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Young Writers Society


How many important characters are there in your story?



How many important characters are there in your story?

1
11
5%
2-3
73
33%
4-6
85
39%
7-10
28
13%
11-15
7
3%
16+
16
7%
 
Total votes : 220


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Mon Jun 17, 2013 8:30 pm
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Charlie II says...



How many characters do you have in your current story? Just a few key players or a cast-list as long as Les Misérables? How many characters is too many? Tell us what you think.
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Mon Jun 17, 2013 10:02 pm
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CowLogic says...



I don't think there's such a thing as too many characters, just too many hands in the kitchen. In other words, don't have too many important characters active in the story at the same time. I'm not going to give you a number or anything because I'm lazy and don't feel like thinking.
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Mon Jun 17, 2013 10:56 pm
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Sins says...



This poll just made me realise that I have 2-3 'important' characters in all my novels (4-6 in some cases, I suppose). Weeeirddddd. I think it's because I get attached to specific characters and so I place a lot of the focus on them, which can be both a good and a bad thing I guess.

I agree with CowLogic though that having too many major, important characters is generally not a good idea because it can be awfully confusing for the poor reader, plus it's unlikely all 838972343 will be very well developed.
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Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:06 pm
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spinelli says...



Well, what do you mean "important characters"? I have main characters, but every character is important despite being of a small role. So...?
  





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Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:14 pm
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Swiftfurthewarrior says...



I have one character that I like to use in all my stories.
In fact, this character is so important and cool, that I used it as my username.
Hi
Spoiler! :
Yes, I know I need a signature.


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Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:19 pm
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Sins says...



I feel sorry for 11-15

Someone vote for 11-15
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Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:35 pm
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Sandvich says...



At the moment? Only one. But I have three planned. If you've read so far, no points for guessing who they are.
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Tue Jun 18, 2013 1:31 pm
beckiw says...



I think it depends on how you're writing your story. If you're writing in first person then that would probably lend itself to fewer characters because it might get confusing.

I'm writing from about 8 different perspectives in my novel so it kind of lends itself to having a lot of 'important characters'. Not only do you have the PoV characters but also the important people within their perspectives and so on...
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Tue Jun 18, 2013 2:22 pm
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Animal says...



I write novels where everyone is important.
deleted
  





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Tue Jun 18, 2013 3:39 pm
Noelle says...



Animal wrote:I write novels where everyone is important.

I agree.

I usually have two or three main characters and then some minor characters to tag along. The minor characters always play an important part in the story one way or another so I consider them important.
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Tue Jun 18, 2013 4:01 pm
EnigmaticSpirit says...



The main characters in my stories are usually the ones who I can emphasise with, and when I say emphasise, I can really feel their emotions throughout the novels as I'm writing. If something happens where one of the main characters (this is just an example) watches a friend die or get seriously injured I'll feel the shock and sadness the main character is feeling.

I usually have about 4-6 (I should have picked that option) main characters in which the reader sees through their viewpoints. I tend to become attached to my main characters and I'll find it incredibly difficult to kill them off.

I can emphasise with minor characters but I'm not as attached to them and they're there to pretty much play their own part.
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Tue Jun 18, 2013 7:00 pm
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Rydia says...



I went with 11-15, though that's more 'significant' character, rather than important. I have...

3 main characters: at least one of these is in every chapter.
7 supporting characters: These support the main characters and appear in at least three/ four chapters of the novel and 6 of them will appear in later novels.
2 villains: One main villain and one support.
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Tue Jun 18, 2013 7:53 pm
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CowLogic says...



To those saying that all their characters are all important, obviously this is true because why else would they be in the mis-en-scene (<--- not a very well constructed sentence fragment) but we're talking relative importance here. Characters you spend most of the time in the book with, the protagonists/antagonists, those that truly have the personal drive of the story on their side.
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Wed Jun 19, 2013 6:45 am
IlhamAlKhatib says...



Guys, can you please tell me how to get a story/novel published and get its copyrights ?!!

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Wed Jun 19, 2013 6:54 am
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Snoink says...



All of them! Or... eight.
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