Acceptable Number of Characters for a Novel

Minor and one-off characters can be really, really effective storytelling tools. They're like extras. They pop in, they provide background colour, etc. Like the boy in Local Hero who flies by on the motorbike every single time MacIntyre steps out the front door. And that's practically his only role, though he pops up in the background in a couple of other scenes which are made considerably more hilarious by his presence.

What you should avoid is relying too much on minor characters. That's true of any storytelling technique, but there are a few different ways minor characters can be overused. I'm guilty of inserting them too often just to get killed--Redshirting--and while it's okay a couple of times once it becomes obvious that they're Redshirts, it's a problem because it saps away story tension. If your story's core is entirely predicated on minor characters you might consider whether your mains are too passive, although even then there are ensemble stories.

You can do the same with a lot of main characters. The Long Patrol is one of my favourite books ever and it's got two main character groups alternating through the plot, one of which contains about 10 characters given mostly equal weight and the other of which contains 4-5 who are all treated as main characters. This happens all the time, though it can vary by genre so read in the genre you're writing in.

The biggest thing here, though, is that you're asking the wrong question. You're looking at this all wrong, as if it's some kind of quota or formula. Write a good story and it will become a good book. There really is no simpler way to put it than that. There isn't some magic number of characters, or words, or plots. There's what you come up with and your skill in saying it. Anything beyond that is immaterial--interesting, often, for the sake of discussion and analysis, and so useful but hardly a guide.

One thing you might consider is not naming all those characters.

Asking readers to remember zillions of names on the off chance that they might turn out to be important is

just not fair.

42.

Always the answer to everything.

Or, you know, what mrsmig said:

mrsmig said:

Impossible to answer. You need as many characters as you need to tell the story.

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I've read stories with one character. I've read stories with many characters. It's a meaningless question as an independent standard, like asking how many sentences you need in a novel. How many characters do you need to tell your story? Use that number - no more, and no less.

As a practical matter, 6 or 7 seems to be the largest number of fully developed characters one can manage. There can be plenty of walk-ons and minor characters in addition, of course, and they needn't be cardboard cutouts. They just don't get as much development as the major characters.
This isn't an absolute law, but ff you look at classic novels, even the multi-volume 19th century ones, you'll find that as a rule of thumb, this holds up pretty well.

7.34826 characters

A more serious answer would be as many as you need. But it is a good idea not to have too many main characters, otherwise it gets confusing remembering them all, especially if they're all introduced in one go. If you do have more than average, staggering their introduction is a good idea to avoid this kind of confusion.

TellMeAStory said:

One thing you might consider is not naming all those characters.

Asking readers to remember zillions of names on the off chance that they might turn out to be important is

just not fair.

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I just listed all mine, including every character that has a speaking part, and towards the end of the list I'm just throwing out job roles like 'the apprentice' or 'the embalmer' because I don't name the one scene players. I don't even name one of the most important secondary characters in the novel who gets about a dozen scenes.

Lil said:

As a practical matter, 6 or 7 seems to be the largest number of fully developed characters one can manage. There can be plenty of walk-ons and minor characters in addition, of course, and they needn't be cardboard cutouts. They just don't get as much development as the major characters.

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I have 5 POV characters, and 9 or 10 important secondary characters that are all pretty well developed. Not sure where you're getting 7 from, or what level of 'developedness' a character needs to reach to qualify as one of them (or remain just short of in order to avoid overcrowding the story)

It may be possible to combine minor characters too. The bartender can be the MC's sister in law too.

Your editor is right, but from what you say he or she is talking about POV characters, not minor characters. At least, most minor characters don't have POV sections. If you find that you're using a minor character POV more than once or twice you're probably overusing it.

The reason for that isn't that you have too many minor characters, though, it's that changes of POV are big shifts in writing, and even done well they can jar the reader a bit. This can be a useful technique if you want to step back and come at a scene a bit differently or you want to create a new section of narrative. Remember that, as storyteller, POV is your way of choosing which parts of the story/scene/character are most important. You wouldn't write a story lurching back and forth from a silly voice to a super serious voice without reason, so don't do the same with POV characters. Pick the POV that's necessary for the situation, but try to keep changes for when it's really necessary.

It's also true that the more POV characters you have, the more it feels like we're living in multiple characters' heads, which is a weird feeling and makes it harder to create the strong bonds of emotional understanding you need to really work with main POV in-depth. So using too many will create character development issues at a very fundamental level.

If you like having a pattern to follow, I recommend The Marshall Plan, by an agent whose last name is Marshall. He'll tell you how many characters for each length novel and a whole lot more.

I am usually OK with 2 POV chars introduced at the beginning, but if you add a third one before I care about the other two, I'll usually find another book to read.

