Too many species, or not enough?

[Griffyn612]

So... I've started up work again on one of my little projects.  I'm setting up a universe for a book series.  It's going to revolve around three species.  One species will be human, and the other two will be humanoid.  Additionally, the two humanoid species each have 4 or 5 subspecies.  I've got characters in mind for each of them.

BUT... I've also got the opportunity to include other species, each significantly smaller in population.  I don't have any characters in mind for them, but I like the idea of having them for more depth.

Should I add more species as filler, or should I keep it simple?  They're not necessary to the story, but if I put them in, there's no telling how they might evolve in the story as I write it out. 

How many is too many?  Should I create a species just to have a single tradesman be something different?  Should I create a species without any idea of purpose in the story?

On one hand, I think of STAR WARS, and how there are dozens of species, most of which you don't know their names or histories when you see them in the movies.  They're just there, and they add to the universe without too much work on the planning side of things.

On the other hand, I think of LotR, and how there's really only five or so species/races.  They seem like enough, and adding more might detract from what are supposed to be the primary races we're concerned about.

I don't want to go into the setting of the universe, but I think it could go either way.  It's neither traditional fantasy nor science fiction.  And since the story is only supposed to span 5 books or so, telling the story of the three races interacting, I'm not sure what to do.

As a reader, would you rather try and keep track of only 9-10 similar but different races, or would you rather a more diverse backdrop of species to touch upon without too much exposition on them?

[Simon Hogwood]

It's tough to know without knowing more about the setting.

Star Wars, as a setting, has a large, and theoretically limitless, number of planets that could be the source of a wide variety of intelligent species. Middle-Earth, on the other hand, is a single continent of an imagined pre-historic earth, with (nearly) each element* painstakingly accounted for.

Generally speaking, I think there's an inverse relationship between the scope of a setting and the number of intelligent species it can support without loosing cohesion. Tone matters a bit here, as well as how widespread these elements are.

*And it turns out there are a lot more of these than it appears at first glance. There's Men, Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits (maybe a sub-species of Men), and Orcs (ditto for Elves), but also Ents, Trolls, Dragons, Giants, Talking Eagles, Giant Spiders (maybe only one that can really be considered "intelligent"), whatever Tom Bombadil is . . .

[Griffyn612]

It's tough to know without knowing more about the setting.

Star Wars, as a setting, has a large, and theoretically limitless, number of planets that could be the source of a wide variety of intelligent species. Middle-Earth, on the other hand, is a single continent of an imagined pre-historic earth, with (nearly) each element* painstakingly accounted for.

Generally speaking, I think there's an inverse relationship between the scope of a setting and the number of intelligent species it can support without loosing cohesion. Tone matters a bit here, as well as how widespread these elements are.

*And it turns out there are a lot more of these than it appears at first glance. There's Men, Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits (maybe a sub-species of Men), and Orcs (ditto for Elves), but also Ents, Trolls, Dragons, Giants, Talking Eagles, Giant Spiders (maybe only one that can really be considered "intelligent"), whatever Tom Bombadil is . . .

Justifying how they exist isn't a concern for me.  Deciding whether their existence is of benefit to the world creation or not is my concern.

For example, in the Star Wars Prequels (sorry for invoking that memory), we met several characters that were aliens.  Waddo in the first one, and the bartender in the second.  The reason they were new aliens was to make them more interesting than they would have been had they just been humans or something else we'd seen before.  So did their alien-ness really add to their character, or was it a distraction?  They weren't intregal to the overall plot, and they were effectively one-off characters. 

Is that type of thing additive or overkill?  If I have a blacksmith (not really, just coming up with a trade) and he has an assistant, is it more interesting if his/her assistant is an awkward human teenager with pimples, or if he's a dwarf-like species with pimples?  There aren't any other dwarf-like characters I intend to use, so his being a different species would solely be to try and add depth to the world.  You're not going to learn about where he or his family came from. 

But then again, if I put them into the world, and decide I do want to have characters of different species later on, they're ready and waiting.  And it's not a matter of the reader first hearing about dwarf-like species the first time they're suddenly relevant. 

So, is it a world with humans, elves, and orcs?  Or is it humans, elves, orcs, with some hobbits and dwarves and trolls and giants tossed in here and there in hopes that they might be better for the overall setting?

[Farmerbob1]

If you do not have a specific reason for including additional races, then don't.  Follow K.I.S.S.

If your universe does have hundreds of different races, and you want there to be a melting pot feel, then do.

