Have you ever read a book with a huge cast & couldn’t keep track of them?
Every story is different. I’ve written just as many works with a handful of prominent characters as I have a larger cast, and each system has strengths and weaknesses. For example, take Lord of the Rings. They’ve solidified a group of nine main protagonists and added some important ones on the side. To tell the story, you can’t just involve the main nine, right? Explaining the story without Saruman’s meddling, Gollum’s ramblings, or the corruption of Rohan would quickly become stale, wouldn’t it?
There are multiple types of recurring characters important in a large cast. I’ll talk about each of them and with tips to write them.
Type One: Brief Advisor
Let’s create a character. Reuben the Innkeeper hosts an inn where your heroes rest, but something he says or does leaves a lasting impression on the crew. He might give an important tip pertaining to combat or life in general which saves one of the cast in an important scene.
For example, Reuben makes a passing comment to another patron on how easy it is to dodge an arrow if you know what you’re doing, and at your character’s prompt, he elaborates. In a later battle, or even the finale, your hero recalls this advice given by Reuben that saves their life. Your character isn’t directly involved with them,
In this case, the reader doesn’t need to remember everything. They might only recall that Reuben was the Innkeeper in the village of Brigg, and not a thing about his appearance. He could be short and fat, tall and skinny, bearded or mustachio’d – the important thing is that it doesn’t matter unless his mustache showed us how to dodge an arrow.
This type of character doesn’t need to stand out too much. The only moment you write may the the dialogue between them, but it should be more than just a line or two hidden within a greater plot. If you only mentioned the character in two lines, the reader might just skim over it. A page or two of dialogue between them should suffice, even if it doesn’t describe the innkeeper too furtively.
In Akin Minds, I could classify Governor Thorne or one of the Defender receptionists under this. They don’t always need a name, either, but characters might call back to them in passing.
Type Two: Returned Helper
Let’s change Reuben the Innkeeper a little. Now he’s the cousin of your main protagonist’s best friend, a close advisor who they can rely on to offer shelter for a night. Reuben has a network of spies that help shield you from the big bad’s prying eyes, and he might even lie for you. A patron comments on how he used to be a famous warrior in his day. The old scar engraved in his cheekbone attests to it.
Later on in the story, this comes into play again. Maybe something happened to Reuben’s inn, so he shows up to kick names and take butt during the final battle. He uses the hammer that was rested ornately on his mantle, recently polished in a rush.
In JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit, Beorn is a character of a similar type. While not quite an innkeeper, he’s a character with whom the main cast takes shelter and returns later in the Battle of the Five Armies. He’s given many memorable qualities in his few chapters that are called back upon later. Your character might not be a skin-changer or have super memorable powers like this, but there should be something interesting about him that makes the readers recognize him, even with a brief callback to his character. Otherwise, ask yourself why the character needs to return. Is he secretly powerful? Does he have a relevance to the plot or relationship to the characters?
In Akin Minds, I could call Leif Cartos one of these characters. Mentioned enough in Acts One and Two to become a little recognized, he returns in Act Seven in a different role.
Type Three: Recurring Minor
Let’s use Reuben again. The only big difference here between Type One and Type Three is that he works at an inn that the characters frequent. Your characters see a LOT of this guy, but not in a huge way.
Say the plot takes place in Valoria Kingdom. Your characters live or work here, working as sort of a base for their operations. Reuben probably isn’t directly a part of their job, but he’s a recognizable character. He probably doesn’t need to be described in huge detail, but he likely has some interaction with the characters on a varying level. He probably greets them when they return from some mission and exchanges some (plot-relevant) small talk. He might give tidbits of info or gossip from the city. He could spar with one of the characters in his free time.
This kind of character is probably featured semi-frequently through the book, but not likely to have a place in the final battle or the like. In Akin Minds, this could be given to Brom or Alex, both characters without an intense gravity to the plot, but in a place the characters frequently return to!
Type Four: Sorry I’m Late!
In this example, Reuben was the innkeeper in Chapter 3. He didn’t do all too much, but one of the patrons told your characters some interesting story about his previous involvement in a legend. For some reason, he’s retired. It probably has some plot relevance, like the Big Bad killed his late wife and he’s become reclusive from battle due to the trauma. But, in time for the big fight, Reuben battles his insecurities and charges into the fray as a permanent member of the group, maybe even in the sequel.
