How Many Characters?

[Amy_66]

It takes a village...

liter-otic-ally.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

Good question. I would say probably half my stories are comprised of two characters - one man and one woman. The story I am currently working on has eight. The most is around twenty -- so far. It is a ten chapter story that may grow to as many as forty characters by the time it concludes.

 

[Whanmore]

This was actually a huge question of mine.The whole point of me starting to write was that I couldn't find what I was looking for. A lot of Characters with different personalities; Some in relationships: some who arent and who all over the course of some time fuck each other and the drama that ensues. It seems like there was simply a lack SO eventually I wrote my own.

My Entire series is interconnected so they are technically one story but they are in two series running side by side. Suite Mates is basically the four characters, and My Dorms Rooms stories have three couples, a Girl in a long-distance relationship, two other girls and another guy (Its a story about a college suite and the dorm across the hall) ....with different characters entering and leaving the story. It was difficult introducing them but I think its easy to follow one the characters are established.

I actually had the idea to do a prologue for the story just to help the reader get an idea of the my characters. I hope others read my stories because they were looking for the drama associated with casual sex! Thats why I started Writing

 

[Amy_66]

....I have a 750 word story (Denying Alex) with six named cast plus mentions of parents...

Just for fun, in a 1000 word contest entry at *****, I had 26 named (Alex to Zara) participants in a group sex story.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

This is intended to be another 'tell us about your work' type thread - no agenda, no particular help sought, just a lot of shooting the breeze about how we write.

Today's question is how many characters do you tend to have in your stories? If your immediate response was 'how every many the story needs', then do you often find your stories need large ensemble casts? What's the most characters you every put in a story (of how many words)? Have you ever written a story with exactly two characters in? (One for Toys/Masturbation). Really? Are you sure the barkeep didn't pour them a drink, or the hero's wondered what his mother would think if she could see him now? Of course, that's another discussion about what exactly constitutes a character.

A couple of possibly useful terms for types of character. (feel free to add your own or to wrangle my definitions)

A mentioned character - doesn't actually appear in the story, but is mentioned in passing. While it's possible for a mention to cast a long shadow, mainly they're just there for colour.
An influencer character - a character who actually helps shape or influence the plot in some way or acts at least slightly outside their expected roles - a barkeep pouring a drink cause the hero's down isn't an influencer, one who suggests that he talk to the lonely blonde in the corner is, even if that's his only line.
Sexual characters - those who take part in the the sex scenes of the story either with the MC or in their own trysts accidentally or intentionally witnessed by the MC.
Allies - those who help the main character(s) acheive the goal of the story.
Antagonists - those who prevent the main character(s) achieve the goal in the story.
Rivals - those who compete alongside the MC for the hand of their beloved.
Choice Characters - or maybe the MC needs to figure out who their one true love actually is as part of the story - it could be anyone?
B-Plot Characters - characters who are important enought in the story that they get their own encounters, growth and resolution arcs.

My own record for maximum named characters is 12 in the space of 8,500 words (including the male and female MCs) - This was in the context of 'business hospitality at a strip club' so I ended up with 3 men from the main firm, 3 men from the customer firm and 6 female strippers to accompany each of them. Within that word count, it's impossible to draw everyone in detail and inevitably a lot of words were used on the physical descriptions of the ladies. It worked okay and was necessary for that shape of story, but did persuade me that I needed to be really careful about how many people I let into my stories.

From the opposite end, I've done a fair few stories which have featured only or nearly only two characters, but other people creap in round the edges (a best friend who communicates only with text messages, another customer in the late night shift). I'm not sure that completely isolating characters is desirable (but maybe for certain stories it can be), but in writing this thread, I've found myself thinking 'that story only has two' only to remember a few seconds later that there were more people featured.

So in my first five-part, 100,000 words story ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE there were several key players, many of whom had sex.

They were

Andy and Kate (the protagonists)

Brian and Vanessa
Troy and Nikki (main secondary characters)

Mary, Joseph, Chester and Bridgette
Mason
Dave and Jan
Jo-Jo and Meredith
Amber, Kimberley and Matt
Carlos (sexually active characters)

Jesse and Tara (antagonists and sexually active))

2 cops (supplemental…no sex)

A prince and topless princess (minor but key)

There were others but these are the ones whose presence moved the story, there are others who get brief mentions in the story but play no further function.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I keep my casts small. Usually two or three lead characters, one or two support characters.

