Writing From NPC to MC?

[Eldoria]

From NPC to MC?​

Have you ever written a character who accidentally grew into a protagonist?

I mean, maybe you initially wrote a character as a sidekick, an NPC, etc. But the organic development of the narrative allowed that character to receive a lot of attention in the story's conflicts.

So a character slowly grew into a character who wasn't just a plot device, but a character who drove the plot and resolved conflicts across multiple arcs. In other words, she/he grew into an organic protagonist (MC).

 

[whitesculptor]

That could be a subtle way to write a villain. ?

 

[Little-Moon]

Yes....my MCs chilhood friends at this point in more then one way.

 

[CinnaSloth]

I have a character (unpublished) who was just supposed to be the wise, old warrior architype who settles down to be a peaceful, old inn keeper.
But I liked him so much I gave him a bigger role as village chief (still the inn keep), and occasional comrade if my MCs seem too inexperienced for missions on their own. He's like the adopted papa of the crew! -And he hates it!! He's just a little Tsun-Tsun. ~<3

That could be a subtle way to write a villain. ?

(How do they know about my unpublished story?!)

Nothing to see here! M-move along.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Well, in an ensemble/team book, yes. Had planned out four main characters, but one of them had a live-in girlfriend who they just kept meeting in passing. She was a nurse who worked nights and seemed like "Sir Not Appearing in this Story" until she suddenly decided she had to be thefifth member of their group and even edged her fiancée out of a few scenes as a result

 

[Golden_Hyde]

From NPC to MC?​

Have you ever written a character who accidentally grew into a protagonist?

I mean, maybe you initially wrote a character as a sidekick, an NPC, etc. But the organic development of the narrative allowed that character to receive a lot of attention in the story's conflicts.

So a character slowly grew into a character who wasn't just a plot device, but a character who drove the plot and resolved conflicts across multiple arcs. In other words, she/he grew into an organic protagonist (MC).

Never written one, but I've seen the trend a couple years ago where the protagonist is supposed to be a "mob" in, say, a game world or a novel world, basically any typical isekai where our unlucky Japanese guy/girl got reincarnated as a nobody/background character/extra (in Korean WNs)

And as everyone here might expect, through sheer will and plot armor, our protagonist manages to outclass the world's protagonist by a long shot

 

[Eldoria]

Never written one, but I've seen the trend a couple years ago where the protagonist is supposed to be a "mob" in, say, a game world or a novel world, basically any typical isekai where our unlucky Japanese guy/girl got reincarnated as a nobody/background character/extra (in Korean WNs)

And as everyone here might expect, through sheer will and plot armor, our protagonist manages to outclass the world's protagonist by a long shot

I can say that novel titles with the embellishments "NPC," side characters, cannon fodder, etc; they are the protagonists of the story from the beginning. Even though the author calls them NPCs, the POV and the story's conflict revolve around them. It's clear they weren't NPCs from the start, they were protagonists in the author's narrative.

Because being a protagonist means being the POV and the center of the narrative (driving the plot). Protagonists who claim to be NPCs are clearly fabricated narratives, misunderstanding the definition of protagonist. That's not what I mean by NPC to MC.

My example is perhaps closer to Zuko (Avatar). Look, he was initially depicted as a villain with human motivations (restoring honor), but the narrative development changed his role from villain to alternative protagonist. By the end of the story, he even gets a deep portion of the story. This is what I call an organic MC.

 

[Golden_Hyde]

Protagonists who claim to be NPCs are clearly fabricated narratives, misunderstanding the definition of protagonist. That's not what I mean by NPC to MC.

This is closer to how Cid plays himself in KageJitsu, though there are works that made this particular protagonist stays out of the other world's protagonist (i.e Leon Fou Bartfort from Trapped in a Dating Sim initially do maintain his status as a mob, though one can argue that his status as a mob is immediately compromised halfway through first arc)

My example is perhaps closer to Zuko (Avatar). Look, he was initially depicted as a villain with human motivations (restoring honor), but the narrative development changed his role from villain to alternative protagonist. By the end of the story, he even gets a deep portion of the story. This is what I call an organic MC.

This is not really a good example. Zuko is initially a villain who really want to prove himself by apprehending Aang, until things hit the fan within the Fire Nation and Zuko immediately went out. His "protagonist" status only started in the 4th "book", but even then, the whole thing revolves around Aang and Zuko is at best just a main character among other main characters (particularly Katara)

Though, as I backtracked to the question you've said, I can't think of the example others out there had done before.

 

[Eldoria]

This is closer to how Cid plays himself in KageJitsu, though there are works that made this particular protagonist stays out of the other world's protagonist (i.e Leon Fou Bartfort from Trapped in a Dating Sim initially do maintain his status as a mob, though one can argue that his status as a mob is immediately compromised halfway through first arc)

This is not really a good example. Zuko is initially a villain who really want to prove himself by apprehending Aang, until things hit the fan within the Fire Nation and Zuko immediately went out. His "protagonist" status only started in the 4th "book", but even then, the whole thing revolves around Aang and Zuko is at best just a main character among other main characters (particularly Katara)

Though, as I backtracked to the question you've said, I can't think of the example others out there had done before.

