So my friend is writing a book and we're wanting to know how many characters

S

Stéphanie

New member
There is no limit. As long as your friend explain everything well, it won''t confuse the readers.
If you choose to publish, an editor could help you combine or remove characters in the event that, for example, 14 characters becomes too much to handle.

To me, 25 characters is my limit. Though the book "Gone with the Wind" has over 500 characters!

Don't worry, the number of characters your friend is creating is ok.

Just make sure that your characters are distinct!

Good luck
 
The number of characters depends on the many factors. The first and foremost is the ability of the author to make them memorable and different. The length of her book is another factor. The characters must all serve a purpose. In a short novella, it may be hard to find a "job" for everyone. (And as you say in your question, it seems that they all serve a purpose.)

Ask your friend if one character might not serve the purpose of two, or three. Sometimes you don't need to write a whole new character if the only purpose of the character is to tell the heroine that her best friend is having an affair with her boyfriend. There are many more interesting ways our heroine could find out about it without even using a character.

But since she's asking you to be her editor, let her try to bring these characters to life, then be honest with your criticism. If you give her any advice beforehand, tell her that efficiency is a virtue in any story.
 
is too much? So she's writing a book and she asked me to be-- well, I don't want to say co-writer because I'm barely contributing to it at all, so maybe an advisor... Anyway, she asked me today how many characters was too many for at least a first book, assuming that there would be a second. Right now, I believe she has 14 characters that aren't main ones but they aren't just people made up for the sake of the story-- they have a purpose. But really there are only 3 or 4 main characters. Plus, little characters. So I was wondering, when you're reading a book, is there a point where you're like "Dude, do you have enough people in this thing?" What's your limit? Thanks for your answers. I will thumbs up all of them as long as they're not rude or anything :))
 
I'd say 14 characters that are in it but not main is pushing it a little bit.
4 main characters is definitely enough for main, and is it possible for her to take the other 14 down to at least 10?
When there's too many it gets a little confusing. Look at any average book, there's about 3 or 4 main characters and maybe 5 or 6 recurring characters that add to the story.
So maybe if she takes about 4 or 5 of the other characters away from the story and then she'd be left with 9 or 10 which is ok but still pushing it. The four main characters are fine though.
And plus, if there's a second, would it be possible for her to take 5 of the 14 out of the first book and introduce them in the second book?
I think the other 14 is too many, maybe she can narrow them down to 8, 9 or 10, and maybe have the left over characters contribute the story the way they were intended to plus the way the other ones were...or maybe just cut the 14 in half and introduce the other ones in the second book....
But really, there's no limit on characters. She can have as many as she'd like since it's her book. But as long as they all serve a purpose because otherwise it can get confusing.
In a book I'm currently writing, I have 10 other characters in it, plus 4 or 5 main characters, plus a bunch that show up and then leave but contributed to the story. So there's really no limit on characters. Look at how many people are in the story of your life, you can't just cut a random person on the street in half because he wasn't contrubuting to the story of your life in any way.
Sorry I wasn't much help, but hey, I tried :P
I hope I helped in some way...
 
This is the kind of over-thinking that will bog a writer down. As a recent example, Stephen King's new book has over a hundred characters in it and not once does it become overwhelming. Plus it's a best seller... if the masses can digest it, you can bet that there may not be such a thing as too many characters, just as long as your story is hearty enough to support them.

Your friend should really take her time... when you have a lot of characters, you need a lot of pages. She shouldn't try to breeze through it. You can have hundreds of characters if A) They're all interesting and B) They have enough room to breathe.

If she really had this question, she needs to loosen up and just flow or she will be too insecure to write... in my opinion anyway. The best thing for me has always been to write the entire first draft and ask questions like this later.

EDIT:

Also, I think you should save your advising until she's completely done with the first draft. Your role will be clearer once you can see the entire picture. There's a reason writing is known for being a solitary act... it tends to work better that way, especially for beginners.
 
You can have an infinite amount of characters. If you have ever read Gone With The Wind, you know that there are tons of characters. It is your book. Have as many characters as your story calls for.

Hope this helps :)
 
When the characters serve no purpose and just stand around in your mind doing nothing you will have to kill them some characters serve a better purpose dead than alive. Maybe a dead sister who wasn't needed alive was the drive that the brother needed to avenge her death...
 
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