Hatrack River Writers Workshop: scenes with multiple characters

This is topic scenes with multiple characters in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by arriki (Member # 3079) on :

I have a problem. (Well, don't we all!)

Yes, but this is a writing problem in a novella.

I have a "team" in the opening part of the story. A team of this type cannot be just two or three characters. (It's seven.) Three are the major characters continuing through the story. But...they live together. They work together. They are always around especially since, in the story, it is about their preparing and going out on a "mission."

People keep complaining that it's hard to keep so many people straight.

I tried to introduce them slowly. I gave them names that are different in first letters and length and style. They have different personalities.

Any ideas on how to simplify this for the reader?

Posted by cklabyrinth (Member # 2454) on :

Maybe cut out the names of the four that aren't major characters? Just attribute them as 'the rest of the team' or something.

Or you could write the scene without the other four, but with just the three major characters, saying they were down four team members at the time for some reason.

Posted by Mig (Member # 3318) on :

It's not clear to me what you mean by "major characters." What's the story's POV? Do you have each character as a separate POV character? At novella length having more than two POV characters may be difficult for the reader to follow. Are you able to tell your story from the POV of only one character, and to show the other six characters from his/her POV? How about from the POV of only two characters? If you use more than one POV character, I think the general advice is that the shift in POV should be made clear to the reader, i.e., a new chapter. That may help the reader keep the characters straight.

If you think 7 characters are hard to follow, regardless of the POV, have you considered combining two or more characters?

Apart from distinctive names, have you tried giving the characters other distinctive characteristics, for example: distinctive dialogue patterns like an accent, or a distinctive physical characteristic like character #3 is the one with the third eye, and character #4 always talks from behind a Mickey Mouse mask?

Posted by Beth (Member # 2192) on :

7 characters is a lot, it's true.

Even within a tightly-knit team of 7, some are going to be more important to your story than others; I'd focus on them. There might be a way you can split the group - have 4 of the dwarves off at the mine so that you can introduce them.

Try to find ways to introduce them via both action and emotion. "Bashful hid behind the love seat" is going to be more memorable than "Bashful had a long white beard like the rest of the dwarves."

Posted by Novice (Member # 3379) on :

Memory is strongest when allowed to cross-associate. If your readers are complaining about confusion, you simply haven't given them enough ways to remember the characters.

You could start by dividing the four secondary characters into two groups, using common attributes. i.e. males vs females, romantic couplings, or siblings. Even hair color. The reader will remember "the girls" or "the twins" or "the lovers" easier than individual names. Then you can gradually introduce distinct identifiers, making sure to maintain the group references, so readers can keep up with the fact that "John" is one of "the lovers."

Posted by pantros (Member # 3237) on :

You simply cannot introduce 7 characters at once.

Ideally start with one or two. Three is the absolute limit for a very talented writer.

If you start with too many the reader never really bonds with any character and does not connect to the story.

I'd rework the story to One MC, Two major characters and four supporting characters.

Whose PoV does the story follow the most?

Posted by Elan (Member # 2442) on :

I have a handful of characters in my story. It's a real challenge, because to keep them "alive" you have to devote time to developing them. It increases my word count quite a bit to just make sure they have adequate presence.

Make sure that each and every one of these characters is critical to the plot in some way... either as a development tool to other characters and the milieu, or to actually forward the plot. If they are there simply as window dressing, consider why you have them and see if you can't consolidate two characters into one. Don't force the reader to do mental gymnastics if they don't need to; it's exhausting. I know more than one person who put down "Lord of the Rings" unread simply because they were unable to keep track of all the characters in the story.

My major nit with multiple-character stories is when authors use generic pronouns instead of names. If you have more than one character in a scene, you need to be using NAMES nearly each time you reference them. I hate having paragraphs where there are two or three people interacting, and the author uses a generic pronoun like "he" or "her"... I want to know WHO is talking each TIME they talk.

I presume you've already determined multiple characters are what you need, so I'm not trying to suggest you drop them (provided you have determined they are necessary). I am merely saying it requires a greater attention to detail to make sure each one comes alive with a unique personality and their ongoing presence in the story is clearly described to the reader.

