Too Many Characters in Your Romance Novel?
Too Many Characters in Your Romance Novel?
It’s a common problem. Especially in early drafts of romance novels, where side plots and supporting characters add up quickly. Here’s what you can do when your romance story feels overcrowded:
Combine roles
You can often morph two or three side characters into one. Replace your main character’s best friend, co-worker, or roommate with one clever, supportive friend who takes on all those various roles. This serves to trim the fat and add a bit more gravitas to your secondary characters, making them all the more memorable.
Nail Down Who’s Really Important
Decide whose decisions actually move your romantic arc. Who is altered, made stronger, or weaker by a central relationship? If your "extra" characters don't move the romance forward, either through emotion or plot, consider cutting or merging them as mentioned above.
Reassign functions
If your side character’s only purpose is to deliver information or create a single conflict, see if one of your major characters could fill that role. Or see if the information can be conveyed without a character. Having several side characters serve as information providers often adds needless complications to a story. Side characters usually force writers to develop them. And then they inadvertently become burdensome to the story.
Evaluate subplots
Virtually all romance novels cater to intimacy. Too many character subplots (family drama, workplace intrigue, best friend’s wedding, etc.) can muddy and dilute the intimacy readers crave.
The Scene Test
Outline your chapters and indicate who appears in each. Do this even if you’re a “pantser.” If you have three or four named characters in one scene, you probably have too many for readers to emotionally track.
Baby with the Bathwater
Don’t delete your extra characters, especially if you’ve gone to the trouble of fleshing them out with distinct personalities. Save them to a “Graveyard” or “New Stories” file. You’d be surprised at how many great writers have saved their extraneous characters for main ones down the line.
It’s a common problem. Especially in early drafts of romance novels, where side plots and supporting characters add up quickly. Here’s what you can do when your romance story feels overcrowded:
Combine roles
You can often morph two or three side characters into one. Replace your main character’s best friend, co-worker, or roommate with one clever, supportive friend who takes on all those various roles. This serves to trim the fat and add a bit more gravitas to your secondary characters, making them all the more memorable.
Nail Down Who’s Really Important
Decide whose decisions actually move your romantic arc. Who is altered, made stronger, or weaker by a central relationship? If your "extra" characters don't move the romance forward, either through emotion or plot, consider cutting or merging them as mentioned above.
Reassign functions
If your side character’s only purpose is to deliver information or create a single conflict, see if one of your major characters could fill that role. Or see if the information can be conveyed without a character. Having several side characters serve as information providers often adds needless complications to a story. Side characters usually force writers to develop them. And then they inadvertently become burdensome to the story.
Evaluate subplots
Virtually all romance novels cater to intimacy. Too many character subplots (family drama, workplace intrigue, best friend’s wedding, etc.) can muddy and dilute the intimacy readers crave.
The Scene Test
Outline your chapters and indicate who appears in each. Do this even if you’re a “pantser.” If you have three or four named characters in one scene, you probably have too many for readers to emotionally track.
Baby with the Bathwater
Don’t delete your extra characters, especially if you’ve gone to the trouble of fleshing them out with distinct personalities. Save them to a “Graveyard” or “New Stories” file. You’d be surprised at how many great writers have saved their extraneous characters for main ones down the line.
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