Ok, so I have these books I’m working on (The plan is to make them 5), and I have nine main characters. Some of them are less important, but anyways. I want a way to show all these characters so people don’t confuse them with each other or forget their names. I know it’s possible (Heroes of Olympus (5 books too), by rick Riordan, has 7 main characters, two of which were introduced in other series) But I’m not sure how to do that. I was planning on dividing them in groups to be able to focus in each character for at least a bit, but I’m afraid it’ll be overwhelming. All of them have different backstories, some of them more complicated than others. And I don't think I could get rid of any of them, I'm too attached to all of them :´) Any tips?
Hm, well my best advice is to 'practice'. Write them, and see how it goes. Also bear in mind, that just because you don't use a character in one story, doesn't mean you can't re-use them in another one. I had a cast of 6 MC's once, ended up splitting them up. 2 are gonna go in a separate novel, not entirely sure how the remaining 4 are gonna play out.
I do think dividing the characters into groups is a good idea. Another tip that I told someone is to allow your characters to become less proactive until later on in the story where they will eventually become more proactive. For example, in Game of Thrones, The Hound isn't really that important of a character in the first couple seasons or books. It's only until later that more focus is put on the character, and he starts to become more important to the plot. This is how George R.R Martain handles a lot of characters, and he has a LOT of viewpoint characters.
If you enjoyed the Riordan books, study how he does it. Learning from books you admire is a great way to develop your skills.
Make the names distinct and memorable - also if 9 is a bit high see if any of them could be combined into one character
Thanks for all your tips! Even tough I don't think I can combine my characters, I'll take all the rest in consideration. For the names, I think i could chancge some of them to make them more different. Right now, they are: Camila Saint Arroman Amelie Roux Max June Alex Hope Van Kasteler Hallie Liam Lena Johnson and Rose (Some of them don't have surnames yet)
So: Camila Amelie Max Jacob Hope Grace Oliver Lena Rose Camila and Amelie still seem a bit too similar.
You can have a lot of main characters. They don't have to be equally important. You probably already have some sense of this. It may come quite naturally. I think it helps to have a few focus characters, and the other mains are more of an add on. Get a little bit of focus here and there for flavour. They can compliment the focus MCs. At the very least, that's the approach I've taken with my WIP, and I think it has helped.
I'd be inclined to start writing and see how it goes - characters evolve with the story , and you may find that some aren't necessary or that you need others, or that you need to give them traits you hadn't previously thought of. Also making a memorable character is not just the name, its about an interesting appearance and an interesting personal character, how they talk, the words they use, whether and how they swear, their attitude to others and so on
Each character should have his or her own introduction, a scene early on which gives the reader a handle on that character. Generally speaking,he least important aspect is the character's physical appearance, so please don't force a mirror or a head-to-toe assessmant by another character into the scene. Best is to have that character react to a problem or obstacle in that scene, so he or she can respond with anger, depression, humor, philosophical acceptance, or however best reflects that character's response to adversity. Or show how the character interacts with other characters in the scene to illustrate relationships. By the end of the scene, the reader should have a pretty good mental image of the character's personality. Try not to introduce too many characters in a short time, or the reader will be more likely to blur them together. You can have other characters present in a character's intro scene, including those who have not yet had a proper introduction, but keep them peripheral for now. Use them to reflect the character being introduced rather than compete for dominance. Especially as regards physical appearance, OMIT details that the narrator or point of view character would not be actively noticing. If the POV character is meeting up with a best friend, don't mention that the characterbeing introduced is tall and skinny with curly blond hair; the POV character already knows this, and isn't thinking of that. But if the character has a huge inflamed zit that isn't usually there, the POV character can't help but notice it, even if he or she would never say anything out loud. Then it should be part of the description. Stay in character. You are always in a character, even if it's an anonymous one like a narrator invisible to those in the scene.
There's plenty way to do so, now is just a matter of your preference. People gave you already good ideas, but I will suggest this idea. You can relate two people to each other, which means Anne's story is related to John's story. Let's imagine you started Anne's story, introduce John so when her story ends, you can continue where it ended. I hope it helps