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Q&A Every character has a name - does this lead to too many named characters?

Simple--Metrics. Count the number of named characters and the number of acts/chapters they are in. Named characters should appear in at least two chapters, to reward the reader for learning them,...

posted 5y ago by DPT‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T11:04:59Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42784
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar DPT‭ · 2019-12-08T11:04:59Z (almost 5 years ago)
 **Simple--Metrics.**

Count the number of named characters and the number of acts/chapters they are in. Named characters should appear in at least two chapters, to reward the reader for learning them, better yet they should appear in at least two acts.

If you have fewer than 25 named characters and each character appears in 2 chapters and 2 acts, you are fine. This may sound silly, but it is a useful start point nonetheless.

If you have... 75 named characters, and 50 of them appear in one chapter only, you have a serious problem.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-03-01T00:44:58Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 14