Characters A-Plenty

I’ve read a few books where there are so many characters, I just couldn’t keep them straight. Then I’ve read a few where there are plenty of characters and I enjoyed – and got to know – all of them. What’s the difference? I asked myself that same question, so I went back to some of the books and studied them from a writer’s point of view.

In the books where the characters tumbled together, I noticed a couple of things. First, the characters weren’t “defined” clearly enough. I didn’t know if it was Susie or Mary that went somewhere because I had never identified either one. If I’d known that Susie was tall and lean with red hair, I’d have been able to picture her. But the writer never gave a description of either Susie or Mary so in the reader’s eye, they became interchangeable. If a character has more than a passing occurrence, make sure the reader can differentiate between similar characters.

Another thing I noticed was when there are several people in a scene, the dialogue isn’t always clear on who said what. That can confuse the heck out of a reader and make for a lot of back-and-forth between pages. If the reader doesn’t understand who is speaking, a simple tag can clarify it. And the tag doesn’t have to be “Susie said” – it can be a bit more interesting, such as “she remarked with a smile as she tossed her red hair over her shoulder.” The reader knows the only person with red hair is Susie, so ‘nuf said.

The idea is this – don’t confuse your readers. You don’t want to explain every little detail to your readers because most people want to figure a few things out for themselves. Our readers are smart and love to figure out where a story is going, but don’t make the mistake of confusing them unintentionally.

Happy Writing!

Dee Morgan 

Never Broken, Martinis with Mom and Martinis at the Ranch are available on Amazon, Kindle, IBooks and Amazon Paperback Books. An Unacceptable Truth is available on Amazon and Kindle and IBooks.

Follow me on Twitter @dmorganbooks, on Facebook Dee Morgan, or contact me by email at dmorganauthor@gmail.com