Number of Characters

I have a tendency, when I write, to include very few characters. I think this is probably just my way of trying to make writing simpler, but I really don't think it's a good thing. For example, in the story I just started for Julnowrimo, I have my two main characters, Hollie and Sterling. Now, Hollie I know can't have lots of friends, because she is kind of strange, and not too social. Yet, I want more characters in my story than just Hollie and Sterling. I have both of their parents, who are all pretty minor characters, and I have Hollie's 2 year old brother, who doesn't do anything in the story. I see that almost everyone on YWS has lots of important characters, and I don't. And ideas on how I can have more characters?

I use siblings a lot. But, you gave Hollie as little sibling, a younger one, so that wouldn't work. What about Sterling's family? Does Sterling have any friends? With a novel I wrote I gave one of my MC's a really good friend, maybe if Sterling and Hollie are best friends (I'm not sure) give Sterling another really close friend. You can do cousins, and other family members. I mean, Hollie has to have some people she associates with. Just be creative, I guess. Good luck.

chipsandguacamollie wrote:I have a tendency, when I write, to include very few characters. I think this is probably just my way of trying to make writing simpler, but I really don't think it's a good thing. For example, in the story I just started for Julnowrimo, I have my two main characters, Hollie and Sterling. Now, Hollie I know can't have lots of friends, because she is kind of strange, and not too social. Yet, I want more characters in my story than just Hollie and Sterling. I have both of their parents, who are all pretty minor characters, and I have Hollie's 2 year old brother, who doesn't do anything in the story. I see that almost everyone on YWS has lots of important characters, and I don't. And ideas on how I can have more characters?

Hi guacamollie ^^

Well, characters are definitely an important part of a story. Without characters, there really can't be story xD

Just because a character is kind of strange and not social doesn't mean there can't be any other characters.

An important character in every story is the antagonist. The antagonist can be one of many things depending on what kind of conflict you have

Types of Conflict:
Man vs. Man <--- your antagonist would be a person
Man vs. Self <---- your protagonist would also be your antagonist
Man vs. Nature <---- Nature is the antagonist
Man vs. Society <--- Society is the antagonist

So, an antagonist is always an important character to have.

You can also have characters that pick on your MC, Hollie. Bullies, for example. People who maybe knock her binders over or pick on her. And usually, bulies for girls come in possies. If you've ever seen the movie "The Clique" it's a good example of what bullies are for girls.

You can have an important neighbor like Ms. Maudie in To Kill a Mockingbird. Or you can have that one old, mean, nasty lady in the neighborhood who sits on her porch and yells at people.

Also, sometimes kids without friends are usually close to store owners in town. Maybe the candy shop owner, or the vegetable guy. Maybe the pet store owner.

How about those other neighborhood kids who are bullied by the "posse" ? Sometimes they stick up with MC to go against the bully.

Random family members that come into town, maybe. A grandmother who understands Hollie more than her parents. A pet, or maybe a friend from another town who comes in during the summer.

That's all of the examples I can think of right now =_= Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

-Shina

Thank you both so much! That gave me some great ideas....

Remember that parents are evil and they tend to have a way of sneaking into their kids' lives. So they'll play a role in it, definitely. FREAK used to be like that (with minimal involvement of characters) but when i looked at the parents' conflicts, it turned into this huge conflict. Because, let's face it. If the parents are stressed about something (and trust me, most parents are) then their stress will affect their children.

Good luck!

My answer is to throw in random people. xD In my (well-planned) novels, I have a minimal cast of characters. Very few are ever named, and I probably only have ten named characters. And I don't use all of them and need to come up with places to use them so they don't just vanish. So, keeping the cast small can be an advantage.

In my JulNo, I'm throwing in random characters left and right just for fun. They probably won't show up again (But they're there if I need them!) and I've got a small cast that I absolutely need. Anybody else that shows up is just adding to my word count.

Hope this helps!

~ Rosey

I see that almost everyone on YWS has lots of important characters, and I don't. And ideas on how I can have more characters?

My last NaNo had two main characters, then four other minor characters. A few other walk-ons with no lines and that was it. If your story can work with a few characters, then don't worry about it too much. You don't have to be like everyone else...

However, if you do want more characters, I'd definitely think of antagonists - the people opposing your heroes. Give them motives and friends and they can be a great source of extra characters.

Have a new kid move in town! Give the girls a job and a quirky manager! The homeless dude who plays the guitar on the street corner! Imaginary friends! Little voices in their heads! Just some ideas...

Good luck!

~GryphonFledgling

There's always a love interest.

tnme22 wrote:There's always a love interest.

The love interest is my second main character. My characters multitask.

Thanks everyone! I took some of your ideas, and I think I have a few more decent characters now, plus a lot of other smaller ones. I really appreciate it.

I'd totally go with friends, because those characters can grow just as well as the main characters. In my novel, Flabbergast, I had two main characters, but they were going to a boarding school. So I then had six people to a dorm house and multiple dorm houses. The great thing about school settings and the like is you can always add in more people, since schools are so large that one character rarely knows everyone.

For my Julno, Addison, I have four main characters, though my antagonists still don't totally exist yet... But, I have the potential for several other characters with the zombies and the remaining humans in the city... But, I had Addy, Saki, and Mo planned from the beginning, but Mo and Saki were in a different place from the beginning of the story and Addy was just by himself in the other chapter. I decided that Addy needed someone to talk to, so I created Charlie, and she kind of made her way into the rest of the story.

Just let your characters speak to you and you'll find yourself finding the characters that you need.

Do not add a lot of characters that are not needed just to feel that your story would be better with them. A lot of the time, I despise how writers include an overwhelming amount of useless characters and I wish they weren't there. Kind of like the beginning of Twilight whenever Stephanie Meyers introduces all the kids that approaches Bella on her first couple of days.