Handling a large amount of characters

[monotone_ink]

An idea for a casual weekly comic struck me the other night, and it involved a large amount of characters. I was thinking along the lines of how different groups of people interact with each other and the conflicts that arise from the differing of beliefs and experiences.

How would you guys handle things if your story/comic had a really large roster of characters? What kind of writing and design elements should I be looking out for when coming up with these characters? And if you do have a comic with a large amount of characters, post it here and tell us about it!

[Samuraiflame]

I haven't done a comic with a huge cast, but I definitely have a visual novel with 9 'main' characters and 20+ secondary characters. There were multiple factions in the story and rivaling beliefs, motivations and even when people were on the same side, they wouldn't always get along.

(These are just the 'mains' lol)

When writing the script, I focused a lot on changing perspectives and including unique scenes of different characters interacting. It was important to establish WHO each character is in the first place and what role you want them to have in the story. Ideally, every character, no matter how minor, should serve a purpose in some way, whether it's introducing a new perspective, adding to the plot, worldbuilding, etc.

I'd also try and have the important characters reoccur enough so the reader doesn't completely forget who they are after long periods of time, and so they don't get overshadowed in a large cast.

Giving everyone unique designs also helps making your characters recognizable, obviously. At least for my setting, it was easy to give everyone unique designs because their clothes would relate to their rank/class/occupation. Varying things like hair colour and eye colour are the easiest to do, but body type and clothing can really make a difference.

I think that's it for practical advice with large casts. The more screentime/scenes a character has, the more important they'll feel, and the more recognizable they are. If you have many minor characters who you plan on appearing once and never again, then you don't need to focus much on them, but if you want a LARGE cast that will be present throughout the story, it's likely going to involve a lot of dialogue and scenes to flesh everyone out.

[Cherry_sama]

The best way to handle a big character cast is to introduce them gradually so the reader doesn't get overwhelmed. Introduce one or two at a time (at most three or four) so that the audience knows what their role is and how they are important to the story. Also, it works best if you find out quickly how they relate to the main/other character. For example, they're the main character's mentor, or they're a shadowy figure who wants to assassinate the love interest. Make sure that a character's role is clear and concise before shoving any more onto the reader.

[jflores001]

I have a comic where I'm slowly introducing a large cast of characters (This one)

Basically yeah as Cherry_sama said slowly introducing them is easier for the reader imo--and you as a writer. Mainly, in terms of handling a larger group, I'd be really clear about who your characters are, what they want, what they believe in, and what their personality type is. It might not all make it onto the 'surface' of your comic so-to-speak but knowing this as a writer will help you know how each character would act in a given situation and what they would say/ how they say things. This will let plot, conflict, and relationships grow and develop organically.

[GoldenPlume]

Keep a Word file or a spreadsheet with all of your characters and important details about them, such as hair style and eye color. That way characters don't suddenly change hair or eyes when they take a long break from the series and then show up again. You can also use the 'sort' function with Excel based on column. For example, if one column is eye color, you can sort alphabetically. If everyone has green eyes then its a good way to see how you need to change certain aspects for your characters in order to make them easier to tell apart.

Another thing you can do is give some characters a verbal tic. There was a person we knew in real life who always said "m'kay" after every few sentences. In that situation, the character could speak off camera and your readers would likely remember who that is. You shouldn't give every character a tic, but it does help some. In one novel we did, one character spoke Spanish the whole time. Since they were a minor character it didn't matter what they were saying but it definitely made the minor character really stand out to readers. The other characters all understood Spanish enough that they spoke English back, so it really didn't compromise the story at all but added a lot of depth.

[zuggarts]

Large casts are always interesting to work with! Are you thinking of a more free-for-all format where many characters may simultaneously hold the spotlight (i.e. "everyone is the main character"), or where the core cast is still small but it is key for the audience to be knowledgeable about a greater cast? I don't have much experience dealing with either but I'll try contributing to the brainstorm.

Introduce your characters in well-visualised groups. Use visual media to your advantage, and make cast members who are waiting for their time in the limelight prominent (or at least distinct enough to recognise) in groups which include characters the readers are already familiar with. Then when it's that character's turn, use it as an excuse to bypass a static introduction (unless necessary).

