How many characters is too many?

[Jenna Terese]

@ariella-newheart oh I know! it’s so hard to part with characters! I’m glad those articles helped. 🙂

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[Sam Kowal]

@ariella-newheart Looks like you’ve already gotten quite bit of advice, but I would say that probably, 30 characters is too many.

That’s not to say it can’t be done- if the story is an expansive epic, it certainly can, but 30 is a lot for readers to try to keep track of.

It also depends on how much time these characters get- if they’re mostly side characters with small parts, they’ll be easier to incorporate than if the story is almost split up into 30 different main character focuses.

*Giarstanornarak tries to melt chair*
Also, Daeus has 22 turtles in his signature.

[Grace H.]

@ariella-newheart By that last one I mean that if you’ve spent time developing this one character only to find that they’ll not be so important after all, you can actually use the work you’ve put into developing the character to make them as real as possible when your MC does bump into them. Small details, however trivial they might seem, serve to draw the reader into your setting and make your characters appear alive to them.

Basically I’m saying that if you have to put a character you’ve loved and cherished into a minor role, you can still use the work you’ve done to your advantage.

 

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