Thread: Ensemble scenes

I'm writing a short story that opens with a round-table discussion involving ten characters. Naturally I've got some challenges on my hands.

What is the highest number of speaking characters that you've written in a single scene? What's your approach? Do you describe them individually? en masse? brief sketches for all but the most important? not at all?

Beyond physical description, what other challenges do you encounter when writing more than a few characters interacting at once? What do you like about it? Or do you avoid doing it at all?

Well, my novel has at least one scene where there are a dozen or so speaking parts. But it is a scene with at least three settings and most of the characters are already known to the reader. I think the main question for you is what story do you want to tell? If it is holy grailish, you are in good shape. The king can present the quest and the characters can respond yea or nea in their own ways. If it is a delicate romance between two introverts, then focus on a whispered exchange while the others are pledging allegiance or whatever. In other words, the answers to your questions depend on the story you want to tell. I try to meet the the challenges presented by my stories like a goodly and brave knight-errant scribe.

My novel Flank Hawk has a scene in a chamber around a table with 8 or 9 characters that speak, but like J.R. MacLean, several of the characters are already known by the reader.

I guess the question is, how much are you going to invest in the introduction/description of the 10 characters? How much of a part will each play after the initial scene. I ask for a couple of reasons. First, a short story is quite limited in words (many markets prefer under 5000, although you can find some that accept higher). Second, why is the reader going to care or invest themselves with 10 characters at once. Which are important and which will they even remember? Third, how many need to actually speak, and if they do, need to be described other than the most generic terms (The elderyly wizard representing the mage's guild argued... or The chain-smoking nurse representing her department said...)

Part of the question depends on the POV being used to tell the story, but most of the time when there is a large group, the reader needs an anchor character, someone to connect to or in context understand the relationship between them, so that the new character(s) can be remembered.

In the end, the fewer characters at the beginning and the faster you can get on with the main action or direction of the short story, the better.

Good luck moving forward.

Terry