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Character and Characterization in Short Fiction

April 20, 2011 9:47 am / 1 Comment on Character and Characterization in Short Fiction

Every short story requires the central character who is motivated to take action, or react to an outside force, in order to achieve some purpose. Many short stories also include one or more secondary characters who are part of the story, but not central to it.

The writer can create several types of characters, primary or secondary, flat or round, static or dynamic, even an antihero.

The writer must also create believable characters so that the reader will suspend disbelief, and read the story as though it was true. And so, writers have taken much time developing memorable characters, and characters that readers dislike, even loathe.

The writer develops the main character through different methods of characterization, which is an important part of writing short fiction. “Modern writers have tended to see characterization as an element of fiction that is equal to plot or even more important than it.” (The Art of the Short Story by Dana Gioia and R.S. Gwynn)

In this post, I cover the following aspects of character:

Types of characters the writer can construct
Characterization
Dialogue
Stream of consciousness or interior monologue

Types of Characters

All stories require a central character or main character or protagonist. Most short stories also include one or two secondary characters. The characters in a short story can be classified as follows:

Main character or supporting character, also known as primary and secondary characters
Flat or round characters
Static and dynamic characters
Protagonist an antagonist
Antihero

A short story has a primary character, and often one or more secondary characters. The primary character can change perception, experience epiphanies, sometimes narrate the story, carry the meaning of the story. The writer builds the story around a primary character. Often, the story also requires secondary characters who are less developed, don’t experience change, don’t experience epiphanies.

The writer can create a story of flat or round characters. Flat characters are stock characters, stereotypes, caricatures, stand-ins for ideas, don’t experience emotion, don’t react, or take action. Yet, the writer needs them to develop the story, but the writer doesn’t spend a great deal of time describing them in the story.

Secondary characters are often flat. On the other hand, round characters act, react, have the possibility of expressing emotions, are motivated to achieve a purpose or goal. The writer explores in depth the background, appearance, personality, motives, actions of the round character. The protagonist is a round character.

Writer can also construct static or dynamic characters. The protagonist is a dynamic character who will experience a change in perception, change in behavior, or experience an epiphany by the time the story ends. In contrast, a static character doesn’t change as the story progresses.

A short story has a protagonist, and often an antagonist. The main character is the protagonist, hero, even antihero of the story. The antagonist is the villain or opposing force in the story. The protagonist is always in conflict with the antagonist of the story.

Sometimes the protagonist is an antihero—a main character who is not at all like the archetype protagonist. The writer tells a story in which the protagonist is tragically flawed or has imperfections of character. For instance, the character might be selfish, fearful, bigoted. The protagonist might also have characteristics that are normally associated with the villain of a story.

Characterization

What is characterization? It refers to the methods that the writer puts to use, in order to develop the main character and supporting characters within a story. In short fiction, the writer can employ two methods: Direct characterization or indirect characterization.

Direct Characterization: The writer tells the reader about the character’s personality using the narrator of the story, another character, or the main character revealing aspects about himself/herself.

Indirect Characterization: The writer reveals to the reader what the character’s personality through the thoughts, feeling, and actions of the character. The writer can do this in several ways:

Describing the appearance of the character
Describing the character’s actions/reactions/behavior
Revealing what the character is thinking, such as stream of consciousness or interior monologue
Using dialogue
Describing the reactions of other characters

Dialogue

Dialogue is the written words of what character’s say. It allows the writer to move the story forward to its ending. It allows the writer to develop the character— personality, views, opinions, thoughts, impressions. It allows the writer to dramatize the story—to show readers what is happening, not tell them.

Some works of short fiction have no dialogue or only a few lines. Tom Franklin’s “Alaska” has only a few short lines of dialogue. Other short stories are composed of a great deal of dialogue. Except for the first paragraph, which establishes the setting, Ernest Hemmingway’s “Hills like White Elephants” is a short story composed of just dialogue between a guy and his girlfriend.

When writing dialogue, the writer should keep it simple: Only include dialogue that develops the story, moves it forward, reveals conflict, develops the character, and says something important about the story. The writer should not include insignificant, frivolous, unimportant dialogue in a short story.

