The Trendsetter

In my previous blog, How to create believable characters for your fiction, I stated how important it is for you to give your characters a personality. This is true especially for your main characters since their role in your fiction is primary and they should be developed to be round and dynamic.

In order for your plot to move forward, your characters that drive the plot must be rounded. A round character is necessary for your protagonist. You need to create him or her with a detailed background, their behavior, temperament, strengths, and weaknesses and how he makes the action to purse his or her goals. By giving detailed information and background for your protagonist, your readers feel they know him or her and are able to understand why he or she makes decisions in the way they do. Another round character is your antagonist. Since most of the time your protagonist will be interacting with the antagonist, it is important that the villain needs to be tagged as round character as well.

Other characters that help your protagonist do not need to be rounded. They can be flat characters. They are not described in detail and are there as a prop or as in a supporting role. The information about them stays the same from the beginning to the end of the story.

Other than being rounded your protagonist also needs to be dynamic. This means his or her behavior or attitude will change over time during his or her interactions with other characters. Your protagonist also needs to change in order to achieve his or her goals. When you give your protagonist a personality A at the beginning of the plot and ends with personality B, you have created a dynamic character. However, you need to convince your reader why your protagonist has changed – it could be due to stress he or she experienced in life or because he or she wants to achieve based on the theme of your fiction.

In contrast, other supporting characters do not need to be dynamic. They are usually called static characters since they don’t change and stay the same in they way they think, behave when they interact with other characters including the main ones.

In concluding, to make an interesting plot, the protagonist and occasionally the antagonist must be round and dynamic while your supporting characters are just flat and static. This makes your protagonist a three dimensional character – as usually happens in real life.