What are Static Characters? - Michelle Renee Miller

Today we are going to be breaking all the rules of writing. Let’s talk about how to write a main character of a story that doesn’t have a character arc. That’s right, a character that doesn’t grow, or change throughout your story. These are known as static characters We’ll go over what rule we’re breaking exactly, why we might break this rule at all, and how to do it in an intriguing way. What is a static character?

What the rule is about static characters

If you checked out my post on the different types of characters in literature, then you probably already know that a static character is one who doesn’t change throughout a story. There’s no emotional growth, or maturing that happens. Compare this to a dynamic character that does show growth and maturity throughout a story. One might start out timid and a bit reserved, but throughout the story learn to find their voice. There are lots of ways characters can grow throughout a story.

We read fiction for three main reasons: education, entertainment, and empathy – the three E’s if you will. The rule of using dynamic characters as protagonists stands because people want to watch someone struggle and learn a lesson. There’s sadistic entertainment in watching someone struggle, we get to learn a lesson along with the character, and we then learn to have empathy for someone who might be in that initial situation a character was in.

And, we are all dynamic characters in our own story. We have all had struggles, learned something, and become a better person for it. It’s natural to write a story with emotional changes.

For all of these reasons, we don’t typically use static characters as the main character of our stories. Generally, it’s not an interesting way to write a character. It can be boring for your reader to watch a character do the same thing and never learn a lesson. And, as a writer, that can be boring to write, too.

So why would we break this rule if there are so many reasons to keep it in place?

Breaking the rule on static characters

A lot of you might be trying to write novels right now, and you might be thinking, how would a static character as a protagonist make it through a whole novel. How could someone stand that? So I want to be clear, I think this rule break works best for short stories. I would agree with you, it might be a lot for a novel-length piece to watch someone never learn a lesson. It could be done, and has been, but there’s a reason it isn’t typical. If you disagree, I’d love to hear your perspective, so please leave a comment below and we can chat.

Short stories, I believe, are meant for breaking the rules. Thinking of a short story as a mini-novel is a disservice to the craft. Just like fantasy is different from science fiction is different from romance is different from historical fiction, a short story is different from a novel.

You can break these rules in a shorter form because it’s digestible to your reader. It’s like getting those little paint sample cans before you buy the gallons. Plus, if the experiment of breaking the rules doesn’t work, at least it’s only 20 pages and not 420 pages.

But, there are people who do stop learning lessons. You might have a grumpy old man neighbor who has given up on learning. He did enough of it in the first 60 years of his life, and now he’s ready to be right all the time. You might have a college class with someone who thinks they’re better than all the other students, and they refuse to change that mindset. Someone dealing with immense stress or trauma might go static as a defense mechanism.

There are as many reasons for a person to be static as there are people on this planet, so it could make for a great story.

How to break the rule in an interesting way

What do we do when we break the rule? Having a static character who doesn’t learn any lessons or grow as a person at all just for the sake of it isn’t going to cut it. The biggest lesson you can learn as a writer is to forgo doing things for the shock and awe of it all. Just because something feels outrageous, doesn’t mean it automatically makes for a good story. And yes, I’ve learned that one the hard way…

As you might have gathered from the last section, there needs to be a deliberate reason behind the choices you make as a writer. If you want to tell the story of someone so self-obsessed that they can’t see anyone else’s point of view, there is a lot you could play with there. That’s a static character with a reason behind them.

On the other hand, you can have a static character with really positive traits. They’re really caring and loving, and no matter what happens, nothing ever gets them down. But since we don’t often stay positive through terrible situations, you’d have to figure out the most realistic way to do that, or put the story in a surreal setting.

Conclusion on static characters

Breaking the rules as a writer is a great way to expand your skills, but it’s important to know the rule first so you can know why you’re breaking it. Using static characters is a great experiment in character development, and I encourage you to give it a shot!

What ways would you use a static character as a protagonist? Leave your thoughts below, I’m interested to hear your ideas!

Get my free Character Profile Training!

Another great way to beat the tropes is to have round, relatable, and realistic characters. In under 15 minutes, this training will teach you how you should actually look at the character profile, and what to do with the information in it when it’s complete.

How does the information in the profile translate to the story you’re writing? Why do we need to know everything about our characters’ lives? And how does this tool help us write better stories?

If you’ve got less than 15 minutes, I’ve got the answers. Let me send this training to you!

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