Organizing Your Character Cast

[Creed]

Let's say you're working on a project with a large character cast- some characters group together and some wander alone throughout the story, some pick up others, abandon them, get abandoned, kill some, save some, meet some, wound some, etc.
So what do you do? How do you organise them, their placements, and their interactions?
I'm especially asking this in reference to the members of a royal court. To make political intrigue requires knowing about the different factions (for me there are 5 noble houses and the ruling family) and their motives (I know who's loyal to who, and for what reasons). But it's keeping track of them all and making sure nothing falls short of the plans that is the pain. Not to mention the lesser characters (like the steward) don't all have names yet. So what are your methods, techniques, and suggestions?

 

[Saigonnus]

I usually just create a simple flow chart starting at the top of hierarchy and working down. I don't generally worry about names at first, just the basic positions in relation to the others. I do this for every organization/ faction within a story and it helps keep things in order on who outranks who and possibly what duties they have within the hierarchy. Names/character data can be added once the positions are set up the way you want them.

I use much the same system for outlining military orders/armies since it gives me an idea on how many soldiers are in each unit, what sort of weaponry they have and other resources at their disposal.

 

[TWErvin2]

The trick is introducing them to the reader such that they are memorable and make sense within the context of the story.

For the writer, it's easy to remember who is who, who is friends/allied with what other character's factions, etc. But over the course of a novel, they can easily become just names to the reader, sometimes forgotten or who they are/represent is forgotten. If you're having trouble organizing and keeping track when outlining the story, keep this in mind when considering the reader as the novel is written.

Harry Turtledove in some of his alternate history works has accomplished this, with a large cast of characters (his World War series, comes to mind). The Chronicles of Amber series is another (by Zelazny) where there is a struggle for the throne and many characters vying for it, with various allies. Maybe seeing how some authors have done it successfully would be a good investment in time before you get started. You may already have a novel/series or two in mind that you've read and enjoyed.

I've found that if there is an anchor character the reader is familiar with, introducing the new character(s) through connection with that anchor one, an event of significance, for example, the reader will have context to remember who that new character is and what he represents/believes, etc.

 

[wordwalker]

One method I use is to group characters by the loyalties you'd expect, then crossed with how they vary from that.

For instance, you'd expect five noble houses to all be rivals, a 5-way stand-off, if an unequal one. But which houses are instead allied together, and why? --that's a plot device there, how much more weight they have together, or if something can split them up. Which people within a house disagree with the house's course (or just want to take over from their brother), making subdivisions there? --more plot devices, who starts disagreeing when and why, and what it leads to.

This makes it easier to sort characters, at least personality-wise: they're clumped together by what ought to be common interests, but distinguished by their differences within that (and by odd connections to other groups, by what happens to them when, by the ripple effects of how one change rebalances others... oy!).

The way I see it, the story may say there has to be a steward for a lord, but if I've got to give him any attention I'll look for when his loyalty is tested, or he struggles to continue his duties despite fatal illness, or at least he's the voice of tradition that reins in his lord. If there's no room in the plot to find him a little out of line, and too many characters to be sure I can make his attitude within that line different from others' distinguishing attitudes, I'll try not to have him there at all.

 

[Anders Ämting]

I haven't thought about it much, but I guess it comes down to knowing how each character (and their actions) relate to the plot, and how they are related to the main character.

Now, I tend to have a lot of characters, but that's because character design is pretty much my strongest talent as a writer, and my stories are very character driven, so it's fairly easy for me to think of interesting characters and fit them into the plot. However, of course you shouldn't have more characters than you need and feel that you can handle. For example, you don't have to pay equal attention to an entire court when a few key characters are the interesting ones.

 

[ThinkerX]

I'm having to deal with this in some of my own stories - distant political machinations having an effect on what my characters are doing.

So far, its geneologies (underlying disputes going back over a hundred years) along with lists of names of the various family members. What I'm considering doing is expanding those lists slightly to incorporate a bit more info on the key players.

I've noticed that a lot of the better intrigue heavy novels do feature appendices with lists of characters and a few words of description.

 

[Chilari]

In terms of family, a family tree might be appropriate - that way you can map out relationships between families. Then it might be a good idea to create a series if household sheets setting out the hierarchy within each house using different levels, perhaps, or a hierarchy pyramid. In terms of the physical locations of each character as time passes, xkcd has a relevant comic plotting various famous works of fiction diagramatically. I've attempted using a similar system when potting stories with a lot of characters and it has worked okay.

 

[JCFarnham]

In terms of family, a family tree might be appropriate - that way you can map out relationships between families. Then it might be a good idea to create a series if household sheets setting out the hierarchy within each house using different levels, perhaps, or a hierarchy pyramid. In terms of the physical locations of each character as time passes, xkcd has a relevant comic plotting various famous works of fiction diagramatically. I've attempted using a similar system when potting stories with a lot of characters and it has worked okay.

Hey that's a neat idea. I may have to try that out of a couple of my works now.

Though it's supposedly to show location, you can easily glean relationships, conflict and such from the intesections of the lines..

 

[Butterfly]

I use a colour coded time line drawn up on a spread sheet.

Dates across the top and character names to the left. The rest filled in with events for each character. Those that are grouped together in one colour, those separate in another, colours changing as they move in and out. The core plot in another. It helps, visually and in organising where everyone is, what they're doing, etc.

 

[Addison]

I look at my list of characters before I necessarily cast them. I look at my hero and/or heroine. I look at the side characters closest to him/her which are important to them full filling their role in the main plot. Then, if there's any characters left, I take a good look. Are they part of a sub plot? Is that sub plot needed? If, after that, there's any characters left, I take a better look at them, see what they contribute to any character, the plot or sub-plot, and decide if they're really needed or if what they give has already been given or can be given another way.

After that I put the list in the depths of the story folder so I can focus on the story.

 

[Creed]

In terms of family, a family tree might be appropriate - that way you can map out relationships between families.

I was thinking about that, actually. I got Season 1 of Game Of Thrones for Christmas and it came with a set of family trees showing couplings and marriages and such. I think that could be very useful for the court. The only setback is coming up with even more names for these people so I can reference them and their accomplishments, battles, treacheries, etc. Some people are naturals when it comes to name-making. I, however, am dissatisfied with my skills in that area. All the names have to be just right. I'm afraid I have a few traits of a perfectionist- which is a most unsuitable occupation for me. I'll try making a family tree and fleshing out some Imperial history immediately!

 

[wordwalker]

Careful here. Making lists and charts can be addictive, and multiplying that by perfectionism makes it worse. On the one hand you want to Come Up With Stuff, but on the other, writing really starts when you pick which ones the story's about.

 

[Zireael]

Well, I go the family tree approach too. I've got a handy list of major noble houses in my world, a few names for every house and then I pick someone (usually her child, not the Banrion herself) to be the star of the next one-shot I write up.

 

[Addison]

I try not to get too deep in lists and notes and organizing details. Otherwise I'll be making notes, doing research and side trips for basically nothing, wasting precious story-writing time.

 

[Creed]

I think it's a good idea, but not to go too far. Having a general idea with the charts and trees would be helpful, but the devil is in the details and it's important not to get lost in them. Besides, if changes need to be made then that just makes it difficult.