Non-POV characters can be as frequent as you like, as long as the POV char has an emotional reaction to them. If the POV character doesn't care, why should I?

It depends on the characters and how quickly you introduce them into the story. If you bring in too many characters who are only distinguished from one another by a character trait or two in the beginning, it can be very hard for readers to remember who is who or tell them apart. If you bring them in more slowly after readers have come to know the other characters, then you avoid that kind of confusion.

Aside from that, the problem with too many POV characters in a short novel is that readers have less time to form an emotional connection with them or care what happens to them. But a story might not depend so much on that kind of connection -- most stories do, of course, but it is not inconceivable that an interesting story could be written without that. I think it's more that this is something you should approach thoughtfully, and not use more POV characters than you need to tell your particular story, than it is about any set number. If your editor is saying you have too many POV characters, he or she may simply mean too many for the story you are telling.

It's OK to be frustrated. I don't know that I've ever seen a revision that didn't have to address character depth issues on some level. For me, it's often that I went for a certain kind of approach to the character and just missed. There can be a lot of symptoms beyond just POV, too: voice, plot failures (esp. if the character is frequently passive), the way relationships are constructed and presented, and so on.

I think it's a good idea to know which your "main" POV is even if you have a multi-POV third limited MS. It doesn't mean you have to develop one MC more than the other, but it does help as a starting point for how you're seeing the story. Adding more MCs or POVs means you have to start constructing the story around more than one situation. You've got multiple motivations, multiple stakes, multiple reactions to situations and you have to dig into all of those and make them feel considered and not like shorthand. It's hard. So make sure you have one down before you do two or more. Make sure you're not adding POVs as crutches to avoid creating situations where your non-POV characters are characterized by how they're shown--one POV character and develop numerous non-POV characters. So start as well by looking at your non-POV characters and seeing if they're deep enough when the POV MC is interacting with them. If they're not, it's a sign you may be telling too much and not showing enough.

As many as you can make work. This said, a common problem with new writers is using too many characters. Pick a novel you like that is similar in flavor to your own. Count the number of characters, and record how each character is used, whether the character is named, etc. Better, read a dozen novels similar in flavor to your own. You should see a pattern of character use that will direct your own writing.

Jamesaritchie said:

As many as you can make work. This said, a common problem with new writers is using too many characters. Pick a novel you like that is similar in flavor to your own. Count the number of characters, and record how each character is used, whether the character is named, etc. Better, read a dozen novels similar in flavor to your own. You should see a pattern of character use that will direct your own writing.

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Seconded. Choose a famous enough novel for someone to already have done the legwork--for example on Wikipedia. See the character list there, compare it to your impression of the novel, and then do your own character list, and imagine how it would work.

You need to know how to juggle them is all. I mean, Lord of the Rings, Hunger Games, Warriors, they have motherloads of regular characters but you don't see readers' brains exploding, do you?

It should have been made clear at the beginning of this thread that the issue drawn to the OP's attention by the editor concerned was restriction of the number of POV characters - not restriction of the number of characters in a novel.

Writers Choice said:

My editors said to keep the POV to a limited number of people. Apparently, too many POV's and characters make it hard to fully develop them and harder for the reader to track them. I'm considering rewriting my novel of about 80K word - not the entire thing but revise it and I can eliminate like half backup/minor characters.

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As others have said, it takes however many it takes, as long as you make them all memorably unique. Your reader shouldn't ever say "Wait, didn't this guy die back in chapter 8?" The more characters you have, the harder this becomes for the reader and for you as the writer.

Writers Choice said:

What would you consider an acceptable number of characters for a full length novel of say 80K words or so?

I may have to rewrite.

MC: 3 (3 POV)
BC: 5 (Goes in & out with one of the MC)

Few minor or one time characters to make story flow, this is where I'm sure I over did it: 14.

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Oh, you're good. Because you already understand that there are layers of characters, that is, most important to set dressing, you sound like you're good. It does depend on the nature of the story and your ability to juggle them, but your number of characters is pretty small, so you should be alright. Some might say that there's no effective limiter on characters, but honestly, too many characters really can spoil a story, especially when there's lots of setting changes or the author doesn't prioritize. Ugh, that's what ruined Mortal Kombat Annihilation.

Anyway, you sound good to go.

This is a good question, one that I myself am ignorant of the answer, unfortunately.

As far as main characters go, I think the number extends to how many characters you can give focus on while making sure that their showtime is equal. I think you can add as many supporting and minor characters as you want.

The story I'm currently working on has a staggering twenty-four main characters. I'm not sure if that is allowed...

Sacred Moon said:

The story I'm currently working on has a staggering twenty-four main characters. I'm not sure if that is allowed...

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Well, anything is allowed, but as to whether it works...

How are you defining "main character"?