When writing dialogue, the writer should use simple taglines of “he said” or “she said.”

Stream of Consciousness

The writer employs the literary device of stream of consciousness to reveal memories, what the character thinks and feels.

James Joyce used the literary device of stream of consciousness to tell the story of “Eveline.” The action of this story takes place in the protagonist’s mind, as descriptions of the heroine’s reaction to internal and external impressions and memories.

Virginia Woolf often employed this technique in her short fiction. For instance, the short story “The Haunted House” is composed of only stream of consciousness. The opening starts as follows: WHATEVER hour you woke there was a door shunting. From room to room they went, hand in hand, lifting here, opening there, making sure—a ghostly couple.

“Here we left it,” she said. And he added, “Oh, but here too!” “It’s upstairs,” she murmured. “And in the garden,” he whispered “Quietly,” they said, “or we shall wake them.”

But it wasn’t that you woke us. Oh, no. “They’re looking for it; they’re drawing the curtain, one might say, and so read on a page or two. “Now they’ve found it,” one would be certain, stopping the pencil on the margin. And then, tired of reading, one might rise and see for oneself, the house all empty, the doors standing open, only the wood pigeons bubbling with content and the hum of the threshing machine sounding from the farm.

Woolf reveals stream of consciousness by using “the you point of view” and internal narrative.

For short streams of consciousness writing, the writer can use italic to notify the reader that the content is stream of consciousness. Example: Steve thought to himself: I cannot go on, I cannot take one more day of this stress, this oppression, this hellish life.

In summary, short stories require a main character who experiences conflict, has motivation to change or achieve a purpose, who experiences revelation, who is altered in some way as the story progresses, or who experiences an epiphany by the end of the story. The writer can deploy different methods of characterization to reveal the character–dialogue, action, description, stream of consciousness. The writer deploys dialogue to advance the story, reveal character, reveal conflict, develop the plot.

In the next post, I will discuss point of view.

Elements of Fiction: Character

February 1, 2010 3:31 pm / 2 Comments on Elements of Fiction: Character

In the previous post, I wrote about setting. In this post, I will discuss character and characterization.

Characters and Characterization

Character is an important element of fiction. Without a central character, there is no story. The goal of the fiction writer is to create characters that are likeable and memorable. Charles Dickson’s is well-known for his memorable characters. He created David Copperfield, Ebenezer Scrooge, and Oliver Twist. Most memorable characters are heroes. Sometimes, though, the writer makes the anti-hero the central character of the story.

But a good story needs more than memorable characters. A good story includes an inciting incident that impacts the main character. It includes a main character who has a goal or desire. It includes a main character who is confronted with some type of conflict. This conflict might exist within the mind of the character or be external. Often, the antagonist is the opposing force in the story. A good story includes a main character who is faced with challenges and obstacles.

A successful fiction writer knows how to develop characters by using description, dialogue, action, and more.

This article discusses the following aspects of character:

Types of characters
Characterization
The character profile
Dialogue

Types of Characters

There are several ways in which the fiction writer and reader of fiction can define characters in a story.

Protagonist and Antagonist. A story needs a central character, or hero, or protagonist. Often this main character must oppose a villain or antagonist. Both are major characters in the story. The fiction writer must spend a great deal of time developing these types of characters by using the techniques of characters description, action by the character, and dialogue.

Major and Minor Characters. Stories include major characters, such as the protagonist and antagonist. Stories often include minor characters. These are characters who the fiction writer defines by a single idea or quality. These types of characters are necessary for the story, but they are not important. These are secondary characters to the story.

Flat and Round Characters. A character can also be identified in terms of flat or round characters. A flat character is a minor character in the story. This type of character doesn’t change as the story progresses.

Round characters, on the other hand, must deal with conflict in the story and are change by it. The writer develops these types of characters by using character descriptions and dialogue. Round characters are all the major characters of the story, including the hero and villain.

Static and Dynamic Characters. Another way of defining a character is in terms of “static character” or “dynamic character.” A static character is a minor character in the story and plays a supporting role to the main character. Static characters don’t change as the story progresses. The fiction writer spends little time developing static characters.

