What Are The Types Of Characters In A Story: Complete Guide [With Examples, Tips & Tricks]

There are many different types of characters in a story. The first type is the protagonist, who will change throughout the story.

The second type is the antagonist, who will try to stop the protagonist from achieving their goal.
 

What Are Character Types In A Story?

The third type is the helper, who helps the protagonist in various ways throughout the story. The fourth type is a minor character, who doesn’t have much of an impact on the plot but does provide some humor or entertainment for readers.

Lastly, there are background characters that appear only once or twice during a book or series of books.

Each type has its own purpose within a story and serves a specific role within it.

For example, if there were no antagonists in a story, it would seem unrealistic because they would be too powerful and would win every battle without any effort on their part.

Character Types vs. Archetypes

There are two major categories of characters: character types and Archetypal Characters. Character types are the same in every work, while archetypes are the same across all works.

Character types are usually developed by the author and may not be based on any real people or events; however, their behavior is based on a certain archetype. Archetypes are universal and have been used throughout literature and art for centuries.

Character Type

Character types can be defined as specific traits that define a person’s personality for whatever reason (e.g., “the type A personality”). In novels, these types tend to develop over time through the character’s experiences, which allow them to grow into something more complex (i.e., having multiple aspects).

For example, if your main character were a detective who always has his nose in a book, he would probably start off as a “Type-A” personality because he’s constantly busy with work while reading crime books all day long.

As he continues through the novel and solves cases, however, he might become more laid back or even lazy at times due to lack of motivation caused by boredom or exhaustion from solving crimes all day long

Types Of Story Characters

The characters in a story are its actors. The more interesting your characters, the more likely it is that people will read and enjoy your book.

Types of Story Characters:

The Protagonist – The hero or heroine of the story. This character drives the action and guides the reader through the story. He or she has a goal, an objective, and he or she knows what he wants to accomplish in order to achieve his goal.

The Antagonist – The villain of the story. He or she has an opposing goal to the protagonist’s goal, but may not be aware that theirs is at odds with their opponent’s. The antagonist must create obstacles for our protagonist to overcome in order for him/her to achieve his/her goal(s).

The Sidekick – A secondary character who provides support for our main character(s), such as a friend or family member who helps him/her accomplish goals and keep him/her company on their journey.

Breaking Down The Protagonist

The protagonist is the character whose story you are following. The protagonist is the main character, but it’s easy to get confused about that. When we see a film or read a book, we’re seeing the events unfold through the eyes of one character.

It doesn’t matter who they are—we can be inside their head or outside of it—but they are always in control.

The protagonist may not be a single person but rather a group of people working toward a common goal. This could be an entire family or society that is trying to improve its lot in life. In World War II, for example, there were many storylines but one central protagonist: Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.

The protagonist can also be an idea or emotion rather than someone specific like a specific person or even just an idea like Thomas Jefferson’s “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.”

Character Types In Film Robert Mckee On Working With Multiple Protagonists With Storylogue

Robert Mckee has worked on many films with multiple protagonists. In a recent interview, he explained how they work, and why he thinks it’s important to have more than one POV character in a film.

“I think the best thing about working with multiple protagonists is that you can get a deeper sense of what each person is thinking and feeling,” says Mckee.

“When you have one character who has all the power in a scene, you’re really just seeing what that character wants you to see. But when you have three or four characters, there are often very different things that each person wants from the situation.”

In some cases, this creates an interesting dynamic where characters have different priorities or agendas. “A lot of times we’ll find ourselves having to make decisions between what one person wants and what another person wants,” says Mckee. “And that can sometimes be really tricky.”

Literature Types Of Characters

Characters are the most important element of literature. They have a big impact on the plot, setting and theme of a story. You can’t have a strong story without strong characters who drive the plot forward.

Every character has a personality, motivations, goals and flaws. These are some of the things that make them unique and interesting to read about.

The following types of characters are commonly used in literature:

protagonist- the lead character; usually the protagonist is the one who leads (or drives) the story forward. He or she may be heroic or villainous, but he or she must be someone who changes throughout the story.

antagonist- an opposing force that opposes your protagonist; usually this person is not necessarily evil but may be misguided or ignorant about his or her actions.

suspect/suspect’s motivation- when you suspect that someone is guilty of something bad in your novel, you want to know why they did it and what makes them do what they did.

In order for a character to be effective in your novel it must be believable; otherwise readers will lose interest quickly because it seems highly unlikely that anyone would act that way without having good reason for doing so!

Building Around Antagonists

The most common way to build around a protagonist is to create a secondary character who is their opposite. For example, if you had a protagonist who was a professional dancer, you could create another character in the story who was a professional musician or a professional athlete. Or if you had a character who was an introvert, you could use another character who is an extrovert to contrast them.

