Writing Help 129 | - Freelance Writer
Apr 05, 2013 | #1
Terms You Need for Writing about the Novel
As we saw in the last article, there are many ways through which we get to know what characters are like and how they change over time. This allows us to grant them general (or sometimes specific) personalities, based on the detail of the information we have collected, and our evaluation of its authenticity. Aside from making specific personality evaluations about characters, our analyses allow us to label the characters more generally, based on how well fleshed out they are, and how much they change throughout the course of a novel. I refer to these categories as character depth and character evolution, and while I have not heard these categories labeled as such before, the more specific terms they contain are well known in high school and college literary studies classes.
Character depth can be evaluated on a continuum that runs between two poles, those being fully rounded (or three-dimensional) and completely flat (or two-dimensional). As an example of the latter, suppose I have a character in my novel whom we see only three or four times, and then only briefly. This character is a postal worker, and we only ever see her when the main character goes to the post office to pick up his mail. The postal worker only ever talks about the weather and the mail, and although she gives the protagonist an important package, she could be safely dropped from the novel without much disruption. She would certainly be classified as a two-dimensional character, one who does not have a developed personality, and who serves as a plot device or an optional accoutrement to the main action. Compare this to people we hardly know is our real lives; we imagine they have fully developed personalities, interests, and complexities beneath the visible surface, but we never get to see them because our acquaintance is only casual and superficial.
The other end of the continuum is occupied by the round character, an example of which would be the protagonist of most novels. These characters are known to us first perhaps as two-dimensional characters, as we see them going about their chosen trade and interacting with people in the expected superficial ways. However, as the story progresses, we get to know these characters on multiple levels that reach far below the surface. We get to spend a lot of time with them and so begin to learn their wishes, fears, desires, friends, and the many complications that form their seemingly simple lives. We feel as though we understand these characters, and we usually become invested in their individual struggles, empathizing extensively. It is also common for us to be presented the novel from the point of view of a given character, and when this is the case, that character is very likely to be three-dimensional.
The depth of characters can, to some degree, be related to their potential for evolution in the novel, though this is certainly not a rule to chisel in stone. A two-dimensional character is not likely to change much from the beginning to the end of a story. This character is thus a static character, remaining in a stable and utterly predictable consciousness throughout the novel. A three-dimensional character is far more likely to change as the novel progresses, and would thus be known as a dynamic character, one whose experiences and revelations lead to a greater understanding of themselves and the world around them. A good way to judge character evolution is to ask yourself whether the character in question would make the same decision at the end of the novel as she did earlier in it. If the answer is no, the character is dynamic. If yes, the character is static. Remember that rounded characters can be static, and flat characters can be dynamic, though these pairings are less likely than their opposites.
Character Depth and Evolution
As we saw in the last article, there are many ways through which we get to know what characters are like and how they change over time. This allows us to grant them general (or sometimes specific) personalities, based on the detail of the information we have collected, and our evaluation of its authenticity. Aside from making specific personality evaluations about characters, our analyses allow us to label the characters more generally, based on how well fleshed out they are, and how much they change throughout the course of a novel. I refer to these categories as character depth and character evolution, and while I have not heard these categories labeled as such before, the more specific terms they contain are well known in high school and college literary studies classes.
Character depth can be evaluated on a continuum that runs between two poles, those being fully rounded (or three-dimensional) and completely flat (or two-dimensional). As an example of the latter, suppose I have a character in my novel whom we see only three or four times, and then only briefly. This character is a postal worker, and we only ever see her when the main character goes to the post office to pick up his mail. The postal worker only ever talks about the weather and the mail, and although she gives the protagonist an important package, she could be safely dropped from the novel without much disruption. She would certainly be classified as a two-dimensional character, one who does not have a developed personality, and who serves as a plot device or an optional accoutrement to the main action. Compare this to people we hardly know is our real lives; we imagine they have fully developed personalities, interests, and complexities beneath the visible surface, but we never get to see them because our acquaintance is only casual and superficial.The other end of the continuum is occupied by the round character, an example of which would be the protagonist of most novels. These characters are known to us first perhaps as two-dimensional characters, as we see them going about their chosen trade and interacting with people in the expected superficial ways. However, as the story progresses, we get to know these characters on multiple levels that reach far below the surface. We get to spend a lot of time with them and so begin to learn their wishes, fears, desires, friends, and the many complications that form their seemingly simple lives. We feel as though we understand these characters, and we usually become invested in their individual struggles, empathizing extensively. It is also common for us to be presented the novel from the point of view of a given character, and when this is the case, that character is very likely to be three-dimensional.
The depth of characters can, to some degree, be related to their potential for evolution in the novel, though this is certainly not a rule to chisel in stone. A two-dimensional character is not likely to change much from the beginning to the end of a story. This character is thus a static character, remaining in a stable and utterly predictable consciousness throughout the novel. A three-dimensional character is far more likely to change as the novel progresses, and would thus be known as a dynamic character, one whose experiences and revelations lead to a greater understanding of themselves and the world around them. A good way to judge character evolution is to ask yourself whether the character in question would make the same decision at the end of the novel as she did earlier in it. If the answer is no, the character is dynamic. If yes, the character is static. Remember that rounded characters can be static, and flat characters can be dynamic, though these pairings are less likely than their opposites.