falowatches.blogg.se - Round vs flat characters

But both movies and books that are plot-driven still often get criticized for their flat characters.

Plot-driven Stories – A story that focuses mainly on the plot and action, and not so much on the characters doesn’t need them to be as well developed.

If they only show up for a few chapters, it might even be impossible to build up a round character.

Side characters – If a character isn’t that important or don’t take up a lot of time and space in the story, you don’t need to build up a full character.

Children’s stories are often fairly short. Keep in mind that to develop a well rounded character, you need time. Sometimes people mock the lack of depth in children’t literature, but with simpler stories comes simpler characters. Partly because children wouldn’t understand all of it, and therefore it would become boring for the child to read.

Childrens’ literature – Stories for children don’t usually need to go into as much depth about a character’s psychology.

But be careful to not have too many of them.

This doesn’t mean a flat character is always static, and static characters are not always flat. They have one or two personality traits, and they don’t have a lot of depth. Flat Characters – Are one-dimensional characters.But you want to aim for round characters most of the time.

Round characters are also often dynamic, but it’s not required. They feel more realistic since real people have layers. Their character traits go deeper, and they are complicated. Round Characters – Are more three-dimensional and have layers.Dynamic characters develop and change throughout the narrative. Think of characters like Gandalf, or Dumbledore. A static character is one that doesn’t develop through the story, they are fixed. Flat and round characters are not the same as static and dynamic characters (I might write a post about this at a later date). But first I want to explain some differences. To make characters interesting to the reader, you have to give them dimensions. Do you know the difference? If not, maybe this post is something for you? I’ll go through some definitions and tips on how to develop your characters and make them interesting and engaging.