The Trick To Creating A Compelling Supporting Character
Analysis of "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown
📖 The Da Vinci Code is the definition of a page-turner.
💰 Dan Brown’s second installment in his Robert Langdon thriller series became a global sensation when published in 2003. It’s one of the best-selling books of all time.
✍️ I studied The Da Vinci Code and discovered the page-turning techniques that you can apply to your own writing.
My analysis is broken into five posts:
Part 1: How to hook readers BEFORE your first sentence
Part 2: Why you should start in the middle
Part 3: The trick to creating a compelling supporting character
Part 4: The power of short chapters
Here is Part 3:
Supporting characters are often left in the shadow of the protagonist.
It can seem like they’re only there to provide exposition or fill some other superficial role. They’re boring.
Dan Brown doesn’t commit this error in The Da Vinci Code.
The main supporting character is a cryptologist named Sophie Neveu. She joins the lead character, Robert Langdon, on the search for answers to the story’s mystery.
Dan Brown keeps the reader interested in Sophie as much as any other element of the gripping narrative.
How does he do this?
By giving her a secret.
Unlike the previous two parts of this analysis, we’re going to get into spoilers.
The Robert Langdon books have a particular formula:
Robert Langdon + Beautiful Woman + Conspiracy = Book
Throughout the entire series, Dan Brown elevates the supporting role of “beautiful woman” by giving them each a brain:
Angels and Demons: Vittoria Vetra —> Scientist
The Da Vinci Code: Sophie Neveu —> Cryptologist
The Lost Symbol: Katherine Solomon —> Scientist
Inferno: Sienna Brooks —> Medical Student
Origin: Ambra Videl —> Museum Curator
Their particular field of expertise is always relevant to the mystery at play in each book, so they have lots to do.
Focusing on The Da Vinci Code, Sophie Neveu has a secret that makes her extra compelling.
We learn fairly quickly that she is the granddaughter of the murder victim that the story revolves around, Jacques Saunière.
However, they haven’t spoken in years.
The secret reason why they haven’t spoken in so long is dangled like a carrot in front of the reader for a large portion of the book.
It is repeatedly mentioned until the truth is finally revealed, with each mention revealing more and more of the secret backstory.
These passages often end with lines like, ‘Sophie couldn’t bear to think about it any longer.’ The subject is changed and the reader is left burning for answers.
Giving your supporting character a secret has two effects:
Readers want to keep reading to discover the answers.
Readers study the nuances of the character’s dialogue and actions to see if they can discover any clues.
This storytelling trick increases reader engagement overall and is another reason why The Da Vinci Code is such a page-turner.
Continue reading the other parts of The Da Vinci Code analysis:
Part 1: How to hook readers BEFORE your first sentence
Part 2: Why you should start in the middle
Part 3: The trick to creating a compelling supporting character
Part 4: The power of short chapters
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