Err on the side of simplicity.  Once you've finished writing the simple version, if you decide you want more aliens, you can always go through and change the race of a couple supporting characters, or even just add mini-scenes with alien interactions.  Making a writing project more complex is a lot easier and less likely to result in weird mistakes than making it less complex. (Like that bald alien secretary's long black hair that your narrator noticed from behind, in the elevator, before realizing that they were the secretary.)

There's something else you might want to consider in a melting pot universe.  Your narrator, especially if they are a resident of that universe, isn't going to see aliens as being weird.  They aren't going to go on and on about all the different species they speak about.

The rare and odd might get the attention of the narrator.  If pressed into an elevator with a race that simply has a strong odor, they might have a few dark thoughts.  Then again, some races might simply be stunning in appearance, say an avian-descendant race with spectacular plumage.

Police training will likely include a great deal of cross-species training.  A law officer would need to be more aware of aliens than the normal person, because they would be watching for aggression or evasion behaviors.

If your universe is a darker place, soldiers will be trained on how to deal with alien races that they might need to fight.

[trboturtle]

Well, I assume you have more than one story set in this universe.....

You could introduce these "Minor Races" to help throw light on your three "Major Races". Is one of these minor races used as heavy or cheap labor by one of the major races? If so, how are they treated by the major race --- slave labor or valuable resource? You can use the minor races to show facets of the major races' mindset.

Craig

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

*And it turns out there are a lot more of these than it appears at first glance. There's Men, Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits (maybe a sub-species of Men), and Orcs (ditto for Elves),

Orcs are explicitly metaphysically corrupted Elves rather than a subspecies, iirc.

whatever Tom Bombadil is . . .

That one seems obvious to me; the Ring can't touch him at all, he lives with his partner in an idyllic garden, he swats down threats without acknowledging them as anything more than annoyances, and pretty much the only thing he does proactively is name the party's animals; that reads a lot to me, in Tolkien's cosmology, like an unFallen Adam who literally lacks the knowledge of Good and Evil.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

If you do not have a specific reason for including additional races, then don't.  Follow K.I.S.S.

If you want a fictional universe to be convincing, it has to contain a certain amount of background detail that has nothing to do with the plot.  Putting that in isn't without purpose, because it gives the readers clues as to how that universe works (which is more vital the more distinct it is from the world your readers live in; LotR and Star Wars both have to establish what certain fundamentals of How Stuff Works are at a level that, say, the Dresden Files don't because they can assume readers know what cars are and what cops do) and which bits your viewpoint character thinks are important gives your reader characterisation information.

[Farmerbob1]

If you want a fictional universe to be convincing, it has to contain a certain amount of background detail that has nothing to do with the plot.  Putting that in isn't without purpose, because it gives the readers clues as to how that universe works (which is more vital the more distinct it is from the world your readers live in; LotR and Star Wars both have to establish what certain fundamentals of How Stuff Works are at a level that, say, the Dresden Files don't because they can assume readers know what cars are and what cops do) and which bits your viewpoint character thinks are important gives your reader characterisation information.

It is very possible to add extra details that have no purpose.  Without knowing a lot more about the lead, objective, conflict, and knockout that define the plot, or anything about the structure and planned scenes of the story, we can't judge.  That's why I carefully stated that "If you do not have a specific reason..."

If there is a specific reason, then, well, it's needed.  World building (background) can be that reason, if those aliens are sufficiently important or sufficiently entangled in the story.

[meg_evonne]

Keep in mind that the Star Wars world was conceived with a major cheat. You could physically see the races on the screen. When you read the followups, they simply work off the knowledge the reader has assimilated.

K.I.S.S. - I agree. If you limit the number of races you do not risk losing readers.

It is how you introduce the races that counts. The more races you have the more you need to spread out the introductions. (And the best intro is in context of action rather than reporting.)

Now, wading into backstory discussion... Nah, not going there. Let's face it, you can either do this exceedingly well - think GRR Martin (And I curse thee "for the watch" move!). Can you accomplish that massive world building?

It is easy to add a race or a world species backstory, but if you included it initially and then have to cut it for reader clarity and purpose of the plot? Ouch, that's a lot of work going into little 'cut' files that may never see the light of day again.

Jim once famously said on moving into the comic book industry, "I knew that a picture paints a thousand words, but I didn't know that I would have to write a thousand words per panel."

The visual advantage that Star Wars had probably isn't something that you can take advantage of working.

Another example of multi-races is the Harry Potter series. My guess is that she had tons of the race differences in her head for all the animal species but included very little in the actual text by comparison.

Best wishes on your project.