The story I'm working on has essentially two equal main characters. Right now, the second main character doesn't make her appearance until chapter four.
Should she appear earlier? Or can she appear even later in the book?
Can I have two main characters at all, or must I choose one or the other?
Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :
In my opinion, it is fine to have 2 main characters. You just want to introduce them both as soon as possible. If the first three chapters are short, chapter 4 will work fine, but stick with your second character for a while to give the reader the idea. Later will probably not work. But then, there are no hard and fast rules that can't be broken. Posted by Narvi (Member # 1376) on :
Aragorn doesn't show up until chapter 9 of FotR; Bean doesn't show up until chapter 10 of EG. So long as the early parts without the second character are interesting, and there's enough space for the second character to develop, wait as long as you like.
Just don't give detailed early characterization of someone who's never going to show up again -- *that* is annoying.
Posted by nellievrolyk (Member # 1616) on :
Thanks Christine, Narvi for your replies.
I want to expand on some things that were glossed over too quickly in the first main character's chapters and that means putting in extra chapters at the beginning of the story. From at least one opinion that shouldn't be a problem.
Once character two appears in the story and meets character one, they are rarely apart from each other, and they alternate chapters; often telling about the same incidents from different viewpoints.
