I am unsure if I want my WIP to have a small cast or a large cast of characters. What are the pros and cons for having a small cast and pros and cons for a large cast?
Hi! One simple way of looking at it would be: Small cast would mean that you're focusing more on the intricacies, so it's more qualitative and you're focusing on the inner life of the characters, which can be cool to read if the reader can relate to the character. It might not be as interesting for the reader when this connection with the character does not take place. Whereas a larger cast would allow for the plot to be more dynamic, more fun as long as you don't overdo it. I am personally struggling with having too large of a cast because it can be difficult to write. You want each to have a different personality traits but you are just one writer so you really have to work hard to stick to those separate personalities of each character. Does it make sense? Hope it helps!
Pro: By bringing in more viewpoints, you can potentially get a more nuanced/complex/elaborate story. Con: You as the writer need to hold together and do justice to a more nuanced/complex/elaborate story. Basically the more threads you're trying to weave with, the easier it is to get them snarled up, and/or fail to tie all of them up properly by the end. Which is not to discourage you at all, I personally am a big fan of having as many characters as the story needs and practice makes perfect. I would just say try to make sure you really need every single one of them (consider whether roles can be rolled together, or certain events take place off page).
And also, I am working on a story about 5 sisters, and none of them are loners and having each sister have a few close friends means that it would end up being a large cast, right? But is a smaller number not better?
That sounds like the kind of story where you'll have a lot of focussing to do. Presumably there is a central plot or theme all five interact with? If so you only need to include those friends who are actually relevent to the plot/theme. The existence of other friends can be mentioned or implied, but they don't actually need to show up.
Probably. Does each sister need a full entourage? Just keeping track of the sisters and making them interesting (and varied) enough to deserve screen time sounds difficult. How many POVs we talking here? That's the real question. You can have a zillion characters if the story is told by a single character.
Yes, I want all the sisters to be important. There is one POV character, so there is one main sister. I don't have a plot yet, but what I have so far is some worldbuilding, I have been working on the sisters character biographies, I have a list of themes I'd like to write about. I always have struggled with plot.
Okay, you have a lot of leeway then. If you only write from one head, then you can have as many characters as you want. It's when the POV heads start piling up that you can get into trouble trying to fit them all in. But if it's a single POV, then you'll be dealing mostly with one character's impressions and judgements of a larger cast. With only one worldview to develop, there's more room for casting. As for making each sister important, I think it's doable, but you'd be wise to maybe let one or two of them carry less narrative weight. Maybe not spend much time developing an orbit of secondary characters around them. Oh. You're going to need one of those before anything I just said matters. Until you've got some story and writing done, the characters have nothing to do yet.
By all means build your world, but remember that doing so without a plot to guide you is likely going to mean you won't be able to put all that worldbuilding into the book. This is the essence of 'kill your darlings': At some point, you're going to have to be ruthless about asking yourself whether a given character (or scene, or cool magic feature, or whatever) is actually serving your story. If not, they'll need to go, no matter how attached you personally are to them.
Remember that it's always possible to have characters who exist in the world but don't show up in the story. You can note that the sisters all have friends, without us ever meeting them, or even naming them. Or, perhaps we only meet two or three of the most important, plot-relevant friends. Who actually ends up being important is going to depend on the story you're trying to tell, so it's a bit of a futile effort trying to figure out how large your cast is before then. Still, once you do, keep in mind ways to simplify. For example, does it need to be a friend who comforts sister 3, or can it be sister 5 who feels guilty about not stepping in when sister 2 started insulting 3? If you do need characters outside the family, could you combine those two minor characters to make a single character with a larger role and more complex personality?
A short story often has only two or three characters. My novella has only six with any depth at all. A novel can have a dozen or more. It all depends on how much focus you want each person to have. Too few characters can make the setting feel like a ghost town. Too many, and you're in a room with strangers.
There is no magic number of characters to have, but if you have too many, all of whom with back stories, the readers will find it hard to keep track, particularly if a character pops in and out of the story only on a couple of occasions. If you have several characters, all performing the same function (for example, three friends for one sister), consider combining those characters in one friend, which will give you the opportunity to lay a memorable foundation for that character.
I'm a short story writer and I've never written a short story with only two or three characters. I'm not saying there aren't short stories with only two or three characters. Of course, there are. But the majority of short fiction currently being published does have more characters than you seem to think. Personally, I love a well populated story. Correction -- I did sell a short story that only has three characters. I think that's the only short story I've done with such few characters. Most of the time I need a larger cast to pull it off. And I think that's true of most short story writers based on being a big reader of short fiction. Edit -- Nope, the short story I thought I wrote with three characters actually has four. One is more of a minor character, but that character has a name and is a developed character with an important part in the story. It's still my story with the fewest characters though.
My thoughts. The more characters the harder it is for the reader to follow everyone and keep everyone in his head. If there are too many characters, it becomes annoying, and the person may stop focusing on history, which can lead to the fact that he stops reading the book.
A larger cast is really important for different degrees or kinds of contrast/foil. The extra faces are like highlighters; they help you get the themes across with bountiful meaning. The Coward™, for example, is largely there to accentuate the hero's bravery. Spoiler: E.g. That said, you can tell a great story with few characters. I think it depends on both scope and depth.
Why don't you put her in charge? And now you're talking about the character web, using characters to compare and contrast each other, especially along the lines of the story's themes or important elements.
Utilizing these friends groups as a chorus could be a fun option for a large cast. Each friend group operating as an echo chamber of the sister's ideas. That would give you a fuller cast without overindulging in extra dialogue and character building.
The only Pro for a big cast is if you want to showcase your 'idea' or place - like Twin Peaks, Peyton Place or those glitzy books in the 80s that featured women running department stores or taking over cosmetic companies. The big cast gives it the hustle and bustle feel. Epic. Lot's of viewpoints and colorful characters. The Con is they're hard to control, hard to know when to cut away to another character and you have to have good side plots to anchor it. The Pro of a small cast is your reader can relate to you mc without being diverted by other characters. It's much easier to control and pace. Con (depends on genre) some narrowed pov's can louse up the pacing because there's no cut away to give the reader anticipation that the villain or opposition is closing in, there's not as much scoop, if the mc is obnoxious the reader is trapped in his shoes.
Small cast Pros; more streamlined character development, able to focus more on your character, can lead to shorter plot (if that's what you're looking for); generally better if you're wanting to tell a shorter story. Large cast Pro: longer and more complex character development; can allow for more sub-plots which can add more dynamics to your story; generally gives you larger scope especially if you want to write an epic story, will probably make your story longer and probably more conducive to long form story telling.
