: Re: Every character has a name - does this lead to too many named characters? My tendency when writing is to give every character a name. Even the most minor ones. It says something about a nobleman

@Cooney417

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To add to Amadeus: it makes sense to bring up the name if it comes about naturally within the story. If this ends up happening with too many characters though readers can get distracted by them -thinking that they will end up being important to the plot- and this makes those characters a sort of red herring. Even Robert Jordan -with his massive cast of characters- did not overwhelm with names. If he did reveal names to the reader for characters that were a blip on the screen he did not call attention to it, and the reader was easily able to move on.

I also agree with DPT's suggestion of seeing how much 'screen time' the characters have. If they aren't in much of the story as a whole you wouldn't want to point them out.

I will add that there is nothing wrong with having names and backgrounds for the various minor characters you come across. Whether or not you use this information in the current novel is another thing entirely. If you are someone who enjoys having a host of details about the world in which your story takes place then this might not be too overbearing for you. I have a Game Master (granted for RolePlaying, but still valid here) who knows the names and backgrounds of every minor character on the PLANET he has created. That is a little excessive, but he has the sort of mind that just does that and keeps track of what they're doing in the world as time passes.

To summarize; make sure your named characters are not distracting the reader from what is really going on. Too much name throwing can dilute the conflict. In fact, very few people call each other by name in conversation unless they are trying to get someone's attention from across the room.

Hope this helped.

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