#not sure what yvie is but i love the term bonnie lass

[thewritersguardianangel-blog]

Is there a limit to how many main characters I should have? Do you have any tips on how to manage them?

It depends on what exactly you mean by “main characters.” If by ‘main character’, you mean protagonist, I would recommend keeping it to just a few, and using chapter breaks to alternate the focus or perspective of each one. The most protagonists I have seen is about six or seven, although I believe Catch 22 has over twenty, with only a chapter or two dedicated to each, so I’m assuming it must have a very unique style to it. (Haven’t read it)

If you mean prominent characters that are frequently alongside the main character- ie, the Ron and Hermione to the Harry Potter- that gets a little more complicated. With any large cast, you want to make sure that no one’s purpose gets lost. Follow everyone’s arc through to the end, and make sure it makes sense in the plot. It can get really difficult.

Personally, I keep track of arcs by writing them out separately and keeping the lists as a sort of check list to make sure everyone gets properly covered. I think it helps to have a sort of web or time line drawn out to help you keep track of how everyone’s arcs connect. It’s color coded. I’m organized like that.

I also like to keep my characters and arcs organized by “grouping” them. Often you’ll find in your large-cast stories that not everyone interacts with everyone else a whole lot. There are certain characters that interact with each other more often, and they sort of have their own group. For example, Character A is on a team with four other characters, and that team has their own conflicts and arcs going on. Character B is also part of a club with five other characters, with their own goals and conflicts and such. But, they occasionally overlap- not everyone, but just a few. Character A and Character B are best friends, and maybe another character is on both the team and the club, and maybe Character A’s sister is also part of the club, and Character B is dating part of the team, and so on. That means Character A’s sister interacts with A and the club, and Character B’s significant other interacts with A and the team as well as B.

(I hope that made sense- it’s easy to see how quickly large casts can get confusing.)

And for some general tips:

One, introduce them with some spacing. If you bring in all of them at once, it can be really confusing. If you do meet them all at once, at least let each one have a moment to shine so the reader can get to know them a little bit, as early on as possible, so that your audience comes to care for them immediately and look forward to seeing them in the rest of the story.

Two, make the introduction of the main characters stand out compared to the background characters, so that your audience can easily tell who is going to be important.

Three, watch the names. Similar names are destined for mix-ups.

Four, make sure everyone has a “job.” Of course you want all your important characters to have more than one trait, but it’s okay if there is something they are known by- for example, on a spy team you might have a leader, a hacker, a  get away artist, etc.

In summary: No, there is no law anywhere saying that You May Have Exactly 17 Main Characters Maximum. But be mindful of possible confusion, and make sure that every single character serves a purpose and traits that are distinct from the others. Regularly check in and ask yourself whether on not this character is actually serving a purpose in the story. You want each one to be memorable, distinct, and fully realized by the end of the story.

Questions like this are interesting and I’m sorry that I can only give you a vague answer. There is no steadfast guideline here, and even if their was, writers break rules all the time. All I can really say is, try to stay organized, and frequently check back and re-read to make sure it doesn’t seem too overwhelming. If you have someone who is willing to read or critique your stories, one of the most helpful questions you can ask is “if you have to axe one character, who would it be?”. The answer can be very telling in some cases.

I hope that helped in some way. You’re the captain of this ship. The success of your voyage and crew is entrusted to you. You’ll do fine.

~Penemue