“Too many characters” is a critique writers often hear about their work. A large cast can make it harder for readers to keep track of who’s who and their importance to the plot. But how do you know when you have too many characters? And if you do, which ones do you cut? In a post on the Write Practice blog, J.D. Edwin offers advice for determining which characters are essential and how they contribute to your plot.
“Having fewer characters does not mean that you should have as few characters as possible, nor does it mean you should aim to tell a story that you have to cut your current cast for the pure purpose of reducing its size,” Edwin writes. “It simply means that when you tell your story, make every character count.”
According to Edwin, after you’ve completed your first draft, you should evaluate your characters to see which have one or more of these four essential qualities:
- The character helps move the plot forward. Does something change due to this character’s action? Do they react emotionally to the events of the story?
- The character contributes to the main character’s development. Did the character affect your protagonist in the past or help form their way of thinking? Does the character compel your protagonist to change in some way or give them a new way of thinking?
- The character contributes to at least one conflict. Does the character cause or influence conflict with the main character?
- The character resolves at least one conflict. Does the character break up a fight, mediate an argument, resolve a misunderstanding, or communicate a convenient piece of information.
Characters who exhibit all four of these elements are your main cast and should have the most story time and development. Others may be less clearly delineated.
Once you divvy up your main and supporting cast, it’s time to figure out if any are non-essential. You might have colorful background characters who don’t contribute to the plot or do so in a small way. Consider giving their actions to a more important character. Characters who show up only to drive a plot twist are ripe for elimination.
Similarly, some characters might have too much to do. Does someone show up in places they wouldn’t be? Do they make too many decisions or drive too much conflict? If so, they might be detracting from your protagonist’s role. In rare cases, you might decide to split this character into two, depending on their role in the story.
