What story have you read with a lot of characters? And in that story, are the many characters together in one space? Think The Fellowship of the Ring when the council comes together to discuss what to do with the Ring. Granted the movie does things the book doesn’t do, but certain issues remain in either medium.

You need a reason for the characters to be together. Their togetherness probably should move the plot or reveal character in some way. Each character should be distinct. Making them look different is relatively easy. But do they sound different? Do they each have their own purpose? (One wants to take the Ring to Mordor, another to the world of Men, and among those who can agree what should be done, they can’t agree on who should do it.)

And whether you’re the director or the author, you can’t forget a character. You have to remember who is there and give them something to do that feels right for who they are. And a screenplay is one thing, but a novel means not having a page of

The elf said…

The dwarf said…

The man said…

The wizard said…

The hobbit said…

In my novel-in-progress, The Princess Detective, I’ve written a scene where the Princess and her sidekicks meet a major suspect and their sidekicks. That’s six characters sitting down together. They’re different ages, social classes, and genders. They’re varying degrees of trusting, wary, and downright belligerent. I want them to bicker, threaten, and laugh. Well, make the reader laugh in a good way. And they have to eat!

In the end, one character is arrested. The rest need to work together, suspicions aside.

I hope I pulled it off.

Thanks for reading.