Main Characters are at the core of what makes every story unique. Every writer uses character development to advance their story, engage readers, and make stories come to life.

Adding main characters on Wattpad helps you keep track of the number of main characters in your story, and will help Wattpad to build ways to help visualize your characters and explore your story in the future.

Please note that you can only add main characters when on the Wattpad website (the feature is not available on our apps). Also note that you can only add a maximum of 20 Main Characters.

Adding Main Characters on the Web

1. Click on Write in the top navigation

2. Click on My Stories

3. Select the story you'd like to add characters to

4. Navigate to the Story Details tab

5. Type the name of one main character in the text field under Characters, which is found under the Description

6. Click the grey "+" button beside the text field you just typed in to add the character

7. Select either Save or Publish to save your changes

To remove a character, click on the - box next to the character's name.

Best Practices

- Don't list the same character more than once

- Do only use the character's most commonly used name

- Don't list every possible character, just your main characters

Do my readers see my Main Characters list?

Readers will not see your list of characters. The list will only live in your view of the Story Details page, and it will not appear for others. (Note: this might change in the future, but we will give you notice if it does).

Why can't I add more than 20 Main Characters?

Remember, we don't want you listing all of the Characters in your story. 20 Main Characters should be more than enough space for most stories. Main Characters are the Characters that are the most influential on the advancement of the plot. This includes your protagonist and antagonist, and a few others. Another way to think about a Main Character are Characters that appear throughout most of the story. If a character appears only in a small handful of chapters then this is not a Main Character, and he/she/they should not be included in your Main Character list.

What if a Main Character goes by multiple names?

List a character's most commonly used name in the story. For example; if the character goes by a nickname more often than by their full name, fill the field in with the character's nickname instead.

What if a Main Character appears in my story that has no name?

If a character appears in your story without a name but plays a relevant role in the story, then definitely be sure to add that character in your list. Because the character has no name, use the descriptor of that character in the story as their name. For example if you mentioned a wizard throughout the book but the wizard is nameless, include the name that the wizard is referred to most often in the story such as "wizard", "forest wizard", "magic man" etc.