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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42989
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

 **In general, I would go with the minimum number of _main_ characters you need**. As a reader, it's difficult and distancing for me to keep track of many characters, and hard for me to care. I'm willing to go to the effort, but only if the writer has made it worth my while.

So, if you can combine some characters, or give a minor character's role or function to a major character, do it. (Main characters are ones who appear consistently throughout the work, or have a decisive role in a major section. They have a personal relationship and frequent interactions with the protagonist. They have the majority of the dialog. A minor character is one who doesn't have any of that.) If you're on the fence about a character, err on the side of taking them out. But if you _need_ 9 main characters, you need 9 main characters. **Just make them 9 people worth the effort of getting to know.**

For me, personally, as a reader, **if you want me to care about a large cast of characters, it helps to contextualize them** --that is, make them main characters, but in defined settings or sections of the book. In the aggregate, there are many main characters, but no more than a few "onstage" at a time .

Original score: 2