Art by Alison Hunt

Fantasy is known for its quests and group adventures. Some authors focus on multiple figures who are active at the same time, but not working together. These stories don’t have a single hero designated as the central character. Instead, they are what would be called an ensemble group. Each member is important to the story even if they aren’t actually on at the same time. It’s certainly a juggling act since you can’t give too much attention to one character or you risk destabilizing the balance. Playing favorites can turn your ensemble cast into a one-person show while the plot wasn’t designed for it to be that way. Eventually, a point will happen where another character needs to step up, but they were ignored for so long they no longer fit that scene or an author forgot to give them the proper evolution. Oops. That can be fixed with edits, but let’s try to go over this to save ourselves a headache.

First, I want to clarify what I mean by ensemble cast even though I’m sure everyone knows what I’m talking about. As I said, this is where you have multiple central heroes instead of one leading the show. Readers may perceive one as being greater than the others, but they’re allowed to play favorites. An author doesn’t have that luxury because the plot requires actions from everyone.

These characters are all involved in the main story, so they are an essential piece of the puzzle. Whether it be revenge or destiny, they have no choice, but to be there. Variations in goals comes from the personal side of the heroes, which makes utilizing an ensemble more difficult. An author can’t have the sole interest of every character be to see the adventure to the end because then they’ll all be the same. There needs to be a variety in skills, personalities, and goals to show why they are together. Typically, these heroes have united because each one brings something to the group that the others don’t have.

For example, in Legends of Windemere each of the champions has a specialty. Luke Callindor is speed fighting and thinking on his feet. Nyx has powerful magic and book smarts. Timoran Wrath is physically strong and wise. Sari has a variety of abilities and is cunning. Delvin Cunningham is a tactician and mellow personality, which we’ll touch on later. Finally, Dariana has mental abilities and is able to shrug off a lot of damage. Individually, they can be successful to a point, but they need each other to counter their weakness and ensure overall success. This is one of the key points of an ensemble group.

Perhaps the initial challenge you will run into here is the introduction. I’ve done it two ways since both of my big series involve ensemble casts.

Although, War of Nytefall is clearly more about Clyde than the others, he’d still be in trouble without his friends, so that’s probably on shaky ground with the definition. Also, I will admit that is how you can do it in a series. With a single book or a trilogy, you have less time, especially if you have a large cast. Adjustments will have to be made or find a middle ground between these two extremes.

That’s enough disclaimers, so I’ll move on to a list to make things easier:

Satisfy your curiosity in Do I Need to Use a Dragon? on Amazon.