   

Building Around Antagonists

Another way to build around your antagonist is by creating an antagonist with whom your protagonist has an ongoing conflict. This type of antagonist can be either external or internal. An external antagonist is someone from outside of the main characters’ circle of friends and family.

An internal antagonist is someone within the main characters’ circle of friends and family. The key here is that these antagonists must have some sort of relationship with the protagonists in order for them to be effective villains.

Character Types Literature & Film

Character types are a way of categorizing characters in a story. They are the archetypes, or general types, that appear in literature and film. Character types can be abstract or concrete, but they all fall into one of the following categories:

Protagonist: The character who drives the plot forward, usually through conflict with an antagonist.

Antagonist: The character who opposes the protagonist, usually through conflict with them.

Supporting character: A non-central character who provides emotional depth to the story and develops over time; they are often friends or family members of the main characters.

Thematic character: A persona created by the writer who embodies a particular idea; they may differ from their real-life counterpart in appearance and behavior.

How To Write A Good Antagonist

Antagonists are the people and/or things that oppose the protagonist in a story. They can be realistic or unrealistic, but they must be described in detail so that the reader can understand their motives and personality.

In writing an antagonist, the writer must determine what motivates them and how they act. A good antagonist will do something unexpected, which makes it more interesting for the reader. For example, if your character is a teenager living in New York City, a good antagonist might be his parents who live in suburban Pennsylvania. This will show how he feels about being away from home and being on his own.

Antagonists are usually someone who opposes the protagonist’s goals or plans (such as love interest or friend). However, they can also be people who represent society in general (such as politicians).

The best way to write an antagonist is to use your own experiences with people you know who are similar to those you’re writing about. The easiest way to do this is to ask yourself questions like these: What kind of person is this? What do they want? How do others see them? What do they think of themselves? What are their values?

Supporting Character Types

Supporting characters are the characters who surround the main character. They can be friends, relatives or enemies of the main character. Supporting characters are often minor characters who play a small part in the story, but their importance is significant. These characters are usually not as fleshed out as your main character, but they do have a purpose in the plot.

Supporting characters can be used to help illustrate or reinforce a point or theme in the story. For example, if you want to convey how hard it is for a woman to find employment after graduating college, you could use an old friend who tries to help her find work for a few months until she finally lands a position at a company that doesn’t pay well enough to support herself and her children. The friend’s role would be crucial because it shows how hard it is for women who attend college and need work after graduation — it’s not easy!

Supporting characters can also serve as another viewpoint on events in your story. This allows you to show readers different sides of your main character through supporting characters’ perspectives on him/her

Addressing Supporting Characters

Supporting characters are the most important characters in any story. They are usually the ones who have the most impact on the story by their actions and reactions. If you have a good supporting character, then they will be remembered long after you have forgotten the main character.

The best way to write supporting characters is to make them as real as possible by using their own voices and personalities. The more you can make them sound like they really would say things and act in certain ways, then the more believable they will seem.

By making your supporting characters real people with distinct personalities, it makes them easier to remember, which means that even if you forget about your main character for a little while, when you return to that story or novel later on, then all of these details will still be fresh in your mind because they were all so well written before!

Types Of Characters In Movies

There are three main categories of characters that we all have come to know and love, and they’re always there in the movies. The first category is the protagonist. This character is usually the main character of a movie.

They are the one who gets to do everything and meet everyone. They may even be a normal person, but they’re so good at what they do that people really want to watch them. Examples of protagonists include James Bond, Tom Hanks in Cast Away, Will Smith in Independence Day, and Sandra Bullock in Speed.

The second type of movie character is known as an anti-hero or villain. These characters don’t have anything good about them, but they still manage to be likable because we can see their point of view on life or how they feel about something important to them.

Examples of anti-heroes include Kevin Spacey’s Frank Underwood on House of Cards and Jack Nicholson’s Joker in Batman Returns.

Finally, you have your ordinary Joe/Jane that doesn’t have much going on with them except for maybe being a loner or having a job they don’t like as much as they used to like it when they were younger due to some kind of experience that happened within their past lives.

What Are Character Types In A Story – Wrapping Up

Character types are the main characters of a story. They are the people that you will spend most of your time with and they will be the characters that you learn to love, hate or just plain get used to.

Character types can be very different from one another, but they all have some similar characteristics. Below are some of the major character types found in stories:

The Protagonist

The protagonist is usually a main character who takes action throughout a story. He/she is an active participant in the plot, often taking charge of situations and events that occur.

The protagonist’s goal is usually to succeed in achieving whatever it is that he/she wants out of life – whether that be saving his/her family from poverty or saving the world from destruction.

The Antagonist

The antagonist may or may not be evil but he/she does oppose the protagonist at times throughout the story.

In fact, there must be some kind of conflict between him/her and the protagonist for there to be any interest in reading about them at all! The antagonist’s goal may be to achieve something for himself/herself or it could just be to prevent something bad from happening – either way, he/