Zodiac Clichés (And Other Nonsense)

Too Many People

#8: when zodiac books have 24 characters instead of 12.

I don't know if it's just me, but I honestly hate when zodiac books have 24 characters (two per sign, one for each gender) instead of 12. I know the reason for authors doing this is because they want to satisfy their audiences by having two genders for each sign. Another pro would be that it allows for more ships to happen, but this setup does more harm than good.

When a zodiac book has 24 main characters, that means they're super hard to keep track of, especially when the author assigns a name to each character (to differentiate the boys from the girls). Here's what I'm talking about:

Characters

These are the characters for my zodiac mansion book! ❤️❤️❤️

Aries:
Aries (f): Ashley
Aries (m): Andrew

Taurus:
Taurus (f): Tara
Taurus (m): Tom

Gemini:
Gemini (f): Gina
Gemini (m): Gerald

Cancer:
Cancer (f): Carrie
Cancer (m): Colin

Leo:
Leo (f): Lucy
Leo (m): Leo (too easy lol)

Virgo:
Virgo (f): Violet
Virgo (m): Vince

Libra:
Libra (f): Lauren
Libra (m): Luke

Scorpio:
Scorpio (f): Sarah
Scorpio (m): Spencer

Sagittarius:
Sagittarius (f): Samantha
Sagittarius (m): Sebastian

Capricorn:
Capricorn (f): Charlotte
Capricorn (m): Cameron

Aquarius:
Aquarius (f): Allyssa
Aquarius (m): Atticus

Pisces:
Pisces (f): Paige
Pisces (m): Preston

Jesus! It would take hours for a reader to memorize all of those names, not to mention how confusing it would be when they get into the actual story and still have trouble tying all of the names to each zodiac!

Two more reasons why this doesn't work:
1: It is SUPER hard for readers to differentiate between the signs whose names start with the same letter (Aries and Aquarius, Cancer and Capricorn, Leo and Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius). I know you can make certain names longer and more distinct, but it's still insanely confusing to read!
2: With 24 characters, it's IMPOSSIBLE to give everyone equal attention. It's difficult enough with just 12 characters! In an ensemble cast (for example, The Office with 15 main characters), the only way I could see 24 characters working is if you made the entire book with ONE of them as the main character. Even in The Office, you have to memorize 15 characters, and even still, the show always zeroes in on four of the characters (Michael, Dwight, Pam, and Jim). And even then, it's easier to have a giant cast in a TV series, where you can also SEE and HEAR each character. In a book it's much more difficult to make 24 characters appear distinct and give them all equal attention.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

5/8/20