BEGINNERS
Crowding in
30 MARCH 2020 http://www.writers-online.co.ukI
spoke recently to a friend who was stuck in the
throes of writing his latest book; stuck as in he
couldn’t seem to forge ahead with anything –
plot, direction, action, dialogue or characters.
Especially the characters.
As he vented about the lack of progress, I began to realise
fairly quickly what the problem was: he had way too many
people bossing him about.
I know, it’s that old claim that your characters start telling
you what they’re going to do next and you can’t stop them.
Well, it’s true, they can – and do. It’s called breathing life
into your characters to such an extent they do in a sense
take over. It’s what we’re supposed to do as writers. That
way it makes them come alive to the reader.
But – and that’s a big but (as one hippo remarked
about another) – you can have too many main characters
demanding attention. It’s like standing in the middle of
Victoria Station trying to suss out when your train leaves
and from which platform and wishing you could just tell
everyone else to shut the heck up so you could concentrate.
As writers we want each of our characters, especially
the main ones, to have their fair share of the pie, to get
equal billing and to help draw in those readers. But if
there’s no sympathy for any of them and they all come
across as simply vying for attention with no separate
identities, you’re likely to lose readers. The only way to
avoid that is by having fewer of them and giving each a
good airing with more depth so that they each stand out
in their own right.
As my friend discovered, he’d got so many he really liked, all
swilling around, that pushing the story forward had become
an exercise in herding cats: who got main billing; who had
the best lines; who got to have all the
action, who was the most likeable...
and so it went. In the end, these voices
had begun to drown each other out
until he didn’t know what to do.
My instinctive response was
to have a cull. Kill off a few and
whittle down the field. Otherwise
he’d be permanently stuck and
unable to move on.
There’s no guessing how that
suggestion went down. But I
understood that; I’d have reacted
the same way. We hate getting rid of
characters we’ve come to like writingabout because it’s taken too much hard work to get them on
the page in the first place. We’ve created their every physical
and mental foible, their likes and dislikes, the way they
interrelate, until we know exactly how they will respond in
any given situation. It’s no surprise, therefore, that they each
begin to demand more attention, when maybe they should
simply... leave. Time’s up. Job done. Go.
In real terms, the character content of a book is like a
pyramid. The higher up you go, the fewer there are – or
should be. It’s a sort of natural selection by writers rather
than by nature. At the top are the main ones, generally
few in number, with goodies and baddies sharing equal-ish
billing according to their place in the story. Below them
come the secondary parts, then others such as colleagues,
ditto family members and anyone else with more than a
couple of lines to say, and so on down to walk-ons (and
walk-offs), incidentals and the unnamed, like man in street,
woman on bus and so forth.
But if the top line becomes character-heavy, you get
a situation where the pyramid becomes almost inverted.
There are too many good characters, some of whom have
become way too important for their own – and the author’s- good. It’s no surprise, therefore, if you find yourself
juggling with them and, as my friend discovered, ending up
not knowing which ball to catch next.
It’s a bit like a musical where the full ensemble seems
to be on stage at the same time, all singing, dancing and
rushing around, leaping and emoting, thesping like mad (I
know, probably not a real verb, but I like it). The overall
result is an ants’ nest of activity with no discernible centre.
Who to watch? What’s that person doing? Why did that
one just walk off? Where did the lady in the red dress go –
did she fall off the stage into the orchestra pit?
So, a cull it was. Put on the black cap and go nuclear.
It would have been hard work, there’s no denying.
But it had to be done to restore control. My friend drew
up a cast list, gradually refining who did what and their
position in the pecking order. Who could be killed off
and not missed; which scenes had too many unnecessary
voices; should some characters be referred to by telling
rather than showing (if you don’t let them in the door
they can’t take up space or time). And so on.
In the end he managed it and the book became a breeze
to write thereafter. One happy author and hopefully a
happy readership.
Keep ‘em lean and keen. Writing is supposed to be fun,
not an exercise in crowd control.
Crowd control is essential when it comes to populating your novel with characters,
advises Adrian MagsonTop Tips
- Fewer main characters allows more
depth and focus. - Beware over-juggling. Too many
balls in the air and you’re in danger
of dropping one. - Decide who your main characters
are and keep to it. - If you’re confused, think about the
poor reader.