Thread: So how many main characters are too many?

Most of the time, I heard the same, old lecture. Never have more than three or four main characters. Five if it fits the story, but that's stetching it.

Well, screw that. I want more. I am currently writing two different stories that isn't really going anywhere, so I thought about combining them into a single story.I know it would be strange and weird as one is a horror story onboard an abandoned cruise ship and the other more or less pure fantasy. Each story have five main characters, so what if I kept all ten of them as main characters? The idea is to have the book in three parts. Part 1 takes place onboard the cruise ship, and part 2 takes place in the fantasy setting. This means they are completely stand-alone and individual stories, although they takes place simultaniously and ends with the two worlds literally meeting. In part 3, the fantasy world and this world is merging, so the ten main characters finally meet and need to solve things together. I'm not sure everyone is alive as this point, but it will still be at least six characters. Maybe eight, or even all ten. Heck, I could even add a main character or four.

The question is if this works for anyone else but me. I'm a bit weird, so it makes perfect sense to me. But how about you? Would you read something like this?

George R R Martin fits in well over a dozen into his series. And he does it well. If you haven't read the Song of Ice and Fire series, do. It's a great example of using lots of main characters in a very succesfull way.

Ah, but what if it's just one book?

If you wind up writing a book like The Stand, you know you have a problem in your hands.

Characters are important in the natural progress of storytelling, therefore, if you write extraneous characters that does nothing for the plot, is just there for show rather than to drive the conflict or reveal their humanity, then there is no reason for your readers to invest time reading your stories or even care about your characters.

Why would they? When your characters just come and go with no real explaination or motivation, it'll be like watching X-men, dying left and right, or like the book The Stand. It'll be the same as listening to everyone on a bus, without honing in on the interesting part of the conversation.

If you're not interested in your characters, no one else will be.

So to answer your question--it doesn't matter. The downfall is that every single one needs to be living and breathing, and be part of the story, lives must intertwine, lives must shatter, lives must reform and rise from the ashes--otherwise they become filmsy, two dimensional, cardboard cut-outs, and no one gives a shit.

Originally Posted by WriterDude

Ah, but what if it's just one book?

Let's see, I think he uses 8 per book (plus a seperate one for the prologue). And, you should know better than anybody else. Do you have a plan and/or a reason for using so many characters or do you just feel like using more than five.

Originally Posted by WriterDude

Well, screw that. I want more. I am currently writing two different stories that isn't really going anywhere, so I thought about combining them into a single story.I know it would be strange and weird as one is a horror story onboard an abandoned cruise ship?

This is your problem. So let me ask you: why are they onboard an abandoned cruise ship? Why should the readers care? Are they going to die if they don't go on this ship? Is humanity doomed?

Your role as a writer is to convince us why we should even care.

I think that as long as each character brings something important to the story then you can have as many as you like.

When you can omit a character and the story is still strong then you know you can afford to lose them, or minimize their presence

Why they are on the cruise ship? That's kinda the plot. No one knows where they are, how they got there or why they are there. There are only four characters there right now (and one that might and might not be included, although that part's a bit complicated). One of the characters used to be a criminal, one is a surgeon, one a FBI agent and the last a Batman-style superhero/villain from the future. (not "Batman" style, but a regular person using high-tech gadgets to do her thing). The criminal quickly teams up with the woman from the future (as she claim to be nice, but admit she uses.. questionable... methords to get her way). The surgeon is a nice guy and teams up with the FBI agent, so four characters are a minimum. Then there's the fact the surgeon showed up just before one of them died, which could and could not be a coincidence. He say it was just luck, but would you trust him? The criminal claim she is nice now and hasn't done anything illegal after she was released from prison years ago, but would you trust her? And who trusts a psycho in a costume with big guns and a bigger sword who claims he's from the future?

The other four or five are in another reality and doesn't know anything about the cruise ship or the others. They are in a completely different story, so they don't matter at all for part 1, and the people in part 1 isn't relevant for part 2 at all. When they finally meet in part 3, the reader already know everyone, so by this time I'm not sure if it matter if we have five or ten characters. Besides, as we already have ten people we know, could I just add a few more and develop them as well? I'm thinking about a third part as well with even more characters, and just like the others, it's a different story that isn't relevant for the other two parts at all until the end.

The question is if this sounds too confusing to you, or if it could work.If I have two different stories like this, would you even remember much of part 1 when you meet those characters again in part 3 or 4?

Originally Posted by WriterDude

Why they are on the cruise ship? That's kinda the plot. No one knows where they are, how they got there or why they are there.

Then, my brother, I don't know how to help you.

Low character numbers is good advice only for lousy writers. The more talent a writer has, the more things they can get away with.

I seriously doubt there is any correlation there at all.

Why should there be?

It doesn't matter how many characters there are. As long as each character has an actual reason why they're in they're in the story, and the reader can follow along and not get confused between them all, it's all good.

Thanks, then I guess I'll stick to the original plan. Lots of characters it is.

I wouldn't do it Writerdude...but when have you ever listened to me.

No reason to. It's his book.