Creating Secondary Characters

[Peg Herring]

It isn't easy to make people come alive on a piece of paper. Secondary characters need to act in certain ways to advance the story, but what kind of person does what you need done at a particular spot in the plotline?

The book I'm reading right now has a character who is obtuse and smart-mouthed for no apparent reason, in fact there are good reasons why he would NOT be that way. He's a county sheriff, for one thing, so he should be polite to his citizens for job security. He's trying to solve a murder, and an ex-cop has information that can help, so he should feel at least somewhat kindly toward him. Instead he's downright insulting, and it doesn't work. The reader needs something, somewhere, to explain the guy's animosity.

While I recognize that this author is multi-published and I'm not, I want to make a point on character. The secondary ones need to be right, just like the protagonist. If they aren't the reader is pulled out of the story every time they enter a scene. Unless the sheriff turns out to be the killer and he's trying to throw the protag off his trail...

Maybe I should finish the book before I end this.