The big thing here is that the character starts out minor. Just enough is noted to make the readers think he might be important, but it might be forgotten by the time he dons armor and hammer to charge into battle once more. The first line should be something that draws the reader right back to the moment his involvement was foreshadowed. It might be a quick call to his appearance or a notable quirk that reminds the readers of who he was.
Reuben should be quickly recognized when he returns. If it needs a page to describe him and the characters’ involvement with him, then you probably didn’t give him enough exposition back then. It should be a quick thing. Anything about his appearance you might want to describe should be nailed into the action scenes, ie: His huge braids of tawny-brown hair whipped around his head like snakes while he weaved through the enemy lines, standing out like a giant among the sea.
It’s not the perfect sentence, but it works. His braids and huge size are just enough description for the reader to get a quick visual. If you want to delve deeper into his description, then do so amid lines of dialogue or interaction. It’s perfectly okay to wait five chapters before your main character notices how stony his grey eyes look, or how they melt when Reuben looks at an old photograph of his lost love. In fact, often it’s way more powerful – I’ll get into that in another post.
In Akin Minds, a few characters from the first book return to join the group in the second. I won’t get into them too much, but spacing them out across a whole book does require a bit of an introduction – I do it via a scene through their eyes, keeping their own descriptions light and mostly showing them in action.
Type Four: Main Cast
Now this is a little more complex. You have your main cast – say it’s a group of nine – and you want Reuben to have just as much weight. You have all your main characters and have decided Reuben should be immediately recognizable.
There’s many ways to do this, but you should start by questioning yourself, as it is tempting to inflate your cast to near-breaking. How relevant is Reuben to the plot? Does it make sense for him to close down his inn and start traveling with the group? Is he a protagonist that might pursue his own path for parts of the story?
Your readers should become highly invested in Reuben and his relationships. He might get off to a rough start with the protagonist, but show his humanity when he discusses his late wife’s favorite flower with the hero’s best friend. He should have a full-fledged reason to fight the same fight.
In Akin Minds, I do have quite a large cast with about five or six very important characters and several recurring, but important, faces. Each of them should have a quirk or trait that makes them immediately recognizable. Katiel is a major character, but he doesn’t spend the whole series trekking the worlds with Ryoku. He lives his own life, but he spent enough time with Ryoku in Book One that he had plenty of development.
I spent about four Acts of the first book with them together. Katiel’s powers were introduced, some of their past connections displayed, and promised that he was invested in the same final outcome as Ryoku is. He interacts with the gang in his own way and shows diversity, but he’s not going to tag along every step of the way. That trait can be jarring in some novels – a group traveling together as a constant should have a reason. Everyone needs their alone time in some way.
To keep readers interested, ensure Katiel has just as much plot and relevance as the others. He’s got his own arch-nemesis that frequently works with the Ordenstraum Empire, one who also has ties in his origin story and the science behind his strange powers.
In Reuben’s case, there should be a benefit to the group that he’s along as well. Maybe he can chat up any of the other innkeepers and net them a discount. Maybe he’s got a sharp eye for good marksmanship and stops the group from buying poorly made weapons. This can also tie in with his character interactions – not only for major characters, but minor ones as well. If he’s got an eye for weaponry, he should engage in deep talks with the veteran soldier of the group about weapons and blacksmiths.
Perhaps the most important thing to do in all cases is to treat your characters like people. Base your experiences off of real life and real people. If you run into the bartender from last night a few times, how much of them are you going to recognize? What stands out? Don’t be ashamed to take snippets of your life and apply them. Aside from placing your friend word-for-word into your novel, you can make some startling connections when you borrow some real traits.
For your main characters, think of your friends and family. How do they interact with one another? Do you notice all of it, and, in your story, how relevant is it to the plot? Whether big or small, readers love seeing your characters with depth, living beneath the ink on the page and mingling in a world they can only read about. Every character should breathe.
To check out some examples of a high-cast book, check out Akin Minds right here or check out the Character posts on this site to read about them!
Sources mentioned:
Lord of the Rings
The Hobbit
My own sources:
Ryoku Dragontalen
Akin Minds Protagonists
Caryl Cerone
Alex Retton
Sovereign Soul 