Knowing your Main from your Sub?

Main Characters & Sub Characters
In a collaborative storytelling environment the basic elements are often internalized in our characters, as it is through them that we add to our never-ending story. Our protagonists and antagonists allow us to weave our tale, but a story cannot exist upon main characters alone. If every scene was solely dominated by the same characters our story would only be an ego-maniacal dialogue, doomed to stagnate, thus we require sub-characters to externalize our main roles and reflect the world that we create. They are essential to perpetuate a story!

Recognize the terms Non-player character, Sub-character and Community-character. Essentially a NPC and comm-character are the same thing, they are sub-characters that any writer can openly manipulate so long as they adhere to the condition of keeping them in the persona of which they were first introduced. This is simply a common courtesy to your fellow writers and the story, as we must always strive to be as consistent as possible.

When one submits a sub-character please advise your fellow writers whether or not they are a personal sub-character or not. We recognize that a writer may wish to retain sole control of their sub-characters, but realize that it is your responsibility then to ensure that they are properly controlled. Sub-characters are living, breathing entities and one cannot expect them to be the private entourage of a main character, you must be prepared to have them at one time or another, interact with all other characters within the story. A story at least requires a few comm-characters, otherwise we are creating a fixed landscape reliant upon, at times, a single writer. One who is attempting to successfully create interaction not only between their main characters but also an array of sub-characters in order to keep the story going. Eventually, this house of cards will collapse unless other writers take command of the sub-characters and add there own spin to the plot as they see it unfolding. This is true collaborative writing. Sub-characters should be the vines in a vast jungle allowing one to traverse the bottomless pits of stagnation which we are ever writing to avoid. If a writer has not listed their sub-character as PERSONAL, then please utilize that body to create cohesiveness in the story. It is far easier to assume that all sub-characters are community characters rather than vica versa, since personal sub-characters should always be listed, where community characters need not be since their existence could be very short lived.

Now that we are clear on what is expected of writers in regards to sub-characters we must address those duties involved in properly writing a main character. One may consider this needless but the fact is that some writers in a FREE FORM collaborative setting do in fact compose their main character more like a sub-character. Instead of adding to the story they consistently tag along, simply responding rather then elaborating. Some embellishment or historical addition is always required for without it your main character is more or less being portrayed as a sub. They are building on to their own character but offering nothing to the story, which can be viewed, more or less as a selfish form of writing. The repercussions of this is that other writers, either intentionally or unintentionally, will instinctively treat your main character like a sub-character by not attempting to pull them along in the story. Once again, collaborative story-telling is not play-by-post role playing where a moderator will guide you along, it is free-form (although some stories are otherwise, such as a semi-directed style) and you have to row along with everyone else. If you don't the boat will eventually lose momentum and before it stops you will most likely be set a drift on your own.