In the case of a plot-heavy series with an exceptionally large cast, it might be wise to sacrifice personal development in favour of relationship development, with the exception of when personal development aligns directly with the plot progression. No character should obviously become a satellite of another, but a lot of a reader's perceptions on a character can be manipulated just by how others with well-established personalities think of them. Sometimes, an overall structure or hierarchy that a reader sees will be the easiest way to distinguish between two characters (e.g. knight vs. knave, rich vs. poor, powerful vs. powerless).

I can't really think of anything groundbreaking, ahaha. I think the big thing to remember with larger casts is that character development and likeability will become extremely difficult to balance. No reader wants to get stuck on multiple arcs lead by all these characters that they dislike and/or don't care about. Overall, everything depends on the endgoal; if it's a riveting plot, kill useless dawdling on the side about characters X and Y if it's truly irrelevant, and aim to capture that aspect of them through the story instead. If character personality is a bit more important, then stroll through the daisies if need be.

Also, a couple of personal things I have for/against certain portrayals of large casts:
- If an artist is bad at capturing variety/diversity in characters, please do not do large casts. 10 different characters who all look exactly the same is impossible to deal with (unless this is part of the plot). I remember reading Hiroki Endo's Eden (great series though) and was tearing my hair out at how two certain characters from completely different political factions looked exactly the same. After a long break from reading, I went back to the series seeing them as the same person--throw in a complicated plot that easily can leave the reader at the wayside and I was utterly confused.
- Likewise, if an artist cannot draw the same character consistently for more than a couple pages at a time, do not consider a large cast unless this is somehow part of the plot.
- Not every character's childhoods need to be explored in detail! Some of the best storytelling is done organically; implied over than said. The more you can imply, the more mystery you add to a character. In too big of a cast, it's best if most characters retain an element of mystery--both for practicality and so to ensure the reader won't be tired of them all at once!
- If a character doesn't need to be in the foreground, don't force them into the foreground.
- The more characters there are, the more important each character's flaws become. If you're handling a large cast, consider fleshing each character's flaws before you do their strengths.

I believe varying storytelling methods can allow large casts to be introduced in very different yet equally effective ways. So like, everything really just depends on the author's vision lol

[scarlet_wings_kaili]

1) know who the story is really about. This can be more than one person, but it can't be everyone.
2) delete people who aren't really needed. If you can replace one character's name with another, then that character doesn't hold weight
3) don't have everyone come out at once. Also don't have characters appear once and never appear again.
4) Knowing your character's fears, insecurities, goals, dreams, pet peeves...etc. For the most part, this should be different for every character

Hope this helps?

[Pandastrophic]

I also have a story that deals with a big cast (15+) because its about socializing and deals with different types of relationships and how people interact, so i can tell you some tips i learned:
- Make sure that the characters look different from eachother, an obvious point but its so easy to give characters a similar hairstyle and readers end up mixing them up or give them similar sounding names it can get so confusing.
- Its better to have main characters, the focus can shift to other people but its good to have like 1-4 main characters. A story about everyone can be done but its really difficult, i tried in my old comic and it just didnt work because it can get confusing.
- Introduce characters slowly, everyone said this already but honestly i dislike it when i see one comic page introducing like 7 characters at once.
- Since i'm assuming you want it to be a character based story make sure its the characters that carry the plot, so understand them and work on how they'll develop before you start your comic.

[NickRowler]

If you want a large cast to work, you have to remember that you can not have all the characters in center spot light at the same time. If your cast has say 15 major characters, you might have a chapter that puts 1 to 3 in a main role, has 3 to 5 be supporting and the rest are background or don't appear. Then your next chapter you switch it up. I think it is also important to edit yourself. If two characters are too similar, merge them together. If a character seems pointless, either delete them or spend time developing them. And be really careful of having a cast full of one note characters. There should be more than just "the smart one", "the preppy one", "the quiet one", "the goofy one", etc.

[spadesart]

SPIRE actually DOES have a large cast list. so much that i had to cut my 1 year anniversary pic down by half and i'm still late and not finished with it sdgsdfgf


(this isn't even all of them)

since my comic is character driven and is a continuous narrative, the idea for it is to group characters together by relation.

• William and Cog will almost always be together, and will usually also
  include Caravan, Victor, and sometimes Jack.

• Victor and Blaise getting to know each other is a subplot in the
  comic, since they're not super familiar by the beginning.

• Blaise's open personality meshes well with Victor's reserved
  personality, so they'll mostly be shown together and will
  sometimes include Jack or William.

