How Many Characters Does It Take?

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine

Everybody knew everybody's name in Cheers.

No doubt you've heard the old joke, "How many (fill-in-the-blanks) does it take to change a lightbulb?" There are many variations, but one of my favorites is:

"How many mystery writers does it take to change a light bulb?"

"Two. One to screw it almost all the way in and the other to give it a twist at the end."

The question I will ponder today is one that writers face, whether consciously or subconsciously: How many characters does my story need?

I once attended a play performed by one solitary actress.  It was something about a trip to Europe, as I recall. What I remember most is that, as part of the story, she actually fried up some bacon and eggs on stage. I was glad I had eaten dinner beforehand or it might have turned into a two-person play.

Similarly, Hal Halbrook entertained audiences for five decades with his one-man show Mark Twain Tonight. From the above examples, it might seem as though only one character could be sufficient to tell a full-length story, and that can happen, but keep in mind that their narratives will usually include anecdotes that involve other people.

A sprawling Dickens novel, on the other hand, will weave in a generous cast of characters. David Copperfield and Oliver Twist, for example, include roles for ten major players each, with some sub-characters becoming more famous than the protagonist himself.

There are over fifty characters in the Lord of the Rings saga. Thank goodness we don't have to keep track of every one, but maintaining a working knowledge of the comings and goings of the main ten-plus while traversing the 455,125 words in this trilogy takes some doing. 

That said, from classic dramas like Twelve Angry Men and The Dirty Dozen to campy comedies like It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (which crammed as many celebrities of the day as they could afford), audiences have proven that they can handle a handful. The more recent The Hateful Eight and the upcoming Ocean's 8 might seem to suggest a trend toward slightly smaller ensembles, but who's counting.

The answer to our original question could well depend on how long the story is to be, and whether the length allows for some resolution for each of the major players. A short story only allows for one or two problems to solve, which can be accomplished with a very minimal cast.  If there are a dozen heroes, companions and enemies to address, more pages will be necessary to sort it all out and provide closure for each of the primary characters. (Secondary and incidental characters, of course, can slide.)

One important point, and it's amazing how often this is overlooked: No matter how many are in an ensemble cast, care should be taken to choose names that are distinct. A story that includes both a Carol and a Caroline is begging to confuse the reader.

Every character has their own story to tell, and each one you add becomes one more in the bigger picture. So as you may have already concluded, the simplest and best answer to the question of how many characters it takes to tell your story is: As many as it takes.

Characters are the Story

By Paul H. Yarbrough

I often try to jot down bits of info and advice from successful writers. I recall once at a writers’ conference in Vicksburg, Miss. a speaker was talking about how important characters were to a story. I raised my hand and offered him something that I had once read by Damon Runyan.

Runyan would hang out around pool halls, race tracks, beer joints, etc. and would observe humanities’ variety of flotsam and jetsam. A memorable comment that I stored away was from him was: "Give me characters and I'll find a story." The speaker told our group that he couldn't agree more.

And this is what I do. I am a bit older, perhaps, than the average writer so I need to observe less in the now and recall more from the past because through the years I can remember a host of characters that will fill any story. I think about them, their attitudes, their actions, their glories and their mistakes. And from this I start wrting and a story develops.

Obviously there are plenty of characters in the here-and-now; I just don’t relate to them with long memories. However, I have even been considering writing a play (something of which I know zero) about Washington D.C. and the various and sundry varieties of folks who take a federal paycheck. Good grief! Talk about a cauldron of characters.

But this is how I have written my fiction, novel or short story: with an eye on Runyan’s advice. I don’t start a story and develop characters, I reach into my memories for characters and the story flows.

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Paul H. Yarbrough is originally from Jackson, Mississippi. For the past forty years, he has lived in Houston, Texas, where he has worked for two oil companies and been an independent consultant in the oil business, mostly as a landman. He is a widower with one son who lives in NE. Louisiana. Paul has published a handful of short stories, flash fiction and essays in a variety of forums. His first novel, Mississippi Cotton, was published by Wido Publishing in 2011. His second novel, A Mississippi Whisper, came out via WiDo in December 2014. He has finisned a third novel which takes place in Louisiana and is working on a Texas story. His social media links are:

https://www.facebook.com/A-Mississippi-Whisper-869699519740830/     and http://www.paulhyarbrough.com/ and http://paul-yarbrough.blogspot.com/ and https://twitter.com/PaulHYarbrough