If a character is feeling flat, there’s a good possibility this is what’s missing. In this method, the character reveals himself or herself a piece at a time through concrete actions and behaviors, not through the author’s say-so. Indirect characterization focuses on all the things we learn about a character through little quirks, repeated actions, or recurring phrases and words. This one is far more important than direct characterization for bringing a flat character to life. Note that this particular type of characterization won’t work for deep-point-of-view because deep POV focuses on eliminating the author’s voice and diving into the character’s point-of-view exclusively. If it’s something we would never learn otherwise but need to know, for example, the author might choose to tell us that fact about the character. This is one that I personally recommend avoiding for the most part, but sometimes there’s good reason to use it. Direct characterization is when the author tells the reader something about the character. The next thing that could happen is having no direct characterization for a character. Review that to see how you can effectively use voice to provide characterization that is solid and unique to each character. I won’t go into great length about voice since it’s already covered in my last article here. This is still a major problem if it’s occurring with main characters. But the problem might only extend to one or two characters that readers can’t distinguish between because of their similarity in voice. Obviously, if the problem runs that deep, other characters will also be flat. If they sound just like everyone else in the entire novel, they’re not going to stand out. This is one place where a character can go flat. Last week, we talked about voice as a method of characterization. So, how do you bring a flat character to life? Let’s take a look at some of the common issues and ways to fix them so the character has a life of their own. This is especially concerning if your main characters are the ones that end up flat. Characters can be flat because they haven’t been characterized in a way that makes them stand out, or they can end up flat because they’re cliche and boring. One of the things writers of all levels can run into is the problem of flat characters.
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