How many characters is too many?

[TheOtherTeacher]

How many characters would you introduce at the beginning of a story, if you know you aren't adding more later?

Thinking of a gameshow type story, with contestants being eliminated each round.

20 characters seems far too many.

6 characters will make a very short gameshow.

 

[SimonDoom]

Depends on the game show. I don't see why six contestants would make a short gameshow. It depends on what they are asked to do. A story with fewer game show contestants that challenges them to do interesting things is a better story than one with many contestants who don't do interesting things.

 

[Naughtylit81]

It depends. How much focus are you giving to each character.

Your first couple of characters eliminated probably don't need much detail beyond a name and some minor attribute or line of dialog to give them some minor depth.

Beyond that how many character van you write and keep compelling to the reader and impactful to the story? Figure that out and any number beyond that is to many.

 

[TheLobster]

Received wisdom says people are only good at handling 5 to 9 things at a time. So I'd definitely keep it within the single-digit range.

Eight is a nice round number that let's you divide the contestant into subgroups for whichever activities your Big Brother wants them to do.

 

[TheOtherTeacher]

Depends on the game show. I don't see why six contestants would make a short gameshow. It depends on what they are asked to do. A story with fewer game show contestants that challenges them to do interesting things is a better story than one with many contestants who don't do interesting things

To give it drama, I was planning to eliminate almost half the players in round 1. (If there are 7 men, only 4 make it to round 2)

One of the things that made Squid Game work was not knowing how many would be eliminated in each round.

 

[APilgrimSquare]

You don’t have to introduce every character.

If you know the core of the story involves a handful, you can introduce the main POV character, have them notice the core characters in some detail, and then everyone else is a red shirt who maybe gets a minor detail on the way out for flavor.

 

[Cagivagurl]

If you have the idea fleshed out in your head.
Go with that...
The numbers are irrelevant. The real characters will evolve through the story, the bit players will quickly fade.

My advice, for what it's worth is write what you feel... There is no magical number. It is what it is....

A great story, is a great story... If the numbers seem hard to manage, let the small characters appear, then drift away....

Go with what you feel is right... Remember, it's your story....

We're all amateurs in here, who really know little more than you...

Cagivagurl

 

[Rustyoznail]

Also, what are they going to do?

I've edited an 8 on 2 gang bang, and it was hell trying to make sure someone wasn't trying to fuck the two woman at the same time. Then, if one of the guys came in W1, they couldn't immediately move to W2... That sort of thing.

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

I have an insane number of characters, but I'm basically writing books at this point. I think the largest sex scene I had included 10 named characters, and yes - it is a pain in the ass to make sure you aren't forgetting anybody. If the story is long enough, this is one of those situations where a character guide may not be that bad of an idea, but I know most folks are hesitant to go that route in a non-serialized story.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

GRRM. Has 2054 named characters and about 31 character points of view(thank you Google)in Game of Thrones so far. Don’t limit yourself.

-with the caveat, that would be one massive orgy.

 

[MrPixel]

I have an insane number of characters, but I'm basically writing books at this point. I think the largest sex scene I had included 10 named characters, and yes - it is a pain in the ass to make sure you aren't forgetting anybody. If the story is long enough, this is one of those situations where a character guide may not be that bad of an idea, but I know most folks are hesitant to go that route in a non-serialized story.

Count me, too, on the "insane number of characters", in my Barstow series. I think the largest extended sex scene was last year's Super Bowl party story, where the MCs invited all their swinger friends... which is a bunch... to the house, with TVs showing the game in all the play areas. I think the FMC keeping the guest list counted something like 25 or 26. All named, all interacting with the four MCs. Then there was the nudist park romp... and then... geez...

I write a lot of characters.

 

[TheOtherTeacher]

Also, what are they going to do?

I don't want to reveal my plans I detail yet, in case some of you want to read it.

But I'm thinking 4 or 5 rounds.

There are going to be a lot of mind games. And of course...sex.

For example, round 2 will have the 10 remaining split into 5 random M/F couples and put into a hotel room together with a clock counting down to 0 (from 1 hour). They are told the room will be watched by secret cameras.

It will be a bit like an escape room. They must follow clues with the hour to discover that they must have doggy-style sex in the bathroom to pass the round.

