Character Count

A sign of weak writing (at least to ME) is when the author juggles more than 100 million "main" characters and is head popping every 5 seconds. But I'm pretty old skool and I try to keep my total character count under 15. Anything less than 10 is ideal. 

See, I don't use multiple POV at all. I stick with ONE character, ONE narrator, ONE limited POV throughout the entire book. Yes, that is harder to do because I can't rely on another literary device to explain away any writer inconveniences and my main character must have an incredibly strong voice/characterization to carry the weight of the novel...but it is a challenge I enjoy pulling off. 

I like writing "intensely" female protagonists for that reason. More so if my female protagonists are insane or psychologically impaired. Hysterical characters give me more to play with, haha.