Overarching plots; a supporting character's life story

In my novel series (which if I write everything I've outlined will be five books) I planned on using a single character's life story as the anchoring point for all the books.

Here's the thing though; in each of the books, he's not the main character.

My thought; I wanted to tell a realistic, convincing life story. However, those can be boring to read as people like their tales more concise and less random than real life is. I thought that if I placed the character in a supporting role in the stories, having his tale be more like "real life" would be easier to digest and more interesting.

In essence, he's the central character in the series, just not in any one book.

I'm not going to ask "is this a good idea" because there's no way anyone could answer that without climbing into my skull; as yet, the books remain outlined but unwritten. I guess I'm asking for general advice on the concept and whether its been done before successfully - or not.

Hell, anyone want to weigh in at all?

For the life of me, I cannot think of a single time I've seen this.

Which means, if you can pull it off well, we may just have a new common writing style. You should be proud of your endeavor.

I have, however, seen examples that have very pronounced and deep supporting characters. And some stories have multiple main characters(Baccano), which can become confusing and messy, the reason I'm still on episode 5.

Are all the books in the series going at the same timme, or spread over a time period?

Both would work differently.

@Cygian: They're spread over a roughly 30-year time frame; said supporting character begins at 16 and ends up in his forties. The main characters are his family, people he meets, the woman who eventually becomes his wife, and one of his adopted children.

EDIT: Oh, and a woman he might have married, if she hadn't been tortured and killed horribly.

edited 1st Dec '10 10:00:34 PM by drunkscriblerian

So, essentially, your series are a set of book-long Day in the Limelight without the original story being written?

Sounds awesome

@Cygian: Glad you think so. I was even planning on releasing them out of order, for the following reason...

some of the parts are just plain depressing. If told in chronological order, two Downer Endings in a row would likely turn a reader off to the series. BUT, if the events in the "past" were hinted at but NOT explained in "future" novels and then the story was told, IMO people would be more "Oh, that's what happened, now I understand" instead of "wow, that's just damn depressing."

Thoughts on that?

Hmmm... You'll have to be careful with the amount of hints to past events yo sprinkle. Too little, and people may miss them and think that they've missed sommething; too many, and people will think 'that's it, I don't know what's going on, I give up'.

Also; if you don't mind Foregone Conclusions, you could have a lot of fun with that one. Are you particlarly averse to the thoght of Foregone Conclusions?

Forgone Conclusions: Explain what you mean by that.

And yes, I recognize the challenge of giving a reader just enough to tantalize but not enough to infuriate.

We have a trope for it: Foregone Conclusion.

Or, in other words; you can say that, say, Melanie, dies, in one of your later books. Then, when you go back and write a book from Melanie's perspective, we know that Melanie dies. And from there, yo can try and build tension, even with the end already revealed.

Ah. I see what you mean.

In this case its more of a Noodle Incident; in the story first released, the character has a bad rep for something he supposedly did (the audience gets enough details - it involves a young girl killed horribly and possible rape - to know that yes, this is nasty) and people shy away from him because of it. Near the end it is revealed that there's some question as to whether or not he's actually guilty.

My notion? His love interest finally asks the obvious question of "did you or didn't you?" His response is that she doesn't need to know, because they've already been through hell and back and she knows him well enough to decide if he's guilty or not. The quote is "I'm not an evil man...and you either believe that, or you don't."

In the end, she believes him...but it takes a while.

EDIT: and then I tell the story of what actually happened.

edited 1st Dec '10 11:16:42 PM by drunkscriblerian

It will be interesting, IMO, to see varios viewpoints of the samme character, throughout varios points.

Plus, seeing the character development throughout varios peoples eyes really leaves you qestioning the character. Makes you think if done well.

I hope I can pull it off. The series is supposed to be about choice and the places it takes us; how the morality of the moment can be twisted by perception and popular opinion. We all make decisions without all the facts every day; how many of those do we look back on later and regret?

And how many people do we judge harshly at face value, before finding out a crucial piece of information and feel stupid for doing so?

Hope I can pull it off without being preachy. If I do, you'll know.

I hope yo pll it off, it sounds really good :)

Im not sur theres anything left for me to say, thogh. It sonds like yo have it all worke out.

Remember to make sure to portray how the same person can look very different from different perspectives. Different people will highlight and react to different traits, and will interpret certain things differently. Furthermore, because they treat him differently, he'll behave differently towards each of them. Add that to how he grows with age - it'll be tricky to do well. Good luck.