Some will figure out the clues. One couple will overthink and misunderstand the puzzle (getting eliminated). One couple won't care and will spend the hour fucking in various places around the hotel room.... including doing doggy on the floor of the bathroom.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

Instead of focusing on a number, why don't you try to focus on that minority that's going to get past the first round? I mean, I didn't watch Squid Games, but I know Bloodsport had a huge roster of fighters, and the film only focused in a very small minority, if you can call that for the little story the film has, but if you watched it, you already know that the only fighters that mattered there were Dux, Jackson, and Chong Li. I would add Hussein, Pumola, and Paco to the list, but Hussein was just a clown for the first day, while Pumola and Paco were just excuses to make awesome acrobatics.

A: You people are incredible. I wrote an orgy on my phone a while back, and I had to bring out a piece of paper to draw a mind map and a list of characters to keep track of who was who, and it was only six of them. It was also the very first story I decided to write on my phone.

 

[Rob_Royale]

It depends on the reader and how and how well you flesh them out.
By that I mean, if you put all them at the club at one time and describe them in turn, it's probably not going to work. But break them into smaller groups, describe and introduce them, in pairs or threes, in different locations in the club. Give each a moment to shine and make a first impression, with some good dialog and it's liable to work better. Also make their names very different. Don't have Debbie and Donna in the same story.

 

[Cali_Love]

Some stories should come with warnings. If I can’t keep my kids names straight, how am I supposed to remember double-digit names introduced in the first thousand words? I’d rather give it a hard pass sooner than later.

 

[MajorRewrite]

42

 

[MrPixel]

If I can’t keep my kids names straight,

Around our house (5 kids), Mom would simply start at the top (me) and about the third one down would sigh in exasperation, "Whatever your name is, kid!"

It turns out I have quite the memory for names. I remember nearly everybody's name from this morning's hospital visit and procedure, all people I never met before. I feel a little weird about it, too. Same goes for my writing. In my active series I drop mostly incidental names into the story from as much as 22 chapters ago, from memory, their given and surname.

 

[ronde]

You should have the "winner" in mind before you begin writing. Then, include only enough about the "losers" to make them interesting but not so interesting that they outshie your final "winner". It's the same with any fiction. There are bit parts hardly worth mentioning, intermediate characters who require a bit more introduction and description, and finally, a description of the "main" character(s) that builds throughout the story.

 

[Trionyx]

When there is a sea of names, it can become rapidly difficult for the reader to keep them straight. You as the writer are invested in them, you created them, you spent hours picking names and writing descriptions. What is easy for you is far more difficult for the casual reader who just plopped down to read the story.

My rule of thumb is to use as few as is absolutely necessary for the main plot. Period.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Squid Game managed 500, but didn't name more than about 12.
The Traitors often struggles in the early episodes, with 20 contenders, but you can usually assume that anyone you don't see much in the first episodes won't be a Traitor nor a suspect nor contender for murder.

Grouping people helps. I wrote a story where I wanted a party atmosphere, which I decided needed at least 10 people (all women, plus a guy watching). They divided neatly into couples - the hosts, the main characters, another pair of established characters, the pair who flirt with the guy, and the pair who recently had a baby, are mainly there to make up the numbers, and get rapidly pushed off to bed to make things simpler.

 

[StillStunned]

I thought the maximum was 35, including spaces?

 

[BobbyBrandt]

You don’t have to introduce every character.

If you know the core of the story involves a handful, you can introduce the main POV character, have them notice the core characters in some detail, and then everyone else is a red shirt who maybe gets a minor detail on the way out for flavor.

Exactly. I have more than 60 named characters in a story but few of them have any role other than being "extras" in the background.

 

[Trionyx]

Exactly. I have more than 60 named characters in a story but few of them have any role other than being "extras" in the background.

I would urge caution with this approach. With too many names, the reader might get frustrated wondering which are important and which are the ‘red shirts’ and bail on the whole story before the main characters become apparent.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I would urge caution with this approach. With too many names, the reader might get frustrated wondering which are important and which are the ‘red shirts’ and bail on the whole story before the main characters become apparent.

Thanks, but it hasn't proven to be an issue.

If the characters' placement is concise and relatable to the scenes and the story as a whole, they become part of the scene and help set a tone that readers comprehend.

 

[TiberiusPrime]

I would urge caution with this approach. With too many names, the reader might get frustrated wondering which are important and which are the ‘red shirts’ and bail on the whole story before the main characters become apparent.

With one of my stories, I had 8 main characters. That grew to about 12 or 13 (characters that were in more than one chapter), but those additional characters were added more to move things along. Overall, without going back and double checking, I think I had a total of 15 with "speaking parts".