I love authors and I have an incredible amount of respect for all they do.
However, there are certain things that I so wish they would stop doing! You can read Part 1 of this series HERE.
Part 2 of this series will focus onnnn….drumroll please…
TOO MANY CHARACTERS!
Omg this is SUCH a pet peeve of mine.
I would so rather read a book with a handful of well developed characters than a book with so many characters that none of them are developed or even mentioned enough to make significant contributions to the story.
I hate, hate, HATE when I have to flip back through pages (I only read paper books) to try to figure out who a character is because there were just too many to keep straight.
I find this especially frustrating while reading thrillers. I get it…there needs to be a fair amount of characters introduced so the “who done it” isn’t completely obvious. However, it’s more than annoying to find out that the “who done it” turns out to be a meaningless character who I never even had the chance to get to “know” in the first place. Nothing worse than a huge plot twist at the end revolving around an insignificant character.
What do you think? Do you agree with me? How many characters is too many?
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
And just an FYI because a few of you have asked…yes, I’m still reading The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
- This is the first season in the history of The Bachelor that I don’t have a favorite contestant and I haven’t had one all season.
- Peter has made some absolutely HORRIBLE choices. Like…throughout entire time.
Do you watch the Bachelor? Please NO SPOILERS and NO PREDICTIONS if you do!
Winner of the Spring! Time to Build a Nest, A Story About Trumpeter Swans Giveaway:
Xo,
Jenny
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Book Coffee Happy 
I don’t mind a lot of characters if the story is done well. I’m enjoying Grown Ups by Marian Keyes. It’s long and there are a lot of characters, but it’s really good! I can understand how it would get confusing in thrillers.
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I’ve heard great things about that book!
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As an avid reader (and a writer who probably includes too many characters for your liking – lol) I LOVE a lot of characters as long as they are a part of the story or series. I think this is very subjective and know many people who would probably agree with you – but I am on the #ILoveALotOfCharacters team.
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Thank you for sharing a different perspective! ❤️📚
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I completely agree with short chapters. 1 page is too short unless they are trying to make a point but 2-5 pages is glorious! I also don’t like small font.
I don’t notice the character issue as much and sometimes it adds to the feeling of trying to figure it all out. So I’m okay with extra characters.
💯 in The Bachelor. This might be one of the worst seasons I’ve seen.
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Yes to all of what you said (except for the extra characters, lol). This season of The Bachelor has been awful! It’s hard to “root” for any of them and Peter just keeps making HORRIBLE decisions!
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I just recently started reading The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and I totally agree about the character thing.
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I agree too many characters does hurt a story. I strive for character driven stories. I also breathe a page or two into side characters so that they are memorable. =)
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YES!!! 🙂
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Yep, one of the main complaints about my current read (The Flower Girls by Alice Clarke-Platts) is that there are way too many characters many of whom are totally superfluous. Its particularly frustrating when like me characters are the mainstay to a book, get them wrong and no matter how good the plot or world building etc chances are I’m not going to enjoy it.
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