Posted by Nietge (Member # 3474) on :

One good thing to do is give some of these characters distinctive speaking styles...one is halting, another is verbose, another uses a stock expression like 'ya think?' Some are ethnic, some are WASP. Put the groups into smaller groups...two are lovers, two are from the same ethnic background...two others seem to be arguementative most of the time for some reason...that way, when each speaks, the reader may catch on to who is speaking just from what is said, but of course it takes a while to establish all of these personalities..

Posted by arriki (Member # 3079) on :

I have only one pov character. These are all aliens. It's like writing a novel set in China where everybody has brown eyes and everybody has black hair.

Posted by pantros (Member # 3237) on :

You start with two characters "MC" and his "Team of six"

As the story progresses seperate the team into its individuals as they are necessary to push the plot forward.

Basically gloss over the individuality until you have a proper scene to explore each individual seperately. until then they are part of the team.

Posted by pooka (Member # 1738) on :

You don't have 7 characters. You have 42 relationships. Now do you appreciate the actual scope of your problem? Given how long the novella runs, there may even be people with relationships to themselves.

Posted by trousercuit (Member # 3235) on :

Actually, I was thinking about just that the other day with regards to what each character calls each other.

In the worst case, all seven have pet names for each of the other six, so your lookup table is O(n^2). Of course, this goes for more than names.

I've thought of using a spreadsheet for this kind of thing before, with names across and down. Even better, I could make each character a node of a graph and associate data with edges between them if they've ever had any interaction, do some data mining, find cliques...

The voices in my head are chanting, "Nerd! Nerd! Nerd!"

Posted by Elan (Member # 2442) on :

quote:
The voices in my head are chanting, "Nerd! Nerd! Nerd!"

As well they should be.

Posted by pooka (Member # 1738) on :

Oh come on, some have to be chanting "Geek, Geek, Geek..." and then the nerd ones are arguing with them about the literal definition of "geek".

Posted by trousercuit (Member # 3235) on :

Yep. And then there are the quiet bespectacled ones in the corner making note of who says which and marking interactions between them in their little "voices in trousercuit's head" graph...

It gets pretty wild in there.

Posted by Elan (Member # 2442) on :

quote:
And then there are the quiet bespectacled ones in the corner making note of who says which and marking interactions between them in their little "voices in trousercuit's head" graph...

I imagine the quiet, bespectacled ones are muttering: "Illiterate Philistines!" to themselves.

Posted by trousercuit (Member # 3235) on :

If they're saying that, they're shouting.

Actually, now that I think about it, that graph thing would be a great way to organize my characters.

Imagine this in the context of a computer program. Draw a circle for each character. Call it a "node." Inside is the character's common tag or full name. If you double-click it, you can edit character information.

Optionally, arrows or lines are drawn between character nodes. If you click on one, you can edit the relationship between the two characters: how they met, how they regard each other, general frequency of interaction, strength of friendship, etc., etc., etc.

Then you could do data mining... okay, you probably wouldn't have to. But strongly-connected groups of characters would indicate cliques (not in the rigorous, mathematical sense), and looking at the graph with all the information but names hidden might give you a great intuition about how these people all fit together.

I might just write this when I get some spare time.

[This message has been edited by trousercuit (edited June 10, 2006).]

Posted by ChrisOwens (Member # 1955) on :

Yep, as a reader, it can be daunting to be introducted even 5 new characters at once, say when a MC is having some clandestine gathering and is meeting them for the first time themselves. (Such as in a certain scene in Elantris). Naming a character, I've heard, sets up an expectation that the reader needs to keep track of them NOW and that they are important. Too many too soon and I'm pulling my hair out.

I've noticed Jordan throws me in that quandry on occasion, where one of the viewpoint characters is meeting a handful of new characters at once. Almost in a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement at one point, the viewpoint character reflected on how hard it was to keep track of so many new people.

Yes, perhaps it would be better for the viewpoint character to be introducted along with one other of the seven, and scene by scene, we are introduced to another.