The Hardest Part

I’m a writer. If my past posts haven’t already drilled the hell out of that point, then it’s time to drive it home yet again. As a writer, that means I write, obviously. Now I try to start doing work with a  plot outline and all that, characters sketched out and everything so that there’s nothing to lose track of, so that the story will keep a good, consistent plot line and won’t lose track of itself. I don’t know about other writers, but usually I start out with a plot outline in my head, or at least a theme or other sort of event that can trigger a story. If not that, then usually I start out with an image of a character or multiple characters that will generally turn into an important bit of the  story. On occasion I am lucky enough to start out with both of these, and that’s just awesome. Probably because I never seem to have much trouble with those two, I have been cursed with the problem of the third.

I start with a good image of the character and an understanding of the character’s mentality, opinions, past, life, all that good stuff; what do I not start out with? A name. Nothing. This character is completely nameless person, and so are all the other characters, more often than not. I try to do what I can to dig up a name that fits the character in personality and appearance, their perfect name, but usually that doesn’t work out. And when I find a perfect character match, if they end up reminding me too much of another character from other stories, they instantly get scrapped. Sure, it might be unintentionally done that they are so similar, but I can’t accidentally borrow someone else’s character.

Unfortunately, even that isn’t the case for my current main character. He’s a guy who starts out as an underdog in an abusive home where his family treats him like garbage. Insert stereotypical twist that he is not the biological son and a terrible accident that overcomes his village, typical of fantasy, and you have him out on his own, growing to become a hero. A man who is blunt and generous, simple yet true, brave and noble, faithful, pretty much everything that you’d want to be. Sounds like a Mary Sue, but he’s growing into this man and even after his growth he isn’t perfect. His name? No idea. None at all. So in my lack of knowledge, I put it to you: do you have any names that I should use for him? Any name that is conjured up by these descriptions?

For the other ten or so characters that he encounters after leaving home, a group known as the Freedom Fighters, I shall struggle to come up with more fitting names though I have already found apt names for a few and will admit to borrowing something of the character of Locksley from Sir Walter Scott, though he is not such a noble and heroic, virtuous man as portrayed in the past. Fitting to the character, he is a master archer. Am I the only writer who agonizes over names like this? When I read I don’t pay so much attention to them as I do when I write, I’ve noticed, but writing it seems so essential; probably because while writing I can twist and turn the narrative to my fitting to some degree while with reading, it is not yours to interpret usually.

How many characters are too many?

I don’t have much to say, and judging from the lack of activity on my blog, I haven’t had too much to say for a few days. Part of this is because I was out of town, but that’s not important now. Now that I’m back, hopefully I’ll be able to crank out and do some more writing than before, especially blogging; creative writing is going pretty well. At least what I’m currently working on; I have another plot idea that is boiling in the back of my head, an epic, or at least so I believe. And that gives rise to my question: how many characters are too many?

I’m undecided; the tale is for the most part something of a stereotypical fantasy epic and a lot of the characters are there as help to further the story and make it more believable. All of them have interesting back stories that I could,  if I wanted to, probably turn into their own short story at least, even if that is quite a large bit of writing to undertake. The fact that this epic is supposed to be a single book really makes me believe that character-wise, I should limit myself to a maximum amount. In a series I’ve been working on, you can introduce a handful of new people each book and still keep it fresh, without overwhelming people. In a single book, I fear that the mass of characters will just be overwhelming. But many of these characters I see will not fit into the series, unfortunately, and I’d rather not have homeless characters in the streets of my imagination. I’m trying to come up with an idea for what to do here but I find myself at a loss.

Any ideas? Anything will work, even if I’ve already said it; split off into multiple short stories, cut it off, use them elsewhere, whatever. What are your suggestions?

Or if you take an issue with my opinion on slowly introducing characters throughout a series, tell me your own. I will admit that minimum and maximum character amount has always been my weakest point in terms of storytelling.

It feels like a bear riding on top of a shark like a surfboard

What's not to love?

That is, it feels pretty damn good.

Now, what am I talking about?

Sure, this is random and a bit premature considering that this blog was just opened today, or yesterday according to the wordpress calendar, but today, just a few minutes ago, I have, after a few months of work, finished the first draft of a first book. A first book that I wouldn’t be ashamed to actually have my name on, that is; in the past, like every author, I’ve written stuff, and like every author, I have plenty of skeletons in my closet in terms of writing. Stuff so bad that if people were to pick it up, I’d find myself sporting the pleasant shade of a tomato. Of course, at the time I wrote it, it wasn’t shaming, so this isn’t to say that a year from now I’ll look back and think that this is still my best work. A year from now, it probably won’t be. But hey, for now it is, and I live in the present. Why live if not in the moment?

Anyhow, I’d like to post it, but as I am an aspiring author, I won’t. I’ve learned from a handful of sources that if this even has a chance of ever getting published, posting it on the internet will squash those chances. Yes, I am cocky enough to believe that there is a high enough chance of eventual publication that I won’t risk my hopes here. I really doubt that anyone who has randomly bumped into this, or anyone even reading this, will give much of a damn anyway.
But, just to go on, it’s a retelling of that old classic story of a haunted mansion. Bloody history, murders and everything! Main character is a guy named Dante who is paid an exorbitant amount to investigate the place, but things don’t turn out quite the way they would seem. It turns into what just might be a one-way trip to Hell when he finds himself hunted by a demon that has made the mansion its home. And no, the one way trip to Hell bit was not a reference to Dante Alighieri and the “Divine Comedy.” …Or was it? A bit too intentional. Just for extra shits and giggles, Dante is aware of the fourth-wall, at least at the beginning and end of the book. Having too much fourth-wall awareness throughout the rest of the book seemed like it would make it seem a bit too comical and take away the dramatic tension.
All in all another successful ramble, huh? If any of you suffered through the first post, you’re probably calling it quits now, but for those of you who did manage to wade through both, thank you!