# Too many main characters?



## writeshiek33 (Feb 9, 2012)

i know traditionally there is one or two main characters in novels and fantasy stories in general what about a group say a dozen i know it has been done in film like dirty dozen. i am still writing concept and one interesting character still developing other main protagonist it does seem cliche and worried that i might confuse my nephew as these short stories are for him to get him interested in reading more i tend be more of darker writer but i am giving it a go


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## sashamerideth (Feb 9, 2012)

Stories with more than a few focal characters do need to be bigger, and I don't think a short story is too small for so many characters. If you have one or two focal characters per short it will be easier to deal with.


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## Dark Huntress (Feb 9, 2012)

I agree. It's hard to fit more than two main characters in a short story. Plus depending on the age of the child, it can be confusing. I sometimes write stories , before I got writers block, for a seven year old little boy. In my fantasy stories for him, I make him the main character.


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## writeshiek33 (Feb 9, 2012)

i mean set short stories like chapters


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## sashamerideth (Feb 9, 2012)

writeshiek33 said:
			
		

> i mean set short stories like chapters



If there is a connecting thread that the kid can latch on to then maybe it could work, but it would be more confusing and harder to write. Not the kind of thing I would want to start with.


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## Azza (Feb 9, 2012)

I wrote a short story once with 12 'main characters' but the story itself was told from only one characters POV, the others were his companions. All of these characters, while not being described much or necessarily having much dialogue, were all important and crucial to the storyline. It can be done, not saying I did it well  it just depends on how you're wanting to involve these other characters and how much you intend to develop them. Writing from 12 points of view would be very difficult, and confusing for a reader. Try different techniques and see how it goes  good luck!


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## The Grey Sage (Feb 9, 2012)

My trilogy has around 8 main characters but only 3 have omnitient thought revelation (you can see their thoughts). This kind of set up allows for some interesting developement and lots of options/ cool ideas, the problem is linking them together which requires time. That time span that is needed to hook them together may be too large for a short story or even a single novel. I do like many characters though...


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## Scott Staddy (Feb 9, 2012)

Just check out the series A Song of Fire and Ice. There's a whole mess of characters the story revolves around and the chapters are told from different points of view. Now he generally focused on 4-5 main characters throughout but all the others still had big roles. The biggest danger I would think is taking the time to properly develop each characters personality, etc and trying to make sure they act in accordance to their traits. The interweaving plot across multiple chapters/stories is a good concept. Just my 2c


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## Chilari (Feb 9, 2012)

I can see a number of problems with multiple main characters in a written medium. First, there's the danger of the lack of focus if there's a large cast of viewpoint or major characters. One or two main players means the story can be focused around what has the greatest impact on what they see of the story. With twelve, there are different factors, different motivations, different aspect of the story, all involved in telling on tale.

Similarly, by having several main charcters, you also run the risk of not making them distinct enough from each other. In film or TV it can work fine, because there are other dimensions - their voice, what they look like, how they dress, how they move, and so on. With the written word, while you can describe some of that, doing so repeatedly can get tedious, and you simply cannot go into as much detail as there is presented visually on screen. And of course, the actors being different people helps make the characters distinct, because they have different patterns of behaviour, different ways of moving, etc. But the writer is the creator of all characters, and in a book the actor of them all too. Having too many characters - and I think the number depends on the writer - means that eventually the reader forgets which is which, who said what to who, who punched who else in the face, because they're all doing things and all getting their time in the forefront of the narrative, and eventually they all blur together because of perspective.

I think the way to do it with what you're planning - a series of short stories about the same main characters - is to have each story have one POV character, with this changing from one story to the next.


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## Benjamin Clayborne (Feb 9, 2012)

It's funny how a lot of writers start out with incredibly ambitious ideas, rather than starting simple and getting good at the basics first, and then developing into more complex works. I can't think of another discipline where beginners think it's a good idea to try to do something incredibly complicated right at the start.

It probably has to do with the difficulty of _telling_ whether you're good at it, since it's so subjective. How do you know when you've mastered the simple stuff?

(Not that I'm immune to this particular syndrome, either )


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## writeshiek33 (Feb 10, 2012)

it is going tio be pov from one or two new recruits i think i try writing a basic scene or two then take it from there


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