Character development

[Lee]

Hi everyone,

I enjoy reading longer running book series (trilogies and longer). However, I'm noticing lately the need (or idea of) to plot out the development and relationship of characters over the length of the series. Sort of like a branching and merging chronological timeline. I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this?

Thanks!

[Harrison]

Hi Lee,

Do you mean you are noticing this in others’ writing, or you are noticing it in your own writing approach? :)

[Lee]

Hi Harrison,

I noticed on longer, more complex series, that I start losing track of all the characters, how they were introduced and developed, who they relate to, the overall social dynamics.

I was thinking about what the authors must have went through / what techniques they used for planning their books.

I wondered if plotting this out as I read would help, as opposed to searching past books to keep these details fresh in mind.

[Harrison]

It may... I think I would be annoyed by a book that required me to do that to be able to keep track of it. That said, my own writing does have lots of characters and several parallel and interweaving plot lines, so maybe I do this to my own readers... Hmm.

[Trike]

If it’s been awhile since I read the last installment, I usually hit up Wikipedia or fan-specific wikis for a refresher. Some authors have their own versions of this, too.

I had to do this for the Destroyermen series, for example, which has dozens of secondary characters over numerous books in the series, but I usually get back up to speed once I’m reminded of the highlights. 15 books over 12 years is hard to track when you read other stuff.

[Betsy]

I have this problem sometimes with Liaden Universe books, especially since they sometimes introduce characters in short stories, which I don't often read. It's frustrating, but I think a good author can usually refresh your memory with a few sentences if they're well placed and well constructed.

[Lizzie]

Mal Cooper's Aeon14 universe has gotten so complex, I wish I had the author's spreadsheet on who's who!

Complex, multi-book, multi series within the series types of books can result in needing a timeline along with the characters and their relationships in order to keep track and get the most from the story. While as a reader I can manage without knowing it all, I can't imagine authors trying to keep all that stuff in their heads.

[Lizzie]

A question within this issue --- does the number of and frequency of releases make keeping track easier or harder?

I find that those series in which I read physical books I haven't had a problem rememberng every character. I don't know if that is because I reread many times series such as Vatta and Dragonriders or if the physical book somehow makes a difference. For instance, I wanted a quote from a book in the Dune series the other day and while I don't remember the exact page I knew it was after page 200 and in the top third of the righthand page. With an ebook, I don't know what page I am on or where it might be layout wise.

[Trike]

Lizzie wrote: "A question within this issue --- does the number of and frequency of releases make keeping track easier or harder?"

Depends on the impression the characters make on you, I suppose, and/or how fresh they are in your mind.

From March to June of 2019 I read all but one of Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan series. That’s 20 books written over 32 years. Bingeing them all at once meant I could keep every aspect of the story and intergalactic society in my head, which I doubt I could’ve done if I’d read them as they were released, especially since she took a couple longer breaks in between some installments.

But the Destroyermen series is so sprawling now that it’s difficult to keep all of it top of mind, despite the fact he released a book every 10 months. A global war between several universe-displaced human civilizations (at least five that I can recall), two separate dinosaurian civilizations, and three distinct branches of the ape-like Lemurian society, PLUS all of the various factions within those groups... it’s a lot. Reading those all at once would make it easier to track, but I started when the first one came out back in 2008. Now that the 15th and final book has come out, I’ll finish the series, but I’m going to need to hit the wiki for a refresher.

A few years ago I accidentally re-read one of the books, the 10th one, and didn’t realize it until I was over halfway through. That’s when I bailed on the series for a bit, because it was all running together in my memory.

[Betsy]

Lizzie wrote: "For instance, I wanted a quote from a book in the Dune series the other day and while I don't remember the exact page I knew it was after page 200 and in the top third of the righthand page. With an ebook, I don't know what page I am on or where it might be layout wise."

But with an ebook, you can usually do a search for a word or phrase to find the quote you're looking for.

[Betsy]

Lizzie wrote: "A question within this issue --- does the number of and frequency of releases make keeping track easier or harder?"

I think it does. I read a near-future police procedural series (not sci-fi) that has more than 50 books. She generally publishes two per year. I have no trouble remembering characters, though I can't always remember the plot based just on the title. With series that publish less than once a year or, with gaps of several years, it can be a problem, though I usually do okay, with a little bit of refreshing. I don't always mind if I can't remember who a character is. It will usually come to me after a while. If it doesn't and the author hasn't made it clear, I don't mind bailing on a book like that.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

Some authors include a cast of characters, with name, brief description, and sometimes sorted by which ship/planet they are on, or which side of the war. I’m not convinced these are useful, myself, and would rather the author give incidental clues in the dialog to either refresh my memory or give a reader jumping into the middle of the series the bare minimum needed so it all makes sense.

On book I read last month in a series with at least a dozen books mentioned a minor character who had been introduced in a previous book but I didn’t recall him, and it wasn’t until I was halfway through that a clue dropped that told me he was an alien (he had a human type name) and which of the various kinds of aliens he was. But it didn’t matter to the story that this character was an alien until that point in the book, so it was a bit startling but not confusing.

[Lizzie]

Teresa wrote: "Some authors include a cast of characters, with name, brief description, and sometimes sorted by which ship/planet they are on, or which side of the war. I’m not convinced these are useful, myself,..."

I agree with you. Those books that have those lists of characters and places, I never read. A synopsis of a character will not implant into my brain the way a story in which they are intertwined. Sometimes, I too have to get further along before my brain connects a person or place with prior books, especially one I haven't read in a while.

[Ally]

Peter F Hamilton’s series tend to have a long list of characters and sometime planets and ships. It’s impossible to read Night Dawn whitout taking notes, it’s 3000 pages !