- This topic has 31 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 2 days, 13 hours ago by
.
-
Posts
-
In my current WIP, I have 6 MCs right now, but I want to add another one or two. In another one, I have 11, though that one may change. Is this too many? When does the amount of main characters become too many to keep track of?
@whalekeeper @rae @highscribeofaetherium @hybridlore @raxforge @esther-c @freed_and_redeemed @theshadow @ellette-giselle @linus-smallprint @savannah_grace2009 @keilah-h @everyoneTempus adest gratiae
Hoc quod optabamus,
Carmina laetitiae
Devote reddamus!It really depends. Does each MC have their own POV? How long is the series, and what genre is it? Typically a long, multi-book series will have plenty of characters, while a standalone may only have room for a few. (However, Gordon Korman is a big exception to this rule. He writes mostly standalone contemporary MG fiction, but he has plenty of characters usually who all have POVs in his books.) The Ilyon Chronicles is an example of a long series (fantasy) with lots of characters (like 20) who all have POVs at different times.
Are you using first person POV, or third? Generally third allows you to have more POVS without getting confusing. It also depends on the way your story feels. Is that too many characters for you to write, or can you still focus enough on each one for their purpose in the story to be actually meaningful? Maybe consider combining characters if you need to.
Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. ~ C.S. Lewis
I agree with Hybrid and second everything she said. It really depends on what kind of book this is and what age group it’s targeted towards. 11 is probably a lot if it’s something like middle grade fiction. If this is something massive, like, say, the Stormlight Archives, then 11 is more reasonable (though even SA doesn’t have that many ‘main’ characters, but it does have many, many characters who have some POV chapters)
And think about whether you need all of those main characters, or whether some of them could be consolidated, turned into a less important character, or cut out completely. Even if you love them, if they’re not serving the story, there’s no point in keeping them.
So there’s my two cents.
A donation has been made in your name to the Human Fund: Money for People.
Define WIP and MC for… um… @rae, cuz she probably doesn’t know what they mean (I’m just asking cuz I actually don’t know)
"Do you want me to keep the sideburns?"
#AnduthForever (Lord Willing)WIP = Work In Progress
MC = Main Character
A donation has been made in your name to the Human Fund: Money for People.
Ok, thx! Sorry, I’m a little slow when it comes to slang and stuff.
"Do you want me to keep the sideburns?"
#AnduthForever (Lord Willing)No problem, I usually have to look up abbreviations or just hope I figure it out eventually lol.
A donation has been made in your name to the Human Fund: Money for People.
Agreed with Hybrid and High Scribe. It really depends, if you can manage it then it’s probably okay. As long as your making the different POV’s distinct and add personality to each POV and MC, then it will probably be fine. It should be used in caution though.
"No! Monkeys should have pets, all monkeys should have pets!"
I try to never have more then 1 MC for a given setting.
So, my last book only had one, but his brother and wife were very heavily leaning toward MC state, and Cora even got her own POV at one point. However, Ethan was the one the book followed the closest.
The one I’m writing currently has three MC in three different locations, and each MC has an ally character, although Reuven and Werner share an ally, but as of yet they don’t know it.
So yeah, to me as a reader and writer, I don’t want more then three MCs, because you either learn way too much about everyone, or not enough at all. However, there can be really strong allies, mentors, villains, etc, and I don’t even mind if they get a POV every know and then. But when I read I don’t want more then three MCs.
That’s just me.
You can ignore this.
However, I did write a book with 15 MCs once, and looking back, I spent so much time developing each character, that it’s hard to even see the plot. (Now I just go to that story and steal characters. lol)
Man is born for the fight, to be forged and molded into a sharper, finer, stronger image of God
I agree with what hybrid and highscribe said. Definitely consider the length and genre of your book first. If your novel is only going to be 60-70k, I would definitely hesitate adding more POV characters cuz then they each only get 10-15k each and that’s really not a lot in the big scheme of things.
Also consider if each character needs a full POV. You can totally keep all the characters, but think about how much more depth they can add to the story if they were simply side roles instead of MCs. I struggle to make my side characters meaningful, but it works so well when I see other authors do it. The side characters can show a different interpretation of the theme or message, or be catalysts for plot points or changes in the MC’s mindset and way of thinking. Really take the time to go through each character and see if they actually need to have a POV.