I'm with EB, but skimming a couple of my more complex stories, I was surprised at how many people I sometimes include. Taking a detective story I did for the Mickey Spillane / Mike Hammer event, The Tall Open Window, as an example:

• four major characters
• ten minor characters, most of whom got a few lines of speech or contributed in some significant way. The latter includes, for instance, three women (named but not speaking) involved in a three-way video shoot at a porn studio
• another half-dozen to a dozen bit players
• three corpses, all of whom played a part, described by somebody else

That's more than normal. Many of mine have just two characters, maybe with references to others offstage and not critical to the story. Threesomes of course require at least three (or at least one with a really good imagination ).

 

[Devil_PS]

Some stories of mine range from 2-5 characters.

Which seems to work as despite being in the same setting, it's all usually about stand alone adventures or mishaps.

 

[RejectReality]

As RR, it tends to be 2-5 characters. Even in a WIP story that's already in its third chapter and over 15k words ( a break from tradition in this name ) I have only three named characters, and two people who are amorphous types such as "workmate" and "guy buying nudes" who are never seen but only mentioned in passing. It will probably end up being 4 named by the end due to a threesome.

My wank fiction as Les is the same, whether fantasy or real world. Even a multi-chapter, 30-35k word story like Jackin' Jill only has 8 named characters, and that's if you count "Mom"x2 and "Dad" over the phone.

When I get into something deeper and usually fantasy like MotW, the cast tends to easily double with supporting characters.

Come to think of it, even my group sex/promiscuity stories rarely get over 6-10 significant speaking roles.

It's when I get into high fantasy with wizards and warriors that things explode. OWT has Betty, Ghent, Lana, Jan, Pallah, Josephine, Damson, Janus, Corra, Lilly, Ginny, Keri, Mack, Hoss, Nora, Shad, Wynn, Abel, Raven, Ulis.... That's just the tip of the iceberg in what will be 10 chapters and around 95k words. ( Hopefully soon ) There are many more people with minor speaking roles, umpteen innkeeper/traveler/merchant/brothel patron types, a handful of assassins, a necromancer...

You get the picture.

 

[Duleigh]

Today's question is how many characters do you tend to have in your stories?

As many as it takes.

My stories are more plot driven than smut driven so I don't limit the number of characters by the size of the bed. Being plot driven needs a lot of characters in the background (Somebody has to wait your table and bring your drinks) to make it feel real but hopefully only 3 or 4 to carry the narrative. However when the story includes something like a wedding - those stories contain a lot of people, so I need to write them into the story in a manner that keeps the reader from getting lost. I've had well received stories that had only 2 people and I've had well received stories that had huge casts. Maybe I just write good. I think my readers like my characters better than me.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

Maybe I just write good.

I think me be writer good, two.

 

[jehoram]

There was one story I wrote that had so many characters that I had to use a spreadsheet to keep track of them so I wouldn't repeat names. There were twenty of them in a six-part story.

A four-part story had ten characters.

And I've written other longer stories that must have had as many characters, but I didn't count them.

 

[Duleigh]

I think me be writer good, two.

You write gooder than me

 

[UsuallyPresent]

My Hinn has more'n 60 named characters with explicit backstories (albeit to varying degrees), my Loved By HER has one, maybe two depending on how you count. Varies wildly depending on the way the tale unfolds, seems to me.

Similarly, the details of Hinn take up a ~20 page document, a couple spreadsheets, and a couple diagrams, whereas HER has nothing other than what was published. Didn't need it, and thus never spent the effort to create and maintain it.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

My Hinn has more'n 60 named characters with explicit backstories (albeit to varying degrees), my Loved By HER has one, maybe two depending on how you count. Varies wildly depending on the way the tale unfolds, seems to me.

Similarly, the details of Hinn take up a ~20 page document, a couple spreadsheets, and a couple diagrams, whereas HER has nothing other than what was published. Didn't need it, and thus never spent the effort to create and maintain it.

Just saw someone put down that in their story they had 96,000 characters.

Turns out those 96,000 characters equated to 18,000 words.

D’Oh!

 

[UsuallyPresent]

Just saw someone put down that in their story they had 96,000 characters.

Turns out those 96,000 characters equated to 18,000 words.

D’Oh!

Them's some mighty big wurds!

 

[Rob_Royale]

I'm only two stories in, but I focus solely on the characters that will be sexually involved at some point. Everyone else that appears in the story is a brief cameo, usually to add a little levity to the story. A clumsy waiter they meet while on a date. A neighbor complained about the sex noises last night. The room service porter walks in with dinner, to find the main characters lying in bed covered in fuck sweat.

 

[PastMaster]

THe answer is as many as i need. Often between about 8 and 10 but my caleb story has grown arms and legs and while not as many as zebs I have a cast list of about 112 currently

 

[ronde]

Most of my stories have just two main characters, though I have written as many as four. I do have other character and they fall into two types, named and unnamed.

