How Many Characters are Too Many?

Discussion in 'Character Development' started by Kacoshi Ajewl, Aug 6, 2009.

  1. Petra Huber

    Petra Huber New Member

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    Okay, thanks!

    Petra
     
  2. Ruloris

    Ruloris New Member

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    From my experience, (limited as it may be), most of what this thread states remains accurate. As long as the main important characters have their own desires/motives/dynamics, keeping them is fine.

    One point that wasn't brought up (and if it was, I must have missed it), was having all of these characters within the same area at relatively the same time. A piece I worked on for quite a while is of a group traveling together across the land. Your typical warrior, healer, magic user, etc.

    Major problems I ran into were of having conversations. The magic user was young but intelligent, so I wanted him to voice a lot of the epiphanies of the group. The warrior was shallow and unapproachable, so most of the anger came from him. By the end, I had around 7 people talking within one scene. It didn't end well.

    So in my opinion, keep the characters, and keep them lively. Just try not to keep them all clustered in one place :)
     
  3. Little Miss Edi

    Little Miss Edi New Member

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    I agree that too many characters is defined as 'one more than is necessary'.
    But I'd also add that one character more then you, as a writer, can handle is probably too many to. If you're not skilled at juggling multiple characters you've two options: cut down the number of characters or practice juggling :) There's nothing worse then a crush of characters steered by an author that doesn't seem able to manage.
     

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