Did you plan how many rounded characters would be in your novel? I believe that most novels have a maximum of five or six rounded characters. How many did you finally decide on?
My novel is historical fantasy, so I have eight rounded characters, which includes the main character.
I didn't plan, I knew three right away due to them being the first characters I came up with, but then others came along as I write.
I always knew about a core set of my characters which was where the idea for my book initially came from.
There are of course the additional characters that have popped up along the way who are less important, and what you would call bit part (the village that my main character lives in for instance).
Though, if I need a new character to take a scene to the next step, I add one. For some of them, I have characters that started out in a peripheral role, but have later 'needed' them. This isn't to say that they wont have a greater importance later on in the series.
As an aside, does anyone else think there is a time when you should stop adding characters? does a large pot to play with help or hinder? At present I am working with around 20-25 characters, only very occasionally when there is a large group situation I find that others do not say/do as much, is this a problem? or is this considered normal?
I have the same issue as you, Jonathan. I'm writing about a hostel/commune so there are hundreds of unnamed people walking through each scene and the resident family running the place is about 8 or 9 people. That's without the other family who visit them and friends as well. Fortunately, over five books, there is room to take the reader on a journey with each of these characters, fully rounding them.
I would say there are about 30 fully rounded characters in my series. Dividing that number by the five books makes me feel much better!
I have three principle characters and a further cast of bit parters numbering nearly 40... but it is meant to be an epic.