AQATWA: An abundance of characters

[inverarity]

So I have a bunch of new characters all being introduced in one chapter. I feel like I'm writing The Hunger Games. (No, that's not a hint about the plot.) I remember a comment I got a lot about Hogwarts Houses Divided was that I dropped so many characters into the story that people had trouble keeping the names straight at first, though most readers apparently got them sorted out eventually. Still, I may have to eliminate a few characters when I go back and revise. Assuming I don't eliminate entire swaths of the book, since I'm still in that meandering "I know where I want to go, but right now I'm just winging it" phase.

There are a lot of big events and new developments in AQATWA, but the connective tissue that will hold it all together as a coherent book isn't there yet.

However, you may surmise that at least I am writing again. I never really stopped, but progress has been dragging for a while.

Current word count is 131K words. I still predict this is going to be the longest of the AQ books yet.

And now, one of the best illustrations I've seen of Alexandra, courtesy of cactuscommando, and another one of Dean Grimm! Click the links to go check out the full-size versions on the artist's DeviantArt page.


Alexandra Quick by ~cactusfantastico on deviantART


Lilith Grimm by ~cactusfantastico on deviantART


Abraham Thorn by ~cactusfantastico on deviantART

Comments

[tealterror0.livejournal.com]

While deleting a few of the characters is one option, you can also move some of the introductions to earlier or later. Or, something I found to work when I had a similar problem, you can just not give their names and only refer to them by their status. If they're important and show up again, you can state their names at that later date. (I think Hunger Games...may have done this?)

And that's pretty awesome artwork. :D

[graeme sutton (from livejournal.com)]

Or just do what Brent Weeks does, kill them all off by the end of the next chapter and pat yourself on the back for writing an "Anyone Can Die" book.
Hunger Games had the benefit of first person narration, since Katniss herself couldn't remember half the other tribute's names there was no need to mention them in the novel, with most just getting described by sex and district.

[tealterror0.livejournal.com]

You can basically do the same thing with 3rd-person limited narration, which is what the AQ series uses.

[cactuscommando.livejournal.com]

So far all of your characters have been pretty memorable to me. One of the things I actually like about your books is the breadth of the cast and how they are mostly all definitive and interesting. Plus, tons of characters keeps me busy drawing.