Large casts or small casts in your stories?

[Roland]

I've noticed, especially recently, that I tend to gravitate towards large casts in books. That is, even if the book has one main protagonist, I love it when the scope of a book goes beyond the main protagonists and even minor characters are important and prevalent.

I especially enjoy books with ensemble casts, especially when their plot lines interconnect, as I like piecing together all the plots to get the full story. The most recent book I read was World War Z which did this.

Some of my own books, in fact, are based on the story-telling methods of shows like Lost or Heroes.

What about you? What size casts do you like in your stories? Do you prefer they center around one or two characters, or focus on expanding the universe to a larger number of protagonists?

[Steven]

Large casts. Generally, I end up with between 4 to 6 major characters and about 10 essential 'co-stars' and 15 to 20 minor ones. Each of the major characters have one or more sub plots each.

It's the way I like the books I read. The bigger the better.

[Stan]

I wrote some large cast books and some small cast books. It just depends on the story.

[Philip]

In my first book I have a large cast with an organisation list in the front OK in hard copy not so easy in ePub and Kindle

My second book has fewer but spread over a long timeline and physically larger book

For large casts how about The Lord of the Rings or A Game of Thrones even the Harry Potter series has a huge cast albeit spread over seven books

[Steven]

Rings is outstanding. I've reread it every couple of years since someone handed me a copy in 1968. 'Son made me a Potter fan and I was glad. Since Martin managed to kill off all but two of the characters I really liked I don't think I will finish the series even if the man ever finishes it.

[Justin]

I try to keep it under 5. I usually go with two main characters and then sub characters on and off throughout. I tried 5 main ones once and I confused myself.

[Robert]

I try to keep it to a small group of characters, but I do like giving minor characters some unique details so they don't just feel like cardboard cutouts.

[L.F.]

It really does depend upon the story, but I tend to gravitate toward smaller casts in both my reading and my writing. I don't know if that comes from my loathing of crowds or from my short-story training---nothing extraneous :) I tend to get lost in who is who if there are too many characters to keep track of in a book and hate having to thumb back through trying to figure it out.

[Harold]

When you wish to portray an important historical event, you have to utilize a large cast of characters. Their varied experiences, collectively considered, provide the scope of the event. But, then, four or five major characters with whom readers need to identify are essential to carry the story to its completion.

[Justin]

I will say that it depends on what you as the author deep ''large''. 5 to 6 seems large to me, anymore and your really testing out your writing by keeping up and really adding lots of dialogue.

[Jenelle]

Roland wrote: "I've noticed, especially recently, that I tend to gravitate towards large casts in books. That is, even if the book has one main protagonist, I love it when the scope of a book goes beyond the main..."

I'm like you, I tend to gravitate towards larger casts in books. I love Fantasy partially for this very reason, as it generally contains larger casts.

I've found that larger-cast books tend to be a bit longer, have more books in the series, and end up showing the reader a lot more of the world in which the story takes place than smaller-cast books. This is not to say that small-cast books aren't capable of length or depth, they are!

When I was writing my first book, I had racked up about 7 main characters and my best friend - who was reading the book as I was writing it - said, "If you add one more main character I'm gonna scream!"

(I added at least 2 more). But I felt like, as it was an epic fantasy genre, that more characters were sort of essential for the genre. At the time, the fantasy that I had read revolved mostly around Tolkien and Robert Jordan (talk about enormous cast lists!!!) The more that I've read in that genre, the more I feel vindicated that my first opinion was correct. :)

[Marshall]

Interesting topic. When I read, I'd say it boils down to two issues: what suits the story and how well the author builds characters. I'm not a fan of epic fantasy, however (despite loving Game of Thrones on TV), so the fiction I read is rarely the massive-cast sort. Unless the book is hundreds of pages long, I think there's a point of diminishing returns after five or six characters. But even in a shorter book, I sometimes find that I can't tell who is who (and thus why I should care). James Salter's All That Is is an example of one I read recently that didn't work for me for that reason.

In my own novels, I have maxed out at two main characters (alternating POV by chapter) plus maybe four to six in the supporting cast. This is how my mind seems to work; this is the size of the canvas I gravitate toward. I have an idea for a future book, or series of books, that will require a larger cast; I'm allowing the idea to simmer in the back of my mind until I'm more certain I (a) know who all the characters are, (b) have all the elements of the story in place, (c) know how they'll all fit together, and (d) have time to write the bloody thing.

[Rosanna]

I write romance, so for me, the main draw is always the hero and heroine. However, a romance is not comprised of just one couple. You need secondary characters for flavor and interest and to help drive the plot. However, I try not to drop too many names. Maybe 6-7 secondary characters, but usually only 3 of them have a real role. In romance, you need time to devote to the couple in the leading roles.

[[deleted user]]

Large cast, I hit 63 characters in my book Soul Seed.

[Wayne]

While not due for publication until 2017-19, Ascending Angles has 31 characters. But it's just a number. What's key is the way by which the story unfolds.

[Jim]

The number of characters injected into a story by the author should be determined by the individual author's ability to keep track of each character and to write true to that character's personality and temprement rather than inadvertently responding to dialogue or a situation as they themselves might.

[Christopher]

Jim, I agree with you, but I would like to add that setting influences size of cast as well. My novel and short story collection is set in New York City, so I tired the characters, my protagonists are most fully developed, followed by a core cast of between four and six, followed by support players (others in the detective squad, suspects, etc.), followed by citizens. There are dozens of citizens in the novel, and I work to give each of them a distinct feel that is true to the rich mosaic that is New York City. I work diligently to present the different voice of the city, the different cultures, clothing styles, postures, jobs, tones, and attitude.

[Christopher]

Ack! I went to edit "is" to "are" and published instead! My apologies for the grammar mistake!

[Roland]

Rachael wrote: "Large cast, I hit 63 characters in my book Soul Seed.
"

Wow! That is a ridiculous number of characters! How do you manage them? I'm assuming most of them are one-shot cameos that don't have more than one "scene"?