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@esmeralda-gramilton

This is a very relatable problem. 😛

I think main characters are the ones that are central to the plot and the most fleshed out by the events of the story. Supporting characters may have complex motivations and personalities, but these are usually developed in relation to the main characters. While supporting characters appear frequently, they probably won’t have any big roles outside of interacting with the main characters. So even though it’s good to think about these characters’ lives outside the main characters, when it comes to actually writing the story, these ‘outside’ parts should probably only get brief mentions.

For me, one way to try to figure this out is to think about the climax of your book. Who are those that actually have any business being involved in that? Now strip away all the ‘smaller’ obstacles and the associated characters who are only there to help/hinder things along. Those that remain should be your main characters (unless they have already died before that).

Since you have a series, you can probably have different characters be the main characters in each book by planning around their character development based on the relevance of the events that occur. So perhaps the main character of your first book can become a supporting character in your second book if their development is mostly done and the focus can be given to the others.