I have 50 named characters in my calendar/time-line spreadsheet.
No, they don’t even all come on-stage, but yes, I needed to name them all to keep them straight in my own head.
I didn’t create them all at once, but I am pretty impressed that I even have 50 different names to offer up.
I guess all that prep-work I did right before NaNo ’06 is still paying off!
This may not even be something you’ve thought of yet, but the first thing my plan-ahead brain thought was: “Hey! That just paves the way for a second bookl! You’ve already got names and plot lines mapped out!” :P
Well, it’s a fun thought, but most of what’s going on is designed to bring the characters (who live through it) all back to a “boring” straight-life.
In essence, isn’t that what “happily ever after” looks like for most of us?
I do have themes, at least one object and a few characters that nibble the edges of my story-mind, and are escaping (or have escaped) into additional stories.
But these don’t use most of what I’ve collected here.
(e.g., the two families with 6 or 7 kids each.)
The one I’ve seriously considered (once) is actually a prequel to a part of this novel that ends tragically, so I don’t know if it would be a good story to write, knowing how sad it ultimately ends up.
Bummer! Maybe a completely different story, like one of those unseen or little seen siblings in the large families who has a story of their own… Oh well. It was a thought. :)
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