Show no mercy.Be honest and consider how having some of them as side characters can actually help the book rather than harm it.Another thing to think about is try to avoid a lot of scene switching/head hopping when you have that many POV charries. It’s okay to switch POVs every few scenes or every chapter when you have like 2 or 3, but when you’ve got like 5 or 6, i recommend writing their POVs in larger chunks so readers are less likely to get confused and they have time to bond with each character. A MG/YA book I read had 5 or 6 POV characters, and the author went one by one, writing from each charrie’s POV for a good chunk until we finally starting seeing their stories overlap.
So most importantly, be thinking about what’s best for your story—what will fit best, make the most sense, and add the most depth to the story.
Write what should not be forgotten. — Isabel Allende
I would mostly agree with what other people are saying, but not quite. It is going to be easier to fit in more characters if you have a series over a stand-alone. However, I have read a few series that were long, but still had too many characters. Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time was an example of this as well as the graphic novel series called Amulet.
The problem with these is that the characters were all separated and doing their own thing. Their plots might all eventually lead to each other. Books 9 and 10 in Wheel of Time are compared to climbing a mountain. There are so many characters in so many different places that even with 600-700 pages in each book, each character only gets a couple of chapters moving his/her plot forward. (Then Brandon Sanderson takes over and starts tying everything together, and it feels like sledding down the mountain as a reward for climbing it.) Amulet had a similar problem. I really enjoyed the first few books, but eventually stopped reading. This was because every book introduced new characters with their own little side plots and it got to the point where a character would disappear for a book, not because his plot had been resolved, but because there was no room in the book to move his plot forward. There was too much going on.
But this doesn’t mean it is bad to include a lot of characters. An example of this done right is Ninjago: Masters of Spinitzu in the first season (I know some people don’t like Ninjago, and there are good reasons not to, but this is just a good example). There, we followed six main characters. Kai was the protagonist, but we also had Jay, Cole, Zane, Lloyd, and Nya. Wu and Garmadon also had major roles and their own plots. I think part of the reason why this worked was because instead of being separated all around the world like in Wheel of Time, the team, for the most part, stuck together, and all the main characters were able to develop. Also, when Zane, Jay, and Cole had their own little plots, discovering things about themselves and unlocking their true potential, this moved Kai’s plot forward as he became frustrated that he was the last to unlock his true potential and became unhealthily focused on becoming the green ninja. When he finally realized he wasn’t and that the green ninja was Lloyd, this moved Lloyd’s plot forward.
So if you are to introduce a whole bunch of main characters, make sure they build onto each other, instead of distracting. Ester’s advice is good. How does character B’s plot impact character A’s? Does she provide a different perspective on A’s problem, or does she cause something to happen to help/hinder A? It’s okay to split them up into groups (I’d say three, maybe four groups should be the maximum)., or if it takes time to see how one character’s plot adds to another. Just make sure things don’t grow too much out of control.
I agree with Linus that you should only have a few split groups. I personally don’t mind having groups over one large group. That would be one way to divide your characters so they each get a unique perspective in a unique plot thread.
This is a very common way to handle multiple protagonists. Series like Stormlight Archive and Redwall do this well.
You have to make sure each plot thread is relevant, though. For example, if you have a character go on a random side quest that feels completely irrelevant to their development/the plot, the reader will feel tired of reading their POV.
I remember reading the first Stormlight book and being interested in all the POVs, because they each had a fun perspective that brought context to everything. I think it was even better because there was a main POV, Kaladin’s, and he got more emotional beats. Then whenever something happened in the other POVs, it had some kind of impact on Kaladin’s life. Dalinar, for example, was an authoritative figure in the ring of leaders who controlled Kaladin’s life situation, and whenever Dalinar interacted with other leaders, it gave the reader a sense of either danger or positive control.
So if you divide the characters into individual quests, make sure they still affect each other. And a MAIN main character might give your story some emotional direction.
#ProtectAdolinKholin
Well there was Master of the Mountian and Day of the Departed (but Day of the Departed wasn’t great. Cole acted more like Kai in it and the story didn’t really make sense.)
@whalekeeper @linus-smallprint
I didn’t even realize other teenagers/adults even liked that show 😂
A donation has been made in your name to the Human Fund: Money for People.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.