• The "main main" group of characters will always be Blaise, Victor,
  William, Cog, Caravan, and Jack, sometimes Alphonzo and Randall

• Another set group of characters that will usually be seen
  interacting are Randall, Alphonzo, Sometimes Jack and Isabella

• The three alphas and Terro, especially Alpha T (long nose one) and
  Terro, will usually be grouped together

• William and Victor have their own unique relations to each other, as
  do William and Caravan

• Jack and Alphonzo have some relation to each other, but I'm not at
  that point yet. There's important development to be had between them.

• Alphonzo and Randall's Personalities mesh well together, as do
  Alphonzo and Terro, so those are ones I want to explore.

• Terro and Randall will have development together later on, since their similar trashy personalities clash and can create some interesting dynamics.

and it just kind of goes on and on. the story is also divided into segments and the groups of characters that'll be at the front of it.

[solhawthorne]

My two cents from reading stories with large casts: be extra careful to not overwhelm the reader. I've read some comics that wouldn't even be considered large (maybe 5-8 recurring main characters) and it became a nightmare keeping track of everyone because they got introduced all at the same time or their identities weren't established clearly enough. If I have to stop and ask myself "wait, who is she talking about?", that breaks immersion and can scare off readers who don't want to invest mental resources to keeping track.

I think Homestuck is a good example of a humongous cast done reasonably well, which started with 4 characters and evolved to something like 30+ characters. Each character had very strong tics and features so they were memorable and distinguishable. Characters were added slowly at the beginning so by the time you see all 12 trolls you actually can name them all. Character development was weird due to the format, but you could say most characters developed through interactions with each other, allowing multiple characters to develop at the same time.

[ogawaburukku]

Good discussion topic! Large casts are hard to deal with for a lot of authors, for sure. I've read many stories where the author makes the mistake of DUMPING characters all at once on you and expects you to keep up with them (as much as I enjoy My Hero Academia, the manga was absolutely TERRIBLE about this... it was fixed slightly in the anime, thankfully). I've also seen stories where the author didn't realize they forgot to divulge information helping the reader understand character relationships. A really interesting example of large casts being done right vs mistreated might be Game of Thrones. The Song of Ice and Fire series (the books) do a really great job of explaining the characters and their relationships to each other. Before new characters are introduced, there are often hints of these characters, or characters mention "so-and-so's bastard is crazy, I heard he did stuff like this" and then in the next book that character has a lot of face time. The TV series, however, often drops characters into the series with little explanation and it is a bit hard to figure out who is who. I remember I thought for the longest time that Theon was Eddard Stark's son, not realizing he was a ward right away. The book makes it much easier to understand right away, since his role in the first book is pretty minimal and his last name is spoken more regularly (Greyjoy, not Stark).

Ranma ½ is a really great series for ensemble casts. It's especially good because Rumiko Takahashi has a very plain drawing style, yet you are not likely to confuse any of her characters in the manga because she designs characters based on their silhouette, not colors, etc. They all have very distinctive personalities and make their goals really obvious. Rumiko Takahashi is kind of the master of ensemble casts, though.

Things to watch out for: Don't have characters look too similar, don't have characters with overly similar personalities. If you have two girls who are shy and like books and hate spiders, why are they separate characters? Combine them into one. Watch out for entirely unnecessary characters. Try to understand what the character brings to the cast. Think of Ninja Turtles-- you've got four very different characters. Goody goody leader (Leo), fun-loving party guy (Mikey), the brains (Don), and depending on the version the rebel character or the sarcastic cynic (Raph). What if the series had two Leos? It would offset the balance.

Manga with unnecessarily giant casts include Shokugeki No Soma (good luck remembering the dorm mates' names) and Magi (so many characters, so many relationships, and so many characters that look alike!). Both are series I really enjoy but Soma does not expand on their side characters enough to warrant having them, and Magi is the opposite, where the characters have very important relationships with each other but the manga very rarely reminds you who is who, who did what, and why they are important so it can get confusing if you do not read everything in one sitting.

I have a large-ish cast for my story FaLLEN but the way I have combatted that is I have let the pace be pretty slow and gradually set up relationships and let the characters breathe a little. I've also kept names short and easy to remember and I have characters say each others' names a lot.

https://tapas.io/series/FaLLEN