Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Introducing Multiple Characters In A Novel

This is topic Introducing Multiple Characters In A Novel in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by luapc (Member # 2878) on :

I am currently working on the planning stages of a novel where there are to be at least five distinct groups of people that will come together about a third of the way through, after which, they will all be involved in the rest of the story together. These characters will have different life experiences and won't necessarily interact or know each other before the point where they meet.

Right now, I'm trying to determine the best way to introduce them so that the story doesn't go off on tangents and lose the reader's attention before the story really gets moving. I have considered two methods. The first is to devote one or two chapters to each group, then a wrap-up chapter where they are all together. The other method, is to pick one focus group, writing about them in odd chapters, and placing chapters about the other characters between on the even chapters.

Does anyone have any suggestions on this? Which do you think works best, and do you know of particular books where either type of prsentation has been used? Are there any other techniques that you have seen or think work? Thank you in advance for your help and comments.

Posted by franc li (Member # 3850) on :

Introduce things as they become relevant, is all I can offer. Otherwise people have a tendency to forget about them. Now because it's fiction, you have some control over how relevant something is at a given time. I think introducing a group and developing them a bit before introducing the next is better than introducing everyone at once. Are they all journeying to the place where they will meet?

Posted by ChrisOwens (Member # 1955) on :

Illium had alternating chapters, three groups, three threads, one in first person, two in 3PL. I've yet to get the sequal (waiting for the paperback), but I assume that eventually these three threads will combine.

Elantris had two viewpoint characters have never met, and they eventually meet up at the end. Of course, at one point, the writer introduces five characters at once when the viewpoint character meets with them, and I had a hard time distinquishing them at first.

Posted by luapc (Member # 2878) on :

For this particualr novel, they are all on Earth, about to embark on a colony ship to a far off alien world. Each group has their own reasons for wanting to leave Earth, and each one's reasons play into the plot later.

Your comment does bring up another related question. Do you think it's possible to develop a character that can be cared for in a single chapter? I believe so, but I was just wondering what others might think.

Posted by wbriggs (Member # 2267) on :

Not introducing them all at once is a good thing, I think.

Posted by rickfisher (Member # 1214) on :

It's definitely possible to make a reader care about a character in a single chapter. In fact, if I don't care about the character(s) by the end of chapter one, I'm unlikely to read chapter two.

Regarding the initial topic: Are the five groups/characters equally important? Are their different backgrounds equally important? Could some of them be filled in briefly after they've met? If not, will they all require the same amount of up-front space?

You're attempting to do something that's pretty difficult to pull off successfully. A book that comes to mind as having done something similar successfully is Fritz Leiber's The Wanderer (Hugo winner 1965). I read it nearly 40 years ago, so I have no idea whether my impressions would be the same today. But I remember--even though, when I was a teenager, I thought I had no interest in character at all--how impressed I was that I'd been introduced in a short time to a large number of characters in different places, and I felt like I knew who they all were. I could even remember their names.

A couple of things you might want to consider: 1) the opening segment for each group must be gripping and memorable. 2) start with the group of characters who are most important, and spend more time with them. The least important group could be introduced shortly before they all meet, after the reader is well-familiar with the others. (But see the next paragraph where I put caveats on this suggestion.) 3) EVERY group has got to be interesting. Most people really hate it when a book leaves the interesting plotline or characters to spend time with the less interesting one (or five). Aside from the initial introductions, where it's somewhat inevitable, you never want to elicit the sequence of reactions: "Wow! What's going to happen next? [turns page] Ohh...them." Instead, it should be "Wow! What's going to happen next? [turns page] Oh, yeah! Now I get to find out how those people managed to..." 3) Try to include connections between the groups that they themselves may not be aware of. You can finish one section with the MC(s) noticing a news report of forest fires in California, and then you switch to the group that's involved in those forest fires. Any kind of connection like that keeps the reader from feeling like they've been picked up from one place and dropped in another.

Also, don't feel that you need to spend a whole chapter on one group. If you bounce around too quickly, especially at the beginning, the reader may feel lost--but once you've presented enough information in a memorable enough fashion (even if you manage to do so in a couple of paragraphs) move on. Introducing the groups quickly lets the reader know that all these people are important and will probably come together sometime. Introducing them slowly lets the reader come to know each group and be more invested in them before being subjected to a new group. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Which is better depends on how quickly you can snag the reader's interest and fix the characters in memory.

Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :

The story starts when the colony ship leaves. I would start with them together and flash back to each group. that way, you can remain in the same POV character.