Ice's writing tips

How do you know if you have too many Characters?

Okay so next now you have your character (Your main one) you can from there build up the rest of your cast. The other supporting characters have to do something! I've had issues, and i still do of creating too many characters for my mind and my readers mind to process.

If the suporting characters just sit there and look pretty, then they have to be eliminated. I'm sorry but if they have no real purpose, then yes.

Here's a little small check list i've recently started doing for my new books that i plan on having come out that i ask myself for supporting characters:

How do they affect the main character(s)?

What is their relationship with the main character(s)?

does their presence slow down the story, or push it through?

Why do they need to be there?

What is their purppose in the story?

What good comes from having this character in the book/story?

Would the story stay the same if they weren't in it?

if you can answer most of these questions, your set!

Each supporting character needs to affect your main character(s) in a way that imporves the story. Again, if they do nothing but pick their nose and fart on cats, they are a character to best leave out.

Each character should have their own special part, even if it might not seme clear at the time. I do this a lot! I take characters that seem un important but in reality, they have a major part. Think about it? Sometimes i've even have a character in the story just to be there so they could die! This death can affect the main character(s) by changing their point of view and personality. But you also have to make sure your readers get attached to them as well. If you barely mention them through out the book and then they suddenly die with the next chapter and your character going into deep major depression or anger, this will confuse readers. You must make them loveable or hateable. Some charactes are also not ment to love, even if they aren't a bad guy. Some characters are so annoying that your just are like DIE ALREADY! but when they do, you either do what i do and yell at the book for killing them even though they were a jerk or you celebrate in happiness of their death.

If their presence jsut slow downs the story, bye bye. Again if the story literally is stuck in five o' clock traffic when this character is in the story, your readers will lose their attention and move on to other books.

Why do they need to be there is i think the most important question on the frickin list! Why do they need to be there, are they a love intrest? Warrior that saves the princess or the other way around? Are they a wizard that transforms your character into a toad? Do they need to die to push your main character(s) growth along? If they are stupid characters that just flirt with the main character(s) its either best to cut them out or have them with only two sentences of spotlight in the story as "behind the scenes" characters as i like to call them.

Another one that i think is also very important is, if you were to remove that character from the story, would it stay the same? Think about it, lets say we remvoed....um Luna Lovegood from harry potter and she didn't exsits? It wouldn't be the same even though she's a secondary character, the books would change a lot in my opinion. So ponder on this thought, no one ever said you could write a novel in an hour!