Elements of Fiction: Character

We can use several ways to think of character:

  1. Importance: who are the main/important characters?
  2. Roles: what is their purpose in the story?
  3. Characteristics: what are the characters like? How are they acting?
  4. Development: how do the characters change and grow throughout the story? How does what they go through affect them?

A story can have many characters, but you may not find all of these character types in a story.

Characters by Importance

Protagonist (a.k.a. Main Character)

  • The protagonist is the character who is most written about in the story.
  • A story will always have at least one main character, but it can have several (in movies or television, this is called an ensemble cast—when each character is as important as another). Main characters are the most important to the action in the story.

Secondary Characters

  • These characters may be written about often in the story and are important but not as much as the main character.

Minor Characters

  • These characters fill in the story but are not as important as the protagonist or secondary characters.
  • They may have small roles and stories of their own, but don’t drive the action of the protagonist’s main story.
  • They might act as what we’d call “extras” in a movie. They can be as little important as background.

Characters by Role

Antagonist

  • This character is generally in opposition to the main character. This is someone with whom the protagonist has a conflict.
  • An antagonist can be any character who acts against any other.
  • This does not necessarily make them “bad” characters. They are simply opposed to another.

Villain

  • This is a character who is negative, bad or evil.
  • It might be the antagonist, but it might just be another bad character.

Sidekick

  • This character goes along with another character in the story—usually the protagonist, but their relationship can be with any character.
  • This character’s purpose is to support another character.

Five Methods of Characterization (how we know what the characters are like)

  1. Describing the character’s physical appearance
  2. Showing the character’s actions
  3. Revealing the character’s thoughts and words
  4. Showing what other characters think and say about the character
  5. Telling the reader directly what the writer thinks of the character

Check Your Understanding: Identify Elements of a Short Story

Choose your own short story, or use a story your instructor has assigned. Use examples from the story where applicable.

  1. Who is the protagonist in the story?
  2. Describe the character—what they look like, act like, talk like, think like, etc.
  3. Are there any secondary characters? Yes / No
  4. Who are they?
  5. Are there any minor characters? Yes / No
  6. Who are they?
  7. Is there an antagonist? Yes / No
  8. Who is it?
  9. Is there a villain? Yes / No
  10. Who is it?
  11. Is there a sidekick? Yes / No
  12. Who is it?

Check Your Understanding: Elements of Character Review

Elements of Fiction: Character (Text Version)
  1. There are multiple ways to think of character. ____________ asks who the main or important characters are in the story and ______ looks at what their purpose is in the story. When looking at the __________ of the character you are asking what the character is like and how they are acting. Finally, _________ looks at how the character has changed and grown as the story progresses and asks how what they go through has affected them.
    • Importance
    • role
    • development
    • characteristics
  2. The person who is in opposition to the main character is called the?
    • Antagonist
    • Sidekick
    • Secondary character
    • Protagonist
    • Villain
  3. The _________ is the main character of the story and is the most written about. There is always one main character who is the most important in the action of the story; however, there can be multiple main characters. ____________ are often written about in the story but are not as important as the main character, while ______________ fill in the story, have small roles and stories, and don’t drive the action of the main story.
    • protagonist
    • Secondary characters
    • minor characters
  4. There are five methods of characterization, which is how we know what the characters are like in the story. Select the five methods that are correct:
    1. The character’s physical appearance is described.
    2. The character’s actions are shown and described.
    3. The plot tells you what you need to to know about the character.
    4. The character’s thoughts and words are revealed as the story progresses.
    5. Other character’s perspectives, thoughts, and what they say about the character are shown.
    6. The reader is told directly by the author what they think of the character.

Check your Answers: [1]

Activity Source: “Elements of Character Review” by Jessica Jones and oeratgc, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. based on content from “Elements of Fiction: Character” In Advanced English by Allison Kilgannon, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.

Attribution & References

Except where otherwise noted, this section is adapted from “57 Elements of Fiction: Character” In Advanced English by Allison Kilgannon, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.

  1. 1) There are multiple ways to think of character. Importance asks who the main or important characters are in the story and role looks at what their purpose is in the story. When looking at the characteristics of the character you are asking what the character is like and how they are acting. Finally, development looks at how the character has changed and grown as the story progresses and asks how what they go through has affected them. 2) Antagonist. The antagonist is the character who is generally in opposition with the main character (protagonist) and is in conflict with them. An antagonist is a character who is acting against another, but this does not mean that they are always “bad characters”.  3) The protagonist is the main character of the story and is the most written about. There is always one main character who is the most important in the action of the story; however, there can be multiple main characters. Secondary characters are often written about in the story but are not as important as the main character, while minor characters fill in the story, have small roles and stories, and don’t drive action of the main story. 4) 1. The character’s physical appearance is described. 2. The character’s actions are shown and described. 4.The character’s thoughts and words are revealed as the story progresses. 5. Other character’s perspectives, thoughts, and what they say about the character is shown. 6.The reader is told directly by the author what they think of the character. ↵
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