When Minor Becomes Major

If minor characters show signs of becoming major characters, you at least give them a shot at it because in the world of fiction it may take many pages before you find out who the major characters really are just as in the real world it may take you many years to find out that the stranger you talked to for a half an hour once in a railway station may have done more to point you to where your true homeland lies than your closest friend or your psychiatrist.

- Frederick Buechner on writing fiction, from "Secrets in the Dark"