I write fiction and create people, places, and things to populate my fictional worlds. Among the people I and all fiction writers create are the major characters and the minor ones.
Major characters lead the story events. The best major characters are complex, emotional, and have many layers of different feelings. Their complexities and emotions along with their mental and physical strengths, weaknesses, and other qualities make them round characters and distinguish them from the rest of the characters in a story.
Most stories, particularly mine, have three round characters: The lead (a.k.a. the protagonist), the foil (a.k.a. the antagonist), and the assistant (a.k.a. the helper character). An exception to this is romance fiction, which has two lead characters (the lovers) and a lead foil.
Every lead character is given opportunity to grow—to improve upon themselves and flourish by the end of the story. Often, however, the foil fails to grow, which is their downfall. Ironically, the foil foils themselves.
Villainous foils are rightfully known as villains. At the start of a story, they begin equally in importance to the protagonist. They are confrontational and motivated to cheat and harm the protagonist. As round characters, they are complex and emotional people, despite their dishonesty, questionable morals, and cowardice—three ingredients to every villain’s downfall. Just as well-rounded protagonists seem to leap from the pages and make them memorable, so do well-rounded antagonists.
An antagonist does not have to be a person. It can be an element instead. But it still must have a personality. I write stories about a hill called Myers Ridge that has supernatural power over the populace. Like the Barrens and the shape-shifting creature in Stephen King’s It, these types of foils must have a heart that can be destroyed for the protagonist to become a hero.
Unlike well-rounded characters, flat characters are minor characters that authors use as props in a story. Think of waiters, cab drivers, pizza delivery people, etc. An author friend of mine calls them background noise. They are underdeveloped characters, have no depth or scope, and they never grow and evolve during the story. Instead, they stay set in their ways. Their roles are short and specific: to advance the story’s plot (usually by passing along essential information to any of the lead characters) or provide a necessary setting (people in a restaurant, for example).
Thanks for joining me today for this look back at an old excerpt from my blog. Until my next post, peace and love.
Steve, 5/27/2024
This post “2011.2.20 Writing: Round and Flat Characters” copyright © 2011, 2024 Steven Leo Campbell at stevecampbellcreations.com – All rights reserved.
Steve Campbell Creations 
Thanks Steve this is interesting. Characters like a one time taxi driver would be flat and etc…
The one thing that I hear a lot is writers say is this or that character is like 2 or 3 real people combined that they know.
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You’re welcome Max. When I began writing fiction, I also combined personalities of people I knew into a character. But I later turned to studying social science and psychology of human behavior to create my characters and their personalities. Just when we think we know someone, they do something to surprise us. Not often. But when they do, the writer in me wants to know why.
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That was smart studying that…that way you can give a well rounded character.
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As most of my stories have elements of romance, I start out with two complex characters. But, more characters exist that are not flat. I would call partially round. They may be a close friend of either major character or a competing love interest who is not a villain. Readers are interested in playing the conflicts of these secondary characters, too.
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Yes, round characters are complex; flat characters are not, though we writers can adjust the levels of complexity in our characters and include bits of complexity in our flat characters to create a third category, such as the partially round that you mentioned. I once had a flat character who was a bus driver that became a partially round character later on in the story when he befriended a child being bullied. It made for a heartwarming scene that revealed the driver had been bullied too when he was a child.
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“… the foil fails to grow, which is their downfall. Ironically, the foil foils themselves.” Ha! I’ve heard of self-sabotage, but foil-foiling was new to me… 😅
Makes sense, tho! Have you ever had a case where a minor character surprises you and tries to insinuate himself into the plot in a “major” way? Seems to me I’ve read author interviews where something along those lines has been said…
Always a pleasure, Steve– cheers! 👍🙏😊
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Thanks Mark. I once taught a writing class where Foiling the Foil was the topic. The students loved it.
When I write as a Pantser (by the seat of my pants), I have no control over my characters, so there are times when a minor character wants to be in the plot in a major way. I make changes and adjustments along the way and usually end up with a muddled first draft. But when I write as a Plotter (with a predetermined plan), I have control over my characters and make them bend to my will. It’s not always the best way to write a story, but it usually gets me to the end with fewer interruptions.
Always a pleasure at this end to hear from you as well. Cheers back to you! 😊
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