just as compelling and powerful as those with a wide cast of fully-developed characters. We discussed this in an article last summer, and so don’t feel like you have to flesh out every character. 

But today I want to look at the unique power that side-characters have — and the advantages you forgo when you write a protagonist-centered story. So here to make the case for well-developed side characters is the love interest and supporting character from the Broadway musical Newsies, Kathrine Plumber.

Newsies: The Musical

Jack Kelly is a teenage orphan selling newspapers to a bustling New York City in 1899. Every day he and his fellow newspaper salesmen — or “newsies” — hit the streets of New York with papers they buy from the publishers at a discounted price. But unlike the newsies around him, Jack has dreams of leaving the city behind and striking out on his own, to a place where he isn’t stifled by overbearing skyscrapers and demanding publishers. He wants the sort of community he’s caught whispers of coming from small towns out West and farming villages.

But he needs money to get there.

Unfortunately for him, Pulitzer, the publishing company he and the other newsies buy papers from, is raising their prices, meaning the newsies will have to sell more papers each day to break even, let alone have enough to support themselves or save for a better life. 

Outraged by the increase and inspired by the strikes they’ve read about on the front cover of the papers they sell every day, the newsies decide to strike. Without boys to sell them, Pulitzer can’t pay for the papers they print, and they’ll be forced to bow to their demands. Jack finds himself as the face of the new movement as they search for support from the other newsies around New York City. If even a few of them accept Pulitzer’s terms and continue selling papers, the strike will fail and Jack and the others will be forced to give in.

They desperately need to spread the word about their strike and rally the other burrows to fight back against Pulitzer — together.

And that’s where Kathrine Plumber comes in.

She’s a young journalist used to reviewing operas and writing short columns for the newspaper, but smells a bigger scoop in Jack’s strike. Jack sees his opportunity, and she soon becomes the boys’ voice directly into the newspapers themselves. Quickly they’re the ones making headlines and front covers, and the publicity is enough to rally the support of both the other burrows and the general public.

With Kathrine’s voice, the boys might finally stand a chance at succeeding.

Katherine Plumber

Newsies opens as a protagonist-focused story. When Kathrine is introduced we only see her in the audience of an opera, taking notes for her next column. She seems unimportant and unlikely to be much more than a background character with a few interesting traits and quippy lines, but lacking the internal conflict and character development we see in Jack.

But all of that changes with her solo number “Watch What Happens.” There, we see her alone for the first time, and hear her inner monologue as she writes out her very first story about the newsie strike. She struggles with her wording, pacing, and characterization, but as she voices these struggles, they gradually grow into questions about the larger conflicts surrounding her role in the strike, her workplace, and the world.

She’s underestimated in the newsroom, both because of her age and gender. She loves writing with a passion and is doing everything she can to prove herself, but even then she’s mostly consigned to writing short columns reviewing trivial books and comedy acts that anyone could go see or read for themselves. She longs to be in the center of the action, and the heart of the change she senses swirling around the world as masses rise up against exploitation. Her whole life, she’s wanted to write to change the world — she wants to stir good people to take charge, prompt leaders to make change, and revolutionize the whole world and culture into something better than what they have now. 

Suddenly, Jack’s struggle becomes about more than just himself. It also determines the fate of a girl with a gift for words and a passion for using them to do good. The conflict around the newsie strike becomes multilayered as a new perspective — nearly as powerful and compelling as the first — joins Jack’s and accentuates the conflict from a new angle.

And that’s what makes side characters like Kathrine so powerful.

The Power of Side Characters

Jack is — technically — the ideal protagonist. He’s unique, memorable, and incredibly compelling because he has a clear and relatable desire. Although he has flaws and failings, he ultimately wants to do good and make life better for the people around him. He rallies the audience along with him to overcome their flaws and improve the lives of others. 

But despite all of this, Kathrine Plumber still brought something absolutely crucial to the musical through her introduction. Because as much as I relate to Jack’s desire (and as objectively well-written he is as a character) Kathrine drew me into the story in ways that Jack simply couldn’t.

She’s a writer after all, and a girl my age. She wants desperately to make the world a better place with her writing — to do more than just type away new columns that anyone could write when she knows the power of the pen can change a world she sees is hurting. 

And that desire strikes deeper for me than Jack’s did. 

The truth is, no matter how well written your protagonist is, each of your readers are going to bring personal preferences to each book that you can’t help. Some of them are more superficial — like their gender or career — but some of them are far deeper. Someone who struggles with addressing conflict will naturally be drawn to your character who is a peacemaker to a fault. Your reader who tends to come across as brash and aggressive will relate to a side character who struggles with anger. Free spirits will love the nature of your more spontaneous characters, while planners will appreciate the foresight of your more intentional ones.

And there’s nothing you can do about that.

Don’t get me wrong, a well-written character will truly appeal to any reader.

But side characters bring a special dimension to a story than you get with just a protagonist. They allow writers the freedom to explore new aspects of their theme and story, as well as new character traits or personalities without the weight of an entire story resting on the protagonist’s shoulders. Alienating a large portion of your readerbase simply isn’t a risk most authors are able to take with their protagonists. But an unlikeable side character often won’t force a reader to put a book down, and for that reason many authors have far more freedom when designing their protagonist’s friends and allies.

Some of literature’s most vibrant, interesting characters have been side-characters, with technically “less important” plots or not as prevalent themes. But it was because of that fact that writers were able to create more interesting, vibrant characters. The weight of responsibility wasn’t on them to carry an entire story, and it is for that reason that they were able to be more creative and loud.

Not everyone’s going to instantly relate to a character because they’re a writer. In fact, most readers won’t. But that’s part of why having a wide range of different, fully fleshed-out characters can be so powerful. It’s like casting a wide net to draw in a greater volume of readers with your cast of characters. With each new character, you widen the scope of that net and appeal to a new section of your audience in an especially poignant way.

Don’t get me wrong, you can’t cover every personal preference and appeal to every character, and you really shouldn’t try. You’ll end up overextending yourself and appealing to no one, rather than drawing in a specific but devoted audience. I have an article already written about how to handle less-developed side characters, and how you can still make them interesting and compelling without overwhelming your reader with dozens of well-rounded characters to keep track of.

But don’t underestimate the power of your side characters. Even if they don’t get as much screen time as your protagonist or your main character is already as compelling and relatable as possible, that doesn’t mean your side characters are useless. Each one holds the power to draw in a new audience and display your setting, plot, and theme from a brand-new and refreshing perspective. Start looking at your side characters as new opportunities, and they can deliver an impact as great as your protagonist.

Let us know in the comments:

What side characters have you related to more than the protagonist?