In contrast, a dynamic character is a round character. This type of character grows and develops as the story advances. The fiction writer spends a great deal of time developing these types of characters. They are believable and can be memorable.

Characterization

What is characterization? It is the means by which the fiction writer presents and reveals a character in the story to the reader. Although the techniques of characterization are complex, writers typically reveal characters through the following methods:

Action. How the character acts or behaves throughout the story.
Appearance. What types of clothes the character wears. His/her hygiene.
Dialogue. What the character says and how the character says it.
Thoughts and Feel. By what the character thinks and feels.
Relationships. The types of personal relationships, such as friends and acquaintances the character has.

Characterization is the process by which the fiction writer reveals a character’s personality to the reader. This process is very similar to the process real people go through when they encounter new situations or person. People form an initial opinion about a situation based upon what they see and hear. The fiction writer can reveal a character in the following ways:

By telling the reader directly what the character is like (not a very subtle approach and not used often by writers);
By describing how the character looks and dresses (What type of clothing does the character wear?
By letting the reader hear how the character speaks (Does the character speak with a dialect? Is the character loud or soft-spoken?);
By revealing the character’s private thoughts and feelings (What does the character think about other people? About himself?);
By revealing the character’s effect on other people (Do people want to associate with the character? Do people do whatever the character asks?)
By showing the character’s actions (Does the character treat people who respect and courtesy? Does the character make good decisions or poor ones?).

The Character Profile/Character Sketch

Author Nancy Lamb wrote in “The Art and Craft of storytelling” that the challenge of the writer is to create characters that live and breathe on the page. To achieve this, the writer must create characters that are:

Authentic.
Grab the attention of the reader.
Believable.
Appealing to the reader.

One method of developing a character is by using a character profile.

Before constructing the story, the fiction writer ought to have a good idea of what sorts of characters he/she will include in your story, such as the protagonist and villain. To help you write about characters. You can create a character sketch or profile for each character. For each character sketch, include the following:

Age
Sex
Name
Education
Job
Interests
Likes and dislikes
Important traits
Clothes
Body language
Name and moniker

The aspiring writer can ask the following questions to develop a character sketch:

Where is the character from?
What is the character’s social milieu or environment?
How old is the character?
What is the name of the character?
What does the character look like?
What does the character do for a living?
How does the character deal with conflict and change?
What is the character’s goal or motivation in the scene or story?

Dialogue

Much of what a reader learns about a character comes from what the character says and how the character says it. Keeping points in mind, the aspiring writer can use dialogue for the following purposes:

To advance the plot. (Sam screamed, “I am going to kill you.”)
To reveal and express character emotions and traits. (The mother said, “You are lazy.”)
To allow characters to confront one another. (The boyfriend replied, “I am leaving you for my secretary.”)
To crystallize situations and relations. (“I love you.”)
To comment on the setting. (“I loathe this country.”)
To introduce a motif, symbol, or allusion. (“You look like the Mona Lisa.”)
To transition to a new scene or narrative summary. (“I will call you tomorrow.”)

For more information on how to use dialogue, read The Passion for Narrative.

How to Create Memorable Characters

There is no single method by which the fiction writer goes about creating memorable characters. Some get their ideas from real people. Others read about a character in the news. Some use themselves as a basis of a character sketch.

To create memorable characters, the aspiring writer can follow these suggestions:

Early in the story, define the main goal or purpose of the protagonist.
Create conflict throughout the story.
Create a struggle that the character must endure and overcome.
Create characters that are interesting and appealing to the reader.
Create convincing motivations for your characters.
Craft a story that the reader can relate to.
Create multi-dimensional characters.
Create characters that are able to defend themselves and overcome their antagonists or enemies.
The hero must be the instrument of his own salvation.

Resources for Writing Fiction

There are several good books available to help you learn about the elements of fiction. The following books—and resources that I recommend— were used to research this article:

Writing Fiction: A Guide to the Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway
Creative Writing: A Guide and Glossary to Fiction Writing by Colin Bulman
The Art and Craft of Storytelling by Nancy Lamb
How to Read Novels Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster
The Art of Fiction by John Gardner
A Passion for Narrative: A Guide for Writing Fiction by Jack Hodgins

Next, I will discuss the theme of a short story or novel.