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Anna Friend replied to the topic How many characters is too many? in the forum Fantasy Writers 6 years ago

So my advice, if these many characters are more in the foreground, maybe even more in the background, walk through and identify why they are there, what they are contributing to the story, and if they all are unique or not, whether that be through characteristics, motives, mannerisms, personality etc.. A good test is if a reader can remember them, or not after reading it.

@evelyn Solid advice! Thank you so much 🙂 I try to give each character a motive, a quirk and a desire as if they believe the story is about them, even if they’re only in one scene, so that they don’t fall flat. I think oftentimes where I fall short is their personal voice, but that’s something that I can fix through more practice. Your Orson Scott Card example really helped, as well.