Yuffie's Writing How-To's

How to REDUCE # OF SUPPORTING CHARACTERS

While scouring writing blogs, I found an interesting writing tip:

"Stick to two supporting characters. Amalgamate extra characters into one person. Your protagonist does not need three best friends and five love interests. The rules of story-telling require simplicity. Readers get bored when they are introduced to too many characters in one book." (Source: http://writewild.tumblr.com/post/55604864560/write-the-ending-first-this-gives-you-a)

I can definitely see the merit in this. Many novice writers introduce a dozen characters in the first chapter and lose the reader (I'm very guilty of this in The Essence of Sin!). You're told not to use two words when one would suffice, the same can go for characters. Don't spawn a new character every time you need something to accomplish.

If you need your MC to question ... I don't know, the quality of their chemistry report and figure out what they're cooking for dinner that night, you don't need to add a new roommate to address each problem. Just have the same roommate nag them and reduce the "character clutter".

Does your MC have a best friend, an aunt, and a boss? Why not simplify and make her aunt her boss and best friend? Three characters all bundled into one!

You  don't have to have EXACTLY two supporting characters. Having a huge cast of characters can be endearing and add intriguing complexity when each is given ample development. It would also be extremely difficult to write a full-fledged novel with only three characters. So the take-home message should not be that bold line, but rather the sentences following it: "Amalgamate extra characters into one person. Your protagonist does not need three best friends and five love interests."

Keep it simple. If you can't keep it simple, make damn sure we adore each and every character and they have a legitimate reason for their existence in the story.