Writing a Large Cast: Methods

Last time, I talked about the problems some people have managing large casts. We discussed the reasons that might cause your casts to be difficult to keep track of, and I asked your opinions on the subject. This time, we’ll be going over some tips and tricks I’ve found to solve the problems involved in taking care of large casts. If you didn’t read the last post, you can do so here.

Tips and Tricks

One of the methods I use is list making. It’s easier to keep track of your characters if you list the major ones and give yourself some kind of notes to remind you of the role they play. For example, with Cadence of Rage I have a list of names. This is especially helpful when you’re just starting to get familiar with a world and it’s characters.

Another useful trick is to take inventory of the characters you do have in any given scene. Maybe you don’t need a character in that particular scene, or aren’t giving someone the lines they need to make a situation clearer to your readers. I’ve had this happen to me several times. It doesn’t mean the extra characters are bad, per se, it just means that you need to remove them from a scene.

In other cases still, it’s simply bad management of the cast at hand. Maybe your characters aren’t shining to the top of their potential because you don’t have the tools in place to highlight their good traits and make light their faults (in the appropriate situations, of course). In this case, maybe they just haven’t met the right character yet. Usually in any given cast there will be at least two characters who serve to foil each other. Maybe you just haven’t gotten to know your characters well enough yet, and need some more time to discover this two personalities, the yin and yang of your cast, whose strengths and weakness will play against each other to great affect. Find this combo, and your cast may immediately become easier to manage.

The last piece of advice that I have is geared toward people who have problems when they write scenes with a lot of characters. Sometimes, people get lost because writers don’t utilize some useful little tricks for focusing your readers attention on the characters. The first of these tricks is to give each character a nickname, or title.  For example, Cecil is known as The Paladin, Kain is known as the Dragon Knight, Ryder is known as the tall man, and Kali as The Knight. Assigning titles like this will immediately establish with the reader a mental connection between those words and those characters. It also helps if you develop the voices of the individual characters, and emphasize their body language, which will be unique to each of your characters.

The Synopsis?

I’m sure I don’t know everything, in fact, I’m positive I don’t.  But these are a few tricks I’ve learned in my over seven years writing. I’ve come a long way, and I’m sure I’ll improve even more in the years to come. I hope you continue to improve with me.

So, what are your opinions? Feedback? Advice?

Writing a Large Cast

I am a writer who is known for writing particularly large casts of characters. From Sorrow’s Hand to the most meager of short stories, all of my stories have massive casts that have varied personalities and different roles to play. I realize that not everyone is able to keep track of these casts, so I’ve decided that I’m going to take some time to write up a few posts about how it is that I manage these massive casts, and maybe it will give you some insight into how you manage yours.

So, What’s the Problem?

Why do people have problems writing such large casts?

In my opinion there are a few reasons for this inability to write large casts.

• Unnecessary Characters: Sometimes, you have characters that you just don’t need. They don’t serve a purpose. They may be the coolest person in the world, but if they don’t serve a purpose, then they shouldn’t be there.
• Unfamiliar Characters: Maybe you just haven’t written a character enough to really know them yet. Keep working on this draft, and maybe you’ll get to know them well enough to write them one day.

• Similar Personalities: You may not have enough variety in your characters. Maybe you need to spice it up, try and throw a wildcard or two in there, because it might spice up your dynamic and add a whole new level of interesting to your characters and plot

So, How do I Fix it?

Well, that’s what we’ll go over next time. For now, just give me your thoughts and concerns, if you need to. What are your problems with managing casts? What are the tips and tricks you use that might be useful to other people?