Kurt Vonnegut famously gave the piece of writing advice that, "Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water." By adhering to this maxim my writing has yielded some interesting and surprising results.
Every minor character passing through the panoply of your story's background will have dreams and desires. Some of these desires may be just as simple as wishing for a drink of cool water and others will be much more complicated. Most of these characters are destined to be just bit players in your drama, but one of the most fun and interesting things about being an author is watching these bit players as they begin to assert themselves and follow their own agenda and desires. It's your job as an author to allow them to assert their independence and follow their own path.
Their own path may lead them right out of the story you are telling or, to your surprise, it may lead right into the story you are telling. What do you do with these hangers-on who are muddying up your story? I say that you let them right in and see where their desires and dreams take them. It may surprise you.
In my own writing, the former cannibal Naegrik inserted himself into the story line of Exiles of the Dire Planet. He started out as a minor character, a Galbran who was hanging in a pesthule larder that Garvey and Ntashia Dire were attempting to escape. He begged for help and though Garvey had just slain hundreds of Galbran in a terrifically bloody battle, he showed mercy upon the unfortunate fellow and that was the moment that Garvey gained one of his best and most loyal friends, who would be with him through the events of Into the Dire Planet, Strange Gods of the Dire Planet, and Lost Tribes of the Dire Planet. I didn't know it at the time.
In my own ignorance of Naegrik's true intentions I thought he might run away at first opportunity, perhaps never to be seen again or perhaps to bring down an enemy Galbran patrol upon Garvey's head at the most inopportune moment. Instead, I let Naegrik dictate it his own actions and it turned out that he had been greatly impressed by Garvey Dire's act of mercy--something he had never seen nor imagined among the Galbran people. It took some time to win over Garvey's wife, who was highly suspicious of Naegrik's motives, and Naegrik has had a great struggle to convince the people of the Muvari Tribe to accept him. Readers have been more quick to accept Naegrik, and a number of them have let me know that Naegrik is one of their favorite characters--not bad for an incidental encounter and a character that thrust himself into the narrative.
Another Dire Planet character that thrust herself into the narrative--to my great surprise and chagrin--is the flame-haired exile Tredia. She was exiled from her own people for crimes against them and took part in the horrific raid upon the Muvari city of Ledgrim. I thought she was completely self-serving with no thought for anyone but herself, and she was ... but being the lone survivor of that raid had given her time to reflect upon the pitiful state of her existence and her evil actions and she attempted to broker a deal with Garvey Dire--not an entirely unselfish action, but it put her on a path to redemption, which seemed to cemented when she helped the Muvari fend off a pesthule invasion in the teeth of a storm. I'm not entirely sure where Tredia's path is taking her in future Dire Planet novels ... I'll let her dictate that.
Non-writers (and even some writers) may read the preceding paragraphs and think I've got a mental screw or two loose, to think that some figment of my imagination should be able to dictate its own fate. They may be right; it takes a special kind of crazy to sit down day after day and gather those figments of imagination together into some sort of coherent story. Yet, writers who adhere too closely to their outlines and who close out the possibilities of incidental characters taking an important role in the narrative are denying themselves some fascinating arcs of character development.
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