
Instead, stories that have dynamic characters-and not all stories do-usually focus on showing how one, or a handful, of the story's characters undergo a significant change, while the rest of the characters in the story are static. This is especially true for minor characters: if a character only appears once, or in brief scenes, it's difficult for a writer to establish who the character is and what they stand for, let alone to show how that might be changing. A novel that has fifteen characters, for instance, probably won't focus on the arc of each character's development-and it probably shouldn't: not only would it be a huge undertaking, but in most cases the main events of a story simply don't impact every character in a way that changes them substantially. Most stories contain more static characters than dynamic characters. Here's how to pronounce static character: stat-ik kar-ik-ter Static Characters in Depth Many of literature's most lifelike and memorable characters are static. On the contrary, many static characters-like Romeo, for instance-are quite complex.

Just because a character is static does not mean that they are "bad" or overly simplistic.Static characters can be protagonists, antagonists, or other minor characters, and a narrative can have more than one static character.The opposite of a static character is a dynamic character: one who does undergo internal changes over the course of a story.Some additional key details about static characters: For instance, in Romeo and Juliet, it can be argued that Romeo is a static character: he's defined by his impulsiveness and emotionally volatility, and rather than changing these traits, he ultimately dies because of them. Antagonists are often static characters, but any character in a story can be static. What is a static character? Here’s a quick and simple definition:Ī character is said to be "static" if they do not undergo any substantial internal changes as a result of the story's major plot developments.