If the character has an important part to play in the story, say a victim of a crime or a person to whom one of the main characters keeps referring, they get a name. If they appear only briefly, like a repairman or a secretary, they might get an equally brief description, but they're usually just a person with no name.

Some readers apparently like a lot of characters, but I think most like to concentrate on the main characters and what they do. The other characters are just people who have to be there in order to make the story believable.

 

[tenyari]

I've noticed a lot of stories out there start bleeding in an ever growing ensemble cast and then forgetting or under developing previously major cast members.

I try to avoid that. I want readers to feel attached to the main cast, and to know them and their individual personalities. I will throw in people as needed as a story goes along, but I try very hard to keep a right focus around a central set of people and a main protagonist. I want my stories to be about that protagonist and the people close to them. And 'the people close to them' should not be the 'fetish of the week', but the people close to them.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

I try to keep the focus on the main characters as well. Sometimes, when I'm reading a story loaded with characters, I stop and wonder 'Who the heck is this person now?' It's easy to lose track if there are too many names to try and sort out.

Although I did do one story, 'Only You' for the last's years holiday contest. It was set in a small town whose church burned down right before the holidays. In that one, the townspeople were part of the story, though it still mainly focused on the two main characters.

 

[Djmac1031]

I think the closest story I have that features only two characters is Mya Watches; the husband and wife. There is only one brief mention of a daughter, not present in the story.

My biggest cast of characters is in my series The Jenna Arrangement.

It's grown from just the male and female lead to include quite a few others, some more prominent than others.

I'm doing this more for me just to test my memory, but here's the cast list:

Tom Logan: male, lead character.
Jenna Sinclair: female, lead character.
Tom's ex-wife: mention character, no name.
Trish: Jenna's best friend; started as side character, but has grown into a main.
Michelle: Jenna's roommate and friend. Side character.
Tammy & Nikki: Michelle's friends, side characters
Dave: Michelle's boyfriend, side character
Jenna's mom: side character (no name)
Dick Goetz: Jenna's mother's boyfriend, side character
Brandon Sinclair: Jenna's father (deceased) mention character
Ted Rivers: Jenna's lawyer & family friend, side character
Mary Rivers: Ted's wife, side character
Bill Wilson: Jenna's accountant, family friend, side character
Carrie Wilson: Bill's daughter, Jenna's old friend, side character
Mike: Tom's friend and coworker, side character
Ellie: Mike's wife, side character
Meghan: Mike and Ellie's daughter, mention character

Okay I'm quitting here; there's still plenty more minor characters scattered throughout the series, I may complete this list for my own amusement at some point but not here; you get the idea lol.

 

[oneagainst]

A hundred and fifteen significant, with speaking parts that matters to the plotline, and most of them are going to be in the Lost and Found on the night it closes down, in October. I reckon the bar tab alone will be legendary.

 

[EmilyMiller]

This is intended to be another 'tell us about your work' type thread - no agenda, no particular help sought, just a lot of shooting the breeze about how we write.

Today's question is how many characters do you tend to have in your stories?

Without thinking about it too much, I guess it would have to be You Spin Me Round. In order of appearance:

1. Emily - a shy and innocent 20 yo college student, our heroine
2. David - a friend of Emily’s family, Emily is his lodger
3. Rian - a friend of both David and Emily and a builder of contraptions
4. Frank - a newbie
5. John - a regular
6. Jeff - an asshole and friend of John
7. Josh - a regular and owner of the establishment
8. Steve - a newbie
9. Neil - a newbie (first introduced as just #8)
10. Ed - a regular
11. Jim - a regular
12. Ray - a barkeep (only mentioned, never “on stage”)

That was more than enough people to keep track of.

Em

 

[EmilyMiller]

Without thinking about it too much, I guess it would have to be You Spin Me Round. In order of appearance:

1. Emily - a shy and innocent 20 yo college student, our heroine
2. David - a friend of Emily’s family, Emily is his lodger
3. Rian - a friend of both David and Emily and a builder of contraptions
4. Frank - a newbie
5. John - a regular
6. Jeff - an asshole and friend of John
7. Josh - a regular and owner of the establishment
8. Steve - a newbie
9. Neil - a newbie (first introduced as just #8)
10. Ed - a regular
11. Jim - a regular
12. Ray - a barkeep (only mentioned, never “on stage)

That was more than enough people to keep track of.

Em

I have a two stories where there is just one character, but where the FMC directly addresses the reader. These are:

1. On My Knees - A Fantasy
2. Over Your Knee - A Fantasy

Em

 

[Seadog777]

I do not have a "set limit" on word count.

I do purposely, try to keep my stories between 1 and 3 "literotica pages".

I think that breaking a longer story down into "parts" or "chapters", because it keeps the reads hooked and wanting more.

JMO of course.