Too many characters in a book

I dont want my characters to be just waiting for something to do. How many characters should you include in your story. When done right, a character s death can break a readers heart, but if done wrong itll just exhaust their patience. Essentially, each character in a scene should create tension in the scene or arc, should shape the way the scene or arc unfolds. When writing a book series, how many characters are too many. The ancient hindu epic mahabharata, part literature and part mythology, defined loads and loads of characters for possibly the first time ever, and then redefined it just for fun. Really, it is all about how you present your characters in the novel as to whether the reader ends up feeling as though there is character overload or not.

The cadfael series eventually extended to thirteen 75minute episodes, all of which starred sir derek jacobi as the sleuthing monk. Nine is possibly too many characters period, depending on the length of the story. Many shorter sections in a row will quicken the tempo, for instance, while longer ones will do the opposite. Not only were there fictional characters on this list, but there were also historical figures who played some role in the story. The number of characters in a novel is probably not a number you can fix. What im trying to say is you can have as many characters as you want, but take heed.

Too many tamales by gary soto, illustrated by ed martinez. High fantasy adventure type stuff is pretty prone to having larger casts, so theres something to be said about reader expectation. There were too many characters and stories to resist the novelist explains how working on bbc radios flagship news programme. Fortunately, i didnt, and im now about 100 pages in. Its also incredibly difficult for authors, being a little like purposefully breaking one of your own toys. While overall im finding it a generally appealing read, if not a bit boring, im starting to become confused with the amount of characters. Sure, many of us answer to more than one name, but in the short space of a novel, theres simply no way of using multiple names for one character. If you had a hard time finding room for all your boxes, thats a red flag you might have too many characters. The number of characters in a scene, and in an arc, however, can be significant. One corpse too many was the first cadfael book to be adapted for television by carlton media for distribution worldwide, in 1994. Dealing with too many characters in novels booksoarus. Mexicanamerican maria tries her mothers wedding ring on while she is making tamales for christmas dinner.

Half were in the first 20% of the book, but she still added another in the last chapter. Its a delicate balancing act to know how much description is too much and how much is too little to get your thoughts. Too many characters is a limit that can be different from person to person. How many is too many is very dependent on the scope of your story, i think. Even eight protagonists and eight antagonists feels like a lot. Guest column march 15, 2016 its the story of two women, a mother and a daughter, who. Does your story have too many characters writing advice duration. Joss whedon is a good example of a writerdirector who thrives with a team dynamic, hene the success of the avengers film. There is nothing more irritating then enjoying a good story and then suddenly becoming confused by many different characters being together in one room, or having to flick back to remember who is who and how they are related to one another. You can then use this awareness to study that character and see what elements you can use in your own writing. If youre writing a short story, then nine is too many main characters. Theres also to what degree someone is a mainish character to consider. I like a lot of talk in a book and i dont like to have.

There are some types of characters that every story must have. One thought on dealing with too many characters in novels rohit gupta january 15, 2014 at 6. If your cast is so ginormous that readers are going to be flipping to the front of the book every few scenes to check your dramatis personae, its a sure sign youve smacked them with more characters than they can handle. Highlights a few of the problems of books with too many characters and. If you saw all the comings and goings of those characters from above, youd think you. A deuteragonist is the secondincommand to your protagonist.

Im just asking is there a limit to how many characters you can have in a book and how many characters are usually in a book. You can have the guy that sells a hot dog at a hot dog stand, but you wont go into depth or detail about him hes just an extra. Do you need help creating a character for your novel. The 5th character is a little iffy for meshes kind of an antagonist character, but shes not evil, so i want her pov to get the readers to empathize with people on all sides of the conflict.

A scene transition takes characters and readers to a new location, a new time, or a new point of view. How and when you choose to kill off a character can make or break a novel. The number of main characters in your story increases the complexity of the story exponentially, as you have to deal with all of the characters and all of their interactions with each other. Each character is important to the end of the story and the new characters are their love interest. This is hard to answer because too many is subjective. How many character perspectives is too many in a novel. Dont include too many main characters because your youll make your reader throw your book down in utter frustration. I remember starting books that had too many characters and often didnt finish them. I write long sagas and interlocking series books spanning many years and generations, so i always have lots of characters and many storylines. There are really 4 core characters in the booktheyre the ones the story centers around, and each of them showcases a different aspect of the world. Ever read a book with so many characters you cant even remember who anyone is.

