Listing Your Cast of Characters
- Thread starter JT Woody
- Start date
I think I'll be putting one in the beginning of the last book of my series, just as a kind of "meanwhile, back at the ranch" kind of thing. But only in the last book because there won't be spoilery characters at that point. I think. Do I even know my own books?
I will have one for my current series, primarily for pronunciation and, possibly, some lineage info. I'm currently on book 3 and there are 42 named characters. Not all are frequent, but nearly all are seen more than once. And that's not even counting creatures. And I'm only on book 3 out of 6 or 7 planned. There will be more.
It will be at the back for those who wish to refer to it though. Not the front.
It will be at the back for those who wish to refer to it though. Not the front.
My casts haven’t been expansive enough for listing all the characters to be necessary, but if I ever wrote anything so epic in scale, I wouldn’t have an issue with a dramatis personae. I’d probably stick it in the back, though. That’s where I’ve seen most of them.
I've been doing everything in my power to reduce the amount of characters that show up, and if I need to have someone interact as a one-off, I tend to not address them by name. Parents become so-and-so's father/mother. Others are referenced by description. As the novel series progresses, it's naturally getting more expansive, but I've put a ton of effort into the website (not that I expect anyone to put down the book to to research). Hopefully the text makes it clear in an organic fashion, without resorting to Game of Thrones style lineages.
Well, I find character lists useful for Historical fiction when you have:
Julia Drusilla
Julia Livilla
Julia Agrippina
Julia the Elder
Julia Flavia
Agrippina the Elder
Drusus, Drusus and Nero and Nero.
Gaius, Gaius and also Gaius. All different generations, I might add.
Titus Flavius Sabinus, but also Titus Flavius Sabinus, his son.
Also when in the middle of the story when Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus changes his name to another long name, but he just goes by Nero.
Yeah. These are all real people and in the same family tree, except Julia Flavia. It's a mess!
I made a list of characters just to keep track of everyone. I did this after I realized I had one woman i called Angela 50% of the time and Andrea the other times. Another character was Shoeffler, which I had to go back and check the spelling on like 20 times. Then, periodically, when I'd roll out some new non-important character's name, I'd consult the chart to make sure I didn't have, for example, "Steven" in 8-9 places
Honestly? This doesn't look like it would help me.
If the characters themselves aren't meaningful or memorable, then a list of names is just... a list of names. I'd have forgotten them by the time I get to them in the text. But I can still remember (most of) the cast list of LoTR even decades after reading it.
If the characters themselves aren't meaningful or memorable, then a list of names is just... a list of names. I'd have forgotten them by the time I get to them in the text. But I can still remember (most of) the cast list of LoTR even decades after reading it.
i normally skip reading the cast of character pages, but will flip back to it during the story.
There was a 500 page book I read that introduced SO MANY characters in the first 100 pages, that I actually had a sticky-note stuck to the inside of the book where i could list the characters as they came up, so I could mark things like "this one died" "this one married this person" "this one os the child of this person" "this person moved away" "this person no longer goes by this name"
i felt like i was being taken out of the story by the amount of times i had to pause to note a new character or changes to an old one. A character sheet would have been helpful with that...
If I have to use post-its to keep track of characters - I'm out. That's not a story to me, it's an encyclopedia I didn't choose to study.
That seems like an okay list. I got confused by the formatting, though. I tried to dig up one of my character lists, but can't find it. But to give you an idea of how I do it:
Nero (insert full imperial title): Current Emperor of Rome, son of Agrippina the Younger who he thinks is trying to run his life. Enjoys singing, music and theater more than he enjoys running the empire. Was married to his half-sister Octavia and is now having an affair with his best friend's wife, Poppaea Sabina.
Otho: Current Governor of Lustinia (Spain) and Nero's best friend who is in the dark about the affair he is having with Poppaea. However, is too busy settling matters with his rival Vitellius to put the pieces together.
I think this format is fun, because it gives character, backstory and purpose into the list. For me, I hardly use non-historical characters in my works. Everyone is someone. In later books. I would keep Nero and Otho in the character list, but UPDATE their current stories.
Nero: Former Emperor of Rome. Died (insert date) when Galba marched on Rome and took over. Nero committed suicide and his body was moved to (insert location).
Otho: Nero's Former Best Friend who Is not happy with Galba's rule and is working on gaining his own support for the imperial throne. Still sending angry letters to Vitellius.
Is Nero having an affair already happening at the start of your novel?
Actually, in the beginning of my story, he's getting married. (Again.) This would be official marriage #3 if I am counting correctly and unofficial #6. It's hard with Nero, because I think he married three times and then 'married' two (maybe 1? It's debated) freedmen and a boy he kidnapped and made into a Enunch to replace Poppaea Sabina. In my story, I am replacing one of his official wives with another historical figure to create an alternate universe scenario.
Okay, I googled as I could not remember wife #3's name. But it's Statilia Messalina and I believe she gave him a daughter. I don't think this daughter lived past infancy. But she was his only kid from what I know.
The reason I asked is that, if it is something revealed before the start of the novel, then you're risking spoilers or exposition. It's the sort of thing that works best in an appendix if you're trying to avoid that.
I understand that. But I also think in historical work, historical events are not spoilers?
Nobody knows dick about history. Particularly Roman history. Caesar dying would be a spoiler.
Only if you're familiar with the specific history. I'll betcha 99% of people couldn't tell you with certainty if Nero had an affair or not, and certainly not who he was having an affair with, or who she was to him. Of course, it's your choice, but I would just be careful about revealing something to the reader that they're better off discovering in the story.
