Weeding your Characters

Too many characters may choke your story.

Continuing IOWA course learning.
I tend to keep to a main character and a few secondary ones. maybe one day I will try a large cast.

If you are brave enough to write a story with a large cast these ideas may help.

First question is WHY?
Why is it important to the story to have so many characters? 
Who really supports the main characters and the plot?
How does each character contribute to the narrative?
How does each character bring a different view to the story?

As a writer you need to be clear as to who is the most important and who is only adding some colour. If you are clear about this then the reader will be too.

Weeding - 

Try creating a family tree with the primary character at the top. Link via relation ship to main character. If too far removed , maybe unnecessary.

Divide your characters into Primary, Secondary and Tertiary

Primary- 
You will know this character. their past, thoughts, flaws and secrets.
They will have conflicts which are raised at the beginning of the story and continue throughout.

Secondary - 
You will know relevant information about the present story line, may have flashbacks to past but generally no past info is needed to support the role.
may have some conflicts which last for a couple of scenes and are resolved- often in relation to the primary character.

Tertiary - 
These characters are used to throw light or views on other characters, or the plot- especially the Primary.
No big conflicts, may have some issues but not to be dealt with, only to move the plot on. May have some issues with the Primary, but not personal ones.
It is a good idea to give a tertiary character a tag- an accent / relationship / food or clothing / attitude so the reader is clued in when they appear infrequently.


As usual read -
Read stories with large casts and analyse how the author has used them. 
Notice if there are characters you skip over as you read- why? Are they needed?

Good luck.