If it surprises but does not convince, it is flat pretending to be round.īut as Forster says, these surprises need to be convincing. We are surprised, and this makes us feel like this character might have more going on under the surface than we realised. However, if the overbearing father is revealed to be tender and affectionate toward the pet cat, or to have a weakness for mint chocolate chip ice cream, then this does not fit our preconceived ideas. If this character is shown to meet our preconceptions by being bullish, demanding and shouty, he behaved entirely as predicted, and the character feels two dimensional. If they meet all the preconceptions and never do anything else, they will never surprise us.įor example, the ‘overbearing father,’ a common stereotypical character.

We could define a character who never surprises as one who fits into a stereotype we’re used to seeing every day, and have a number of preconceptions about. If it surprises, but does not convince, it is flat pretending to be round.If a character never surprises, it is flat.has the incalculability of life about it-life within the pages of a book. If it does not convince, it is flat pretending to be round. The test of a round character is whether it is capable of surprising in a convincing way. Forster in his 1927 book The Aspects of the Novel: The term ’round character’ originally comes from E. The most basic definition of a Round Character is a character who feels like a real person – someone with desires, memories, flaws, prejudices, inconsistencies and mannerisms. Let’s get started! Round Character Definition

Tasks to help you develop your own Round characters.

Examples of Round Characters from popular books and movies.

Round Characters versus Dynamic characters.

Round Characters versus Flat Characters.

In this article we’re going to explore all these questions. How do you make them Round in the first place? We instinctively feel Round Characters must be good things to have in our novels, but what makes a Round Character different from a Flat Character? And where do Dynamic and Static characters fit in? What do people mean when they talk about Round Characters?

Flat and static character definition