Edit: I'm done with this, so no more advice is needed. Thanks to everyone who replied! I'm currently preparing the plot of a book (in the very early stages) and I'm debating the number of main characters I want. Just to clarify, they wouldn't all be POV characters, or at least, not routinely. Maybe two or three scenes narrated in the entire book for some, likely less. Currently I have five characters that I'm preparing to do profiles for, but I'm considering adding a sixth. There wouldn't be any more than that. I might also want to lower it to four, though I'm more averse to that for story reasons that would qualify as spoilers. I want to decide which to go with, five or six, before I go any further, and decided to ask for advice. I'm hesitant to add a sixth because I'm not that experienced a writer, having only finished the first draft of one book (though I've been writing short stories for years), and I've never written anything with more than one POV, though to be perfectly honest, I don't think that'll be a problem for numerous reasons that would make this post much too long to list. I'll decide in the end, but hearing other people's words of wisdom certainly can't hurt.
It depends entirely on the needs of the story. Why do you need these characters at all? What is their purpose? Characters must serve the story. How do they do so and why are they necessary? What do they add to the narrative? Those are questions only you can answer.
This was more of a "Am I biting off more than I can chew?" question. Right now, I'm early enough in the development that I can cut off or add one whenever I want to, so before I got farther and couldn't change it, I wanted to make sure it was a good idea to have that many main characters - in a "am I able to keep track of them all?" kind of way. I figured I would know better than anyone else as myself, but it would be a good idea to get other people's advice first.
If you think you can manage that large of cast, then go for it. No one else will know until the Beta reading phase, to see how you did in handling that many MC's. Most figure 2-3 MC's is aiming high, but 5-6 would be quite a challenge. You write it the way you feel it must be written, and if you can bear writing that large of a cast, along with what readers think you did in handling them within said story. Good luck.
Except that's not really important. Do you need them at all? Does the story that you're telling require that many POV characters? What do they bring to the story that makes their presence necessary? I could keep track of as many characters as I need to, and I do, but I use the minimum number of characters as I can in any story. Less is always more. What makes each of these characters required to tell the story that you want to tell? That's something only you can decide.
At this early stage? It definitely is. The plot isn't developed enough for the characters to have a point yet - I have a general beginning and a general direction, not even an ending. I'm really just asking, before I develop it more for the characters to have a point, whether I should keep five or six characters in mind. Generally, my creative process tends to go getting a general plot idea - about as much as I have for this one - and the characters first. I then develop all the things that come in between based on how I can pressure the characters' flaws and such, so the characters come first. It sounds like yours goes more getting the plot first, and then building the characters around the plot. I build the plot around the characters. I thought that might help you understand where I'm coming from a little more. Thanks for helping, you've still been a bit of a help!
Maybe you need to focus on your plot and decide that for yourself before you come here and ask. If you don't even know what point the characters have in the plot, that means you need to get your plot under control.
My advice (for what it's worth, and it ain't worth much) is that if the POVs are only there for a few scenes, drop 'em. Rewrite the scenes, (if they're too important to cut) such that a more important POV could witness them, or sum it up in some other way. If you're going for a more character driven story, and honestly even if you're not, each POV should have their own arc and a few scenes is not enough to make an arc. I understand the temptation of having a lot of POV characters but it seems to be best to keep it to the minimum necessary to tell the story. Each POV added makes the story harder to write and doesn't make it better.
I'll consider cutting those extra scenes. I haven't actually written them yet, as this was more of a question of "am I technically capable enough to manage this many main characters?" and not a "are these characters important to the plot?" question. I'll keep in mind the question of if it really needs to be from their perspective as I move forward. So thanks for that. Like I said, the characters always come first for me. As I develop the characters, the plot develops alongside them to specifically challenge their flaws and such. It's just how my creative process goes, and it's very hard for me to do it the way you do. Like I said before, this was more of a "Based on this, am I technically capable of managing this many characters?" Obviously, if it turns out, as I develop them, that they're pointless, I'll cut them. I didn't really feel the need to say that before, as it seemed very obvious to me, but clearly it seems like I don't know that. Either way, I'll still keep what you said in mind as I write, and thanks for lending your advice! I appreciate it.
I don't think you can answer this question prior to writing, and, certainly, no one else can answer your question if what you want to know is if you are capable of doing something before you have done it. I love a heavily-populated story, but I'm not a fan of too many POVs. It does seem strange to first decide on a number of characters before anything else. I don't plot my stories, but I introduce and add characters as needed as the story develops. I guess I might think I need a certain number of characters if, tor instance, they're all trapped in a building and need to escape. But even so I wouldn't think you want to cement your cast of characters before you actually start writing the story. I've always found developing characters outside a story to be quite pointless. Your characters are the story, and developing the story is what develops the characters, in my opinion. Sure, you can fill out character sheets and write up bios for them, but in the end I'm not really sure how useful it actually is and you won't know either until you're actually writing. And trying to develop your characters without trying to write the story doesn't seem like it's provided anymore clarity for you when it comes to how many you should have. Also, keep in mind you don't need main characters to be POV characters. It's true I like a lot of characters, but I detest head hopping (and so do most readers). I guess I'm not sure what you're really asking and what sort of answers you're expecting. The truth is that nothing that happens outside your story in terms of planning or whatever really matters. All that matters is how things work in the story.
(I'm basically using this to wrap up a few loose ends to "wrap up" this thread, so it's a little long.) Thanks for the advice! I am, of course, aware that I have the final word and that I know what I'm capable of best, but I thought it would be a good idea to see if other people with more experience have done well in a similar situation. When it comes to the characters growing out of the plot, my creative process tends to go the opposite way of a lot of other people. I'm not sure if you read some of the other posts (I was in a bad mood, so I might've gotten a little passive-aggressive in some, be warned) but I've basically said that I get the characters first and then build up the plot around what'll pressure their flaws and such, because that's what I find most interesting about characters. It sounds like what you do works very well for you, but coming up with a plot while having no clue of the characters just...doesn't work for me. It's pointless, in the same way that you've said developing characters outside of a story is for you. Sorry, I think that can be a little weird to people who don't work that way - I didn't think it was weird at all until I got on these forums and learned about other people's creative processes. And sorry for the long explanation. Anyway, I'm assuming that by "head hopping" you mean switching perspectives mid-scene, which, I can assure you, as an avid reader, I hate just as much as everyone else does and would only switch perspective when the scenes/chapters switch. And, I will say, I've been developing the characters (I'd done basically none of that before, unlike you assumed, because I didn't even know how many I wanted there to be yet) and it's been helping with the plot a lot. As of right now, I think I'm sticking with five main characters. I'll keep what you said in mind!
3 (Not sure how many threads have asked this exact question and how many times I've answered "3," but it's got to be close to a dozen now)
Well, I'm not sure I agree, but I certainly respect your fortitude in coming across this so many times.
