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Good stories revolve around a colourful cast of characters. If these chracters are well written, readers will come to care deeply about as they follow their fortunes and misfortunes.
Good stories revolve around a colourful cast of characters. If these chracters are well written, readers will come to care deeply about as they follow their fortunes and misfortunes.
Character - a person, animal or figure represented in a text.
Introduction
Introduction
A good story features characters the reader cares about. If a reader likes a character they should want them to succeed on their journey. If a reader dislikes a character they should want them to get their just desserts. However, making an audience care about a character can be tricky. In this entry we examine ways that writers invest readers in their characters.
Characterisation
Characterisation
Writers are skilled at introducing characters in ways that make audiences curious to know more about them. This process is called characterisation, and it involves carefully revealing the following information to the reader:
Appearance - a character's physique, clothing and accessories.
Personality - a character's likes and dislikes, and any unique quirks they have.
Thoughts - a character's motivations, fears and desires.
Actions - a character's actions, reactions and dialogue.
This information can be communicated to audiences in two ways: direct characterisation and indirect characterisation.
Direct Characterisation
Direct Characterisation
Direct characterisation is when a writer tells their reader about a character. To do this, the writer simply provides details through their narrator. Direct characterisation can be seen in the following example from Marcus Clarke's 1881 short story The Mystery of Major Molineux:
Let me first describe him. He is a tall, thin, muscular man, of commanding presence and military bear. He has white hair, a white moustache, and a very red face. He is always tightly buttoned and braced. He carries a think stick, and wears buff gloves—a common sort of fashion enough for retired offers. But with all this there is something more. His blue eyes are always withdrawing themselves from you to furtively glance behind you.
Direct characterisation is an efficient way to introduce characters to the reader (particularly in short stories where words are scarce). However, if overused direct characterisation can leave the reader feeling as though they are merely watching a story from a distance, rather than being immersed in the narrative.
Indirect Characterisation
Indirect Characterisation
Indirect characterisation is when a writer shows the reader how a character speaks, acts and thinks. This way, the reader can form their own opinions of the character based on their observations.
Consider the following example from Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi's 2020 novel The First Woman:
Another twelve-year-old would have been intimidated — there being ten teenagers in the room — but not Kirabo. Not visibly, anyway. She stared straight ahead, lips pouting. She was the kabejja of her grandparents, which mean that all the love in the house belonged to her, and whether they liked it or not, the teenagers, her aunts and uncles, would sit quietly and suffer her story. But Kirabo's eyes — the first thing you saw on her skinny frame, with eyelids darker than shadows and lashes as long as brush bristles — betrayed her. They blinked rapidly, a sign that she was not immune to the angry silence.
Indirect characterisation can be a more interesting way to reveal details about a character because the reader is able to witness this person in action. That said, it requires a degree of trust in the reader to pick up "clues" about a character through their words and actions. Therefore, we must communicate important information clearly, but without being too obvious.
Character Arcs
Character Arcs
Audiences become more invested in a character who changes and grows throughout a narrative. This is known as a character arc, and its resolution can be very satisfying for the audience.
Character arc - the development or inner journey of a character throughout a narrative.
Consider Fedor Dostoevsky's 1866 novel Crime and Punishment. In this classic of Russian literature, protagonist Raskolnikov commits a horrific murder that he believes he can rationalise, only to be tormented by guilt and paranoia for what he has done. As the novel progresses, Raskolnikov is given opportunities to atone for his crime and he is arguably redeemed by the end of the story in the reader's eyes.
Such character arcs are not always positive, but their resolution should reflect a certain internal logic within a text. In other words, characters should get what they deserve. Of course, creators can deliberately subvert these expectations if they have a particular reason to do so.
Character Types
Character Types
When crafting stories, creators can draw upon a variety of established character types:
Protagonist
Somebody needs to drive the action forward. This type of main character is known as the protagonist, and it is what they do—or what is done to them—that advances the plot. Depending on their character arc, a protagonist can finish the narrative in a better or worse place than where they started. Usually, it is their actions during the climax that determine this fate.
Antagonist
Someone or something needs to try and stop the protagonist. This type of main character is known as the antagonist and it is the conflict between these two main characters that makes a story engaging. While a protagonist is usually a human, an antagonist can be an animal, object, or anything else, depending on the type of conflict the protagonist is facing.
Supporting characters
Some characters do not have as much time and attention focused on them as the main characters. These are known as supporting characters, but they still play an important role in a narrative.
Often, a supporting character will try to help or hinder the protagonist: perhaps they are a wise benefactor who dispenses useful advice, or a fierce beast that tries to kill them. Importantly, each of these characters provide an opportunity for the protagonist to learn or grow in some way.
Supporting characters can also symbolise something specific within a story. For example, an abusive manager might represent corporate greed, while a faithful friend could represent loyalty.
Confidant
Sometimes, a protagonist needs to unload a little. A confidant is someone with whom they can share their inner thoughts and feelings, helpfully letting the audience know these details in the bargain. Confidants need not be human: pets are common, and in the film Shirley Valentine the protagonist spends much of her time talking to her kitchen wall.
Dynamic character
A dynamic character undergoes some kind of change by the story's end. If the resolution of this arc makes sense for this character and their place within the world, the audience feels satisfied by this development.
Static Character
Unlike a dynamic character, a static character does not undergo a change throughout the narrative. Because of this, antagonists and supporting characters are usually static.
Round character
Some characters are written to be believable and relatable. These well rounded characters usually play a significant role in the narrative.
Flat character
Unlike a round character, a flat character is simplistic or one-dimensional. They exist only because the narrative requires them for a specific purpose.
Stock character
There are some characters that are instantly recognisable to audiences: the chatty best friend, the schoolyard bully, the angry taxi driver. These are stock characters, a type of flat character that draws from conventional tropes.
Characters in Short Stories
Characters in Short Stories
Before we finish, it is worth remembering that if we are given an assessment task that requires us to write a short story, we will only have space to include a handful of characters.
Given this, we need to think carefully about the types of characters we need to tell our story, and avoid the temptation to include too many characters, and too many character types. Only those characters who are necessary to get the point of the story across to the reader should be included, and no more.
Editor's Notes
Editor's Notes
We are used to stories about human beings, or sometimes animals, aliens or robots of some kind. Occasionally, though, we come across a story with truly unique characters, such as Edwin Abbott Abbott's 1884 novella Flatland.
In this fascinating story, the protagonist is a square who lives in a two dimensional world where all males are shapes and all females are lines. At one moment in the narrative, the protagonist dreams of a one-dimensional world inhabited only by single points. Later in the story, a three-dimensional sphere visits Flatland, but can only be viewed as a circle by its two-dimensional inhabitants.
Confused? Naturally, but also, perhaps, a little intrigued. Abbott's story is a satire of the hierarchical Victorian society in which he lived, as well as a truly unique exploration of the nature of dimensions. It also shows us just how broad the definition of character can be, and encourages us to think of new and intriguing ways to tell stories.
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