novel question...pun intended

[Terri]

How many central characters should you have in a novel? Should you only focus on one main character but continue minor stories involving the other characters?

just asking. I have one main character whom the story is soley about, but the others are just as important to the story. so I guess I'm wondering, can a novel be about two main characters? confusing I know...but just checking basically.

Thanks

TD

[Kane X. Faucher]

If clarity is an issue, you can always preface each character's "section" with a header "X's Account". I have done this. You can also alternate chapters that feature each character...so ch.1 is x, ch.2 is y, ch. 3 is x again, etc. The issue of multiple characters is a fascinating one. I have experimented in this region with mixed results. In a more fantastical vein, I had seven(!) major characters who fused into one as a result of a "synthesis". I have also written characters who had loose roles and who changed into other characters with ease. It can and has been done. Check out Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow" as an interesting example on how this was done.

[Bob Kellogg]

You're the author, Terri, so you must decide whose mind you want to enter. That's what writing from a character's POV actually means. You'll look at the world you've created in your novel from that person's place in it. Otherwise you'll show that character from someone else's POV; from the outside, looking in.

But ultimately, you'll decide how close, how intimate, you will get with each character.

Bob K.