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Q&A Adding more characters as the story moves forwards

Sounds fine to me. George R.R. Martin's been doing it for about five thousand pages so far. ETA: Martin makes the vast array of characters work by starting slow, with one family, and building outw...

posted 12y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T12:00:04Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/4792
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T02:08:36Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/4792
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T02:08:36Z (over 4 years ago)
Sounds fine to me. [George R.R. Martin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire)'s been doing it for about five thousand pages so far.

ETA: Martin makes the vast array of characters work by starting slow, with one family, and building outwards as the family splits apart and the members travel. Ned Stark goes from Winterfell to King's Landing, where we meet another family at the palace, which introduces us to the politics of the country. That's a springboard to other families, other castles, and more politics.

He also helps the reader by keeping to one POV per chapter, and naming the character at the top of the chapter, so you know who and where the plot is focusing on. (As some characters shift their internal identities, the names change as well, which is a nice touch.)

There's a huge character list with thumbnail descriptions at the end of each book, for those who have difficulty remembering who was doing what to whom six years ago when the last book was published, and several maps as well.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2012-01-11T00:44:14Z (over 12 years ago)
Original score: 6