A few years ago, Disney released a wonderful movie titled Saving Mr. Banks, which detailed the exhaustive process the creators went through in order to obtain movie rights for the beloved classic, Mary Poppins. The storyline paralleled children’s author P.L. Travers’ experiences working with Disney and his writers with events from her childhood—events that ultimately inspired her books. By the end of the movie, Walt Disney comes to an unexpected conclusion about the seemingly simplistic story of the magical nanny: she isn’t there to save the children, as he initially thought. She is there to save their father, Mr. Banks. The pragmatic, work-oriented head of the household is by no means a main character in the grander scheme of things—yet, out of all the colorful personalities within that story, he is the one who has the most apparent character arc. In retrospect, it seems obvious. But only in retrospect.
Save your own Mr. Banks. Write a story that appears to put the majority of its focus on certain characters—when, in actuality, another character behind the scenes is the one who ends up the most affected by the story’s events. This could be done through wild and whimsical shenanigans, as in Mary Poppins, or you could take a different route. You could make your story eerie, or sad, or it could even appear as a mundane slice of life. Just make sure your chosen “Mr. Banks” is much different at the end of the story from who he was at the start.