Flat and Round: The Character Conundrum
I learned some terms this week that I hadn’t learned during my time as a lit major in college.
Flat Characters: Those who are typically not given any depth in character development, reduced to foils and/or stereotypes as a sort of shorthand for moving the plot along.
Round Characters: Those whose stories, lives, and character are developed in-depth so as to make them feel more real in the eyes of readers, typically reserved for main antagonists and protagonists.
So, as any good student, I think we should talk about it. I gathered the gang together and posed the questions around the table.
What benefits have you seen in your work for using flat characters?
Gordon Dymowski: One of the benefits of “flat characters” is that they can serve as placeholders, “red herrings” or other devices to move the story forward. Although I try to give as much background to any character (even peripheral ones), using “flat” characters provides immediate shortcuts and can help reflect the main characters’ actions.
Chris Norton: Flat characters can be fun to write, sometimes you need some keystone cops action; also you just don’t always have the time/space in a novel, and especially in a novella or short story, to fill out every character, unless it’s a serial or has a limited number of characters.
I always feel pulled out of a story when an author takes the time to tell us all about a person whose only action is something like ringing up someone’s groceries.
The benefits of rounded characters are obvious: empathy with the characters, pulling in the readers, etc.
Bobby Nash: I’ve never heard the term before your question, but I have in the past had henchmen who were basically there to e beat up or shot at while the hero worked his or her way up to the villain. These guys are just there to get their ass kicked so I didn’t really flesh them out.
Read more:
https://seanhtaylor.blogspot.com/2021/06/flat-and-round-character-conundrum.html