In Cid's case, he's actually a protagonist disguised as an NPC. He's still the protagonist of the novel. To distinguish between a protagonist and a supporting character, as I explained, they usually act as POVs (who frequently appear in the narrative) and drive the plot (triggering and resolving the story's conflict).

Well, Zuko's example is a bit problematic. Instead of being an NPC to the MC, he's more accurately called "from an antagonist to the protagonist."

Meanwhile, novels with gimmicky mobs, NPCs, and cannon fodder, I would say they are 100% protagonists of the narrative. Look! From the reader's perspective, these characters act as POVs and drive the plot. If they were purely NPCs, they would be nothing more than unmentionable background characters.

How can you write a character who's merely a plot device and has no impact on the story's conflict? I can't imagine it; it would just be a descriptive story about worldbuilding without conflict and without POV. It seems authors also need to understand the definition of protagonist further before giving the title NPC a story that's actually a protagonist pretending to be an NPC.

 

[Jerynboe]

Closest I’ve done so far is Filli, who joined my MCs team while he was in the slave pits. She’s a mutant slave soldier, kidnapped as a child and forced to serve as a guard and warrior for a dark elf noble house. She’s about 7 feet tall and 400 pounds of muscle, capable of shrugging off bullets. She’s also a sweety, both gentle and polite, and comes off as incredibly socially awkward when she speaks (in sign language due to her tongue being cut out).

I also rolled randomly to see what her mental stats are (it’s a ttrpg derived fic and she was a minor character intended to be important for like one arc). She rolled near maximum for intelligence, wisdom, and charisma.

She was so cute and sympathetic to my readers that I decided to keep her around, and had a thought. What would a socially stunted genius with the physical strength necessary to overpower 99.9% of people easily do for someone she platonically loves? Eliminate problems for him.

She’s been systematically murdering people that are legitimately dangerous antagonists for my MC that he was not inclined to kill for various (mostly “modern person who isn’t a psychopath”) reasons, because she doesn’t see why he didn’t and assumed it was for PR reasons. It took him forever to realize because he had the same blind spot as my readers. Cute personality, needs hug, needs help -> infantalize.

She’s still not a main character but she’s gotten several POV chapters at this point and is firmly in B tier, with the current arc’s b plot revolving around her to some degree.

 

[MFontana]

From NPC to MC?​

Have you ever written a character who accidentally grew into a protagonist?

I mean, maybe you initially wrote a character as a sidekick, an NPC, etc. But the organic development of the narrative allowed that character to receive a lot of attention in the story's conflicts.

So a character slowly grew into a character who wasn't just a plot device, but a character who drove the plot and resolved conflicts across multiple arcs. In other words, she/he grew into an organic protagonist (MC).

In my first story, the protagonist's intended love-interest went on to become the protagonist of her own parallel story (which admittedly was significantly better than the original)

There were also a few fan-fiction projects where the side-kick went on to be the favorite character, and was dubbed a "chaos-gremlin" (for those who had read what I shared) though I'm not quite sure if she counts here.

 

[ConansWitchBaby]

The [Last Will] was going to be a throwaway zombie being used as a mule. For some early story comedic purposes. A random animated object for the MC to be able to air his grievances to while isolated from the rest of the world. He was going to be removed and cast off during the first "serious stakes" fight. Shame that I gave him a bit too much of a backstory as to why he became a special zombie.

Short version, he defended the caravan that ultimately perished to the bitter end. His death gave him a unique skill that forced emotions to physically manifest. Not too bad of a power, bit lame even, but it goes into overdrive forcing other undead that can feel nothing to have unique effects. The first and only one I managed to write before dumping the story was an acidic haze formed from tears that behaved as an aoe damage and localized healing for the undead. My own spin on sacred/consecrated fire but with a death magic flare. To tie in with his own languishing of having not been enough in the end to help those he cared about.

 

[Zagaroth]

Yes, one of my secondary characters is now going to be the MC of the second half of the serial. It *could* be run as a separate series, which I had been thinking about, but after consideration, I believe it is going to work better to just let the two sections flow into each other. There is no point where one has to officially end and the next begin — the threads of mystery and unknown antagonists have already been woven into the current part.

 

[CountVanBadger]

From NPC to MC?

That's pretty much the plot of XNPC summed up in four words.

 

[Sylver]

Yes.

Janette, full name J'nette Olav Cicarrio. She was an NPC written as a positive interaction in the story. Monster girls aren't welcome, people scream on sight and soldiers hunt them down or capture them.
She's a shopkeeper who helped hide the Monster Girl MC. Her scene was brief but I enjoyed the way she played off the two protagonist that I brought her back for another scene. And she stuck around and gradually became the fourth member of the main cast and one of my favorite characters to write :)