Characterization is one of the five elements of fiction, along with plot, setting, theme, and writing style. A character is a participant in the story, and is usually a person, but may be any persona, identity, or entity whose existence originates from a fictional work or performance.
Characters may be of several types:
- Point-of-view character: the character by whom the story is viewed. The point-of-view character may or may not also be the main character in the story.
- Protagonist: the main character of a story
- Antagonist: the character who stands in opposition to the protagonist
- Minor character: a character that interacts with the protagonist. They help the story move along.
- Foil character: a (usually minor) character who has traits in aversion to the main character
Read more about this topic: Fiction Writing
Famous quotes containing the word character:
“Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)
“It is well for the world that in most of us, by the age of thirty, the character has set like plaster, and will never soften again.”
—William James (1842–1910)
“What the statesman is most anxious to produce is a certain moral character in his fellow citizens, namely a disposition to virtue and the performance of virtuous actions.”
—Aristotle (384–22 B.C.)