Loqueris latine? Do you speak Latin? No? Don’t worry…I don’t, either. But that isn’t going to stop me from talking about Dramatis Personae. Dramatis personae is a Latin phrase meaning “masks of the actors” or “characters of the play”. It’s a list of the characters who will appear within the writing. It makes it easier for the reader to keep track of who is who. I’ve read a few books which included this list, but I never thought about including it in one of my own books until recently. I wondered, if I needed to include a list of the characters, did that mean I had too many characters?

Looking back, I probably could have included a dramatis personae in Fortune’s Wing or Valentine, and definitely in the Our Lady of Righteous Rage books. Each series comes with a long list of characters. I finally included a list in the last Valentine R book, and there will be a list in the upcoming Our Lady book, Louder!. I think if you’re writing a book or a series that uses multiple characters, including a dramatis personae is something to consider. I also think this leads to another question to be considered: how many characters is too many? While there may not be a set number of how many characters a book may include, if the characters don’t add anything to the story or begin to become to similar to one another, then you may have too many. Your dramatis personae may be too long.

Keep writing, everyone.