Churning Out People

Named characters. You remember them. You're supposed to. That's why they're named.

I see a tendency in myself to afford some amount of backstory and personality to every named character I create, which can become a really cumbersome problem, since I name most everyone.

I'm a world builder. I'm trying to create a functioning world completely filled with real people, and I can't do that because I don't have the time or organizational skills to keep up with them all. Instead, I have to decide whether to leave unimportant characters nameless or simply not expand on them. Finding the balance between character development and relevance is critical in leaving the reader interested.

I think I've found a good formula: recurring characters.

The world is a big one and full of people, but not too big, and there aren't too many people. Instead of going into serious detail on a person's backstory, I've decided to have them pop up in other books, in everything from major roles, to small cameos, to the mention of their name. It fleshes them out a great deal because the reader thinks, 'Oh, it's that guy!' and it allows the character more development in a significant and meaningful way.

Spoiler Alert

In my first book, Jon Norsander, there's a guy, a lion, named Lt. Steele. He's shown in the flashback of a major character, but appears in all of two paragraphs. In other stories and series of letters, other characters mention him, and he even authors a few notes of his own. Later, he pops up as a major player in other people's lives before getting a starring role where he assassinates his own king in the middle of a full court.

End Spoilers

I'm trying to flesh characters out only as much as they need to be. I'm not Ernest Hemingway, but I'm not Herman Melville, either. It's been a serious trial for me to bring people to life in the appropriate way, but I think I've found a good balance.

What author do you think had the best character development and pacing? Why? I'd like to learn from the great works of others to help me improve my writing going forward.

With that in mind, here's to the future.