Three signs that your novel has too many main characters and. I am impressed that you could guess from this what the problem probably is that the writer needs to fix that would get rid of all those characters. It might not be too many characters, but too many characters who are similar in names, characteristics,ect. Her first book had over 100 characters, not to mention named places.

In the story, a girl named maria helps her mother make tamales for the christmas meal. How many characters are in the book number of boxes which characters directly affect your protagonist and which ones dont number of solid lines which characters might be good candidates to combine into one. Id also say that if the book is is romance, there shouldnt be too many main characters, because then messy love triangles can be involved and the story lines. Basically, the problem of too many characters is twosided. When i read a book, i want to get to know the players in an intimate way, but a story with too many characters makes it impossible to connect. There are no budgetary concerns from too many characters. Too many unimportant characters in the house of mirth im currently reading edith whartons the house of mirth for a college course and am on chapter 9. Transitions are important in fiction because the writer cant possibly portray or account for every moment in a character s day, week, or life.

I think its fine as long as its not middlegrade fiction. I have a friend who is writing a second in a series of police mysteries. I once read in a book on writing that the writer should not have more than one character with the same initials. Five main ones, that is, four is a great number for a big epic work, fewer for something more compact.

Books with too many characters to count list challenges. I would say that too many depends on the readers you are aiming for and your ability to develop multiple characters. You some of them are very little roles and some of my characters are killed how in a book. I am writing a book with 5 main characters and one. Knowing what role your characters play in your story helps you to refine your plot, choose your narrative. I suppose zero is too few, but even that can work in a short story ive written one like this, it just cant be sustained. Once youre aware of character type, youll find yourself noticing it more and more in what you read and watch. On one side of the coin, we have the simple pitfall of readers being unable to keep track of who is who.

Each character serves his or her own purpose and contributes to the overall storyline and world. How to write scene transitions in novels the editors blog. A character who is called john one minute, jonathan the next, and mr. You have too many characters, when you are unable to manage them all at one time, without disrupting plot, fluidity, or other characters. My story started with four main characters a family but soon became seven i am worried that there are too many. Even with four books, thats 16 people trying to be the hero, and youll likely end up with 16 different books in one series. My novel revolves around one first person pov protagonist, and has 5 major secondary characters, 3 friends of the protagonist, one love interest, and an exboyfriend, all very important to this story, and i have like 10 minor characters and a lot of walk on characters. For most of the story, its just the five heroes and their wife having wacky adventures. Learn how to write a screenplay the right way with screenwriting expert brad schreiber who breaks down the things bad screenwriters commonly do.

How to choose outstanding multicultural books scholastic. Its also a tale about why its better to tell the truth than to panic and try to cover up a problem. Its important to read each scene and line of dialog to insure theres no chance for your creative intentions to be mistaken. It may be a bit difficult for some ya readers to grasp, but it can be done pretty little liars is a great example. How many characters should a romance book have duration.

I almost put the book down before even getting started. The novel was collected in the omnibus volume kings full of aces, published in 1969 by the viking press. Signs your story has too many characters helping writers. Transitions can also be used to show a character s change in heart or frame of mind. Okay i am writing a novel and i have like 14 characters. I made a list and found out that there were 30 named characters in total.

Books can have many characters, but only one main perspective. I told her it was far too many characters, but she disagreed because she was able to keep them all clear in her head. Then the other characters can be antagonists, family members with conflicting goals, lovers, etc, all of whose actions impact on the four or fewer main story arcs, which should, of course, crisscross and impact on each. Too many cooks is the fifth nero wolfe detective novel by american mystery writer rex stout. Books with too many characters to count show list info. To find out how long should a chapter be, we examined books from a wide variety of genres and eras. I do not read books with too many characters in them. That said, genre word counts do tend to fall within a certain range.

Pierce every now and then is bound to confuse the readers. When the ring is missing, maria is sure it is in one of the tamales, and she and her cousins try to eat their way out of trouble. Of course, dont go too far the other way and become vague about what your characters are feeling. The question around whether a book can have too many characters is an interesting one, and the answer is complex. Too many tamales is a christmas story that features a hispanic family. Which i suspect is something a lot of us ask ourselves at a certain point of writing our stories. The danger of introducing too many characters to your book is that readers end up losing track of them. It also depicts amazing how she manages with every thing. It is often a very hard decision to edit out an entire character, but it is a sheer necessity if nothing else.