I need advice

[SirDogeTheFirst]

Hello, I am writing a battle-academia/protect Earth from space monsters-type story. I have written several chapters focused on the main character and given details about him and how he entered the academy, but I need advice for introducing other team members. A small detail: Mc doesn't meet with other team members inside the school, but rather, he recruits them during the period between the end of entrance exams and the start of the first year.

Currently, I have one chapter for each team member with similar patterns that goes like this: Mc goes to the team member's country, meets with them, talks to them about the team, the benefits of academia, etc., and persuades them to join him, using different methods for each character, like a show of strength, wealth, or intellect, and finally recruits them, but, this caused side characters to look like nothing more than named NPCs. I want to flesh out those side characters earlier since the team getting used to each other will be an essential part of the early story, and I want readers to value those characters more.

So, to do that, should I write one or two chapters from those side characters' eyes and give readers a piece of their story before they meet the mc to make readers get more used to them, or do you think occasional perspective changes and long dialogs throughout the story will be enough to flesh them out since giving too much time on side characters might slow progression and bore the reader?

And I already know making interesting side characters is hard, especially for an inexperienced writer like me. To help myself, can I have your recommendations for books with good side character development? Be it on this site or be it a hardcover book.

 

[Syringe]

I think gradually fleshing them out along the way is the better call. People are interested in the MC, but you can turn those side characters into just as interesting characters either along the way or straight away. One cheat method is using a character archetype that's popular, or have them immediately stand out.

Could be their manner of speech, how different they are compared to the MC/world, how they bounce off the MC, how they conflict with the MC, appearance - you can combine these to bring interest into the side characters superficially, and then flesh them out along the way as to not trudge on backstories of characters we barely know so early on. That way, when we're used to them, we'll start to want and care about their backstories, why they act the way they do, etc.

I don't think I've ever written a character that the MC introduces directly that they already didn't know. Rather, it's the characters themselves that does the introduction (i.e, they're the ones who enter the scene and shed light on themselves whether by action, dialogue, conflict, etc). I think it feels more natural that way, but you could introduce them via a formal report or background check considering the context of your story seems to have some sort of military stuff.

Kind of like what Limbus Company does with their Sinners.

 

[Bobple]

What Syringe said

Honestly, the "getting used to each other will be an essential part of the early story" sounds like lot of fun, in getting to know and slowly value the cast.

I do say have at least one arc or story point for each member of the team, just have them be important for the arc for a physical, emotional, familial or etc reason. This is a very long term thing, but you could have hints to could what leads into it (this is easier if its an emotional or familial problem) in the earlier parts.

 

[ACertainPassingUser]

You need advise, here :

advise

?
There you go