Assuming about 1 person in 100 is a personification of some sort in addition to being human, what proportion of characters in a story about a small scale magic racket should be?
It's not always obvious. Alexander the Great might have been the personification of one aspect of warfare, or he might just have been lucky. Elvis was probably born human, but grew into a personification of an entirely new sort, and one day faded away, but is constantly popping up again in different bodies: not everyone who puts on the Elvis-h Shellsuit takes it off again. Conversely, someone you know is probably entirely normal human who is also the species' representation of the concentrated essence of camp dancing.
When people had more concrete fears/loves, less human beings could be formed: the legion of different fire personifications is legion, each fire god will have come and gone many times. And there are still a few around, but they tend to be lower key.
Currently three characters represent something, one importantly so, one 2-dimensionally so, and one is a nonsentient pet made out of fire. There are about four other characters.
I was stuck on the boss of the firm. I didn't know anything about him, didn't want to dwell on him, or what he was good for, or what he was like, but he needed to interact with people for the plot to work. So, I decided to make virtue out of necessity, and he shall be a living stereotype of the leader of a small racket, affable and occasionally ruthless; indeed, is less of a person than a phase, as different people come and go into the role, but all function entirely the same way. That was the stumbling block; the finger may now be out of the dyke.
It's not always obvious. Alexander the Great might have been the personification of one aspect of warfare, or he might just have been lucky. Elvis was probably born human, but grew into a personification of an entirely new sort, and one day faded away, but is constantly popping up again in different bodies: not everyone who puts on the Elvis-h Shellsuit takes it off again. Conversely, someone you know is probably entirely normal human who is also the species' representation of the concentrated essence of camp dancing.
When people had more concrete fears/loves, less human beings could be formed: the legion of different fire personifications is legion, each fire god will have come and gone many times. And there are still a few around, but they tend to be lower key.
Currently three characters represent something, one importantly so, one 2-dimensionally so, and one is a nonsentient pet made out of fire. There are about four other characters.
I was stuck on the boss of the firm. I didn't know anything about him, didn't want to dwell on him, or what he was good for, or what he was like, but he needed to interact with people for the plot to work. So, I decided to make virtue out of necessity, and he shall be a living stereotype of the leader of a small racket, affable and occasionally ruthless; indeed, is less of a person than a phase, as different people come and go into the role, but all function entirely the same way. That was the stumbling block; the finger may now be out of the dyke.