/lit/ - Literature

If I worldbuild several races/factions for an actual narrative and only have room to focus on 2 or 3 major characters from each "race" it's really hard to conceptualize and juggle the characterization of groups vs the characterization of individual characters. In a regular narrative where everyone is part of the same society you can just focus on giving the characters themselves conflicting goals and beliefs, but with multiple factions I find myself having to think about the thematic dynamics of group vs group, group vs character, character vs character of same group, character vs character of opposing group and its one hell of a mess. I have to decide if characters are supposed to be stand ins for the average traits and goals of that group's members, or if they are in a position of leadership setting the rules for how the group should act, if they are supposed to contrast with their group ideology as some sort of rebel or outcast, if they are some form of idealized hero figure of what members of said group want or ought to be... and after all that I still have to establish how it compares and contrasts with the outer groups.

Any advice on how to sort this out? I'm feeling really overwhelmed.