This is a good article about “folding” – compacting your stories down by making every element do more work and connect more closely with the other elements. Rather than have two colourless minor characters, combine them into one more interesting one.
There’s a caveat to this, as to all writing advice. Pushed too far, you can end up with unlikely coincidences about who knows each other, and the reader can get the feeling – as I did from Dracula – that the population of Great Britain is approximately 12 people, given how many coincidental connections there are between them.
Based on how many actors are in both Harry Potter and Doctor Who; yeah, 12 people sounds about right.
Based on how many actors are in both Harry Potter and Doctor Who; yeah, 12 people sounds about right.
Lots of connections: good. Lots of unlikely coincidences in order to achieve those connections: not so good. In Dracula, the house Drac buys in Britain happens to be next to the lunatic asylum run by the doctor who knows to call in Van Helsing, perhaps the only man in Europe who knows what to do; and the doctor is also an admirer of Lucy, who got bloodsucked when Drac happened to land near where she was on holiday in a completely different part of Britain, along with her friend Mina, whose fiance had previously visited Drac’s castle, and all of this is apparently a complete coincidence. Apart from that, though, it’s a terrific book.
Lots of connections: good. Lots of unlikely coincidences in order to achieve those connections: not so good. In Dracula, the house Drac buys in Britain happens to be next to the lunatic asylum run by the doctor who knows to call in Van Helsing, perhaps the only man in Europe who knows what to do; and the doctor is also an admirer of Lucy, who got bloodsucked when Drac happened to land near where she was on holiday in a completely different part of Britain, along with her friend Mina, whose fiance had previously visited Drac’s castle, and all of this is apparently a complete coincidence. Apart from that, though, it’s a terrific book.