6 tips for writing believable fictional friendships
BY Caroline Day
13th Mar 2024
Caroline Day was a student on our three-month Writing Your Novel course (London) in 2016. Her debut novel Hope Nicely's Lessons for Life was published by Zaffre (Bonnier Books) in 2021 and became a Sunday Times Bestseller. Her second novel Small Acts of Kindness is out on 14 Mar 2024.
Here she shares six tips for writing believable fictional friendships.
In fiction, as in life, you can tell a lot about a person from their friends. Small Acts of Kindness brings together three very different people: Kiki, a New-Zealander who grew up dreaming of going to Glastonbury Festival, recently-widowed Mrs Malley, and Ned, who lives an active, exciting life - or did, until the accident. 'Friendship can bloom in the unlikeliest of places' … the cover’s strapline says.
Friends in first person fiction
Friendship is a primary plot driver in Small Acts of Kindness. It also provides an important tool in a first person narrative, told from the alternating points of view of its main characters, in terms of how much the writing can convey outside of their own immediate experiences. Friendships provide depth, dimension, back story and an alternative perspective.
Ned, is in hospital following a football accident. He is aware of everything around him, but because he cannot make his body respond, nobody realises he’s conscious. His friend, Toby, visits.
- After I came by last time, I said to Hil, “Goodness Hil, lots of people get cold feet before their wedding, but it’s a bit extreme to go and put yourself into a bloody coma”.
Yet more laughter, though only from Toby, evidently. You know I’m joking, don’t you, mate. Because, seriously, it’s good to see that tube out of your mouth, and your eyes open again. We’ll be out for a few pints any day now, Ned, mate. More than a few, I bet.
And then, just as I’m waiting for more laughter, Toby bursts into tears.
Mary Malley relives conversations with Harriet - the only person who knew how miserable her marriage was (not that Mrs M would admit it). These internal chats show the reader another side to the fastidious persona she herself conveys. After Kiki arrives, Mrs M takes flowers to Harriet’s grave and tells her about:
- …that strange festival girl. Those preposterous Wellingtons and with that handbag looking like an oversized tennis ball on a rope. She was probably on drugs, now I think about it. Although something about her reminded me of you when we were young. Pretty but with a faraway expression.
When Kiki and Ned’s lives coincide, he talks about:
- Call-me-Kiki, with her ‘don’t mean to intrude’ as she plonks herself down on my bed, with her glances, as if she’s expecting to be told to leave at any moment.
Ned, Mrs M and Kiki are an unlikely trio to end up helping each other to rebuild their lives. But fictional friendships can be as unlikely as you wish - so long as your writing makes them believable.
Six tips for writing believable fictional friendships
- Show don’t tell. The first commandment of fiction. Because readers know what a friendship is; they have their own friends. They get it. So avoid unnecessary exposition. Don’t bother your reader with how often your characters have been to the cinema together this month. That’s just showing what a friendship is. An in-joke, or long-standing point of contention will say more about this friendship. Let their actions show relationship progression without labouring it. Less is more.
- Have confidence in the reader. Your reader has made the conscious choice to read your work - they are clearly a person of taste and intelligence. Trust them. If your character says they are thrilled for their friend’s promotion, when actually they are jealous and angry - so long as you know and believe this, your reader will know and believe it too.
- A protagonist’s friend - even a four-legged one- plays an important role. I speak to my dogs in a way I wouldn’t to human friends. This isn’t odd (I hope). If I were a fictional character, this chat to my dogs could tell the reader things that might not be realistic in other dialogue: people tell dogs secrets, dreams and fears. In Small Acts of Kindness, Wordsworth, the naughty basset also moves the plot from the start - his escaping from the garden is how Mrs M first meets Kiki.
- Friends must feel real. Don’t let your fictional friends be place fillers. The reader deserves more than an [insert friend here] whose sole job is to be spoken to by the protagonist. Know them as a character. Talk to them and listen to them. Make them different to the protagonist. Allow them quirks and eccentricities (don’t feel you need to share them all).
- Friendship narratives deserve a character arc. I’m a fan of a love story - which Small Acts of Kindness is. But it’s also a friendship story, which also needs a narrative arc. Two people meet, hit it off immediately, and are best friends ever after is sweet - but has zero narrative interest - no more so than two people fall in love and are happy ever after, without ever once arguing whose turn it is to do the laundry. Have conflict and jeopardy. This friendship must lead to some form of change if it’s to be centre stage.
- Dialogue is key. I love dialogue. I love writing it and reading it. Dialogue - if done right - gives us character and colour and moves on the plot. Well written dialogue - which reflects the rhythms and cadences of real life without trying too hard to mirror it exactly - makes for engaging, exciting and believable friendships.
Hope Nicely’s Lessons for Life and Small Acts of Kindness are out now.
Find Caroline on Twitter/X and on Instagram.
For an in-depth exploration of the different types of relationships you can include in fiction and how you can bring them to life on the page... Join our new four-week online course: Relationships in Fiction – The Deep Dive. With insights from bestselling author Laura Barnett.
Or discover the different ways you can flesh out your protagonist on our four-week online Character Development – The Deep Dive course.
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