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To speak of character categorization might be a self-evident matter for some authors, and yet it might appear nonsensical to others. Surely, a writer of the latter group might say, you can’t just divide every character of every novel into just a few categories? The truth is neither “yes” nor “no” – or, if you’d rather see the glass half-full, it’s both. It’s true, that a skillful author can make the most stereotypical character appear as unique and original. At the same time, many character functions are similar. More counter-intuitively, perhaps, character functions need to be similar for reasons we will see further below. Today I’ll tell you a few things about the various types of fiction characters.

I’ll show you why it’s important to recognize, understand, and use these character categories. This article is based on various established sources (for further reading I’d recommend Vladimir Propp’s Morphology of the Folktale), on my academic expertise, as well as on my own writing experience.