on The Write Life:

When you’re writing, you have different tools and components at your disposal—plot, structure, character, theme, etc. You manipulate these things to make your work the best it can be, and having a good understanding of how all of these components work means you can move them around with intention.

Characters are sort of like pawns. To know what to do with them, you need to know what they’re doing in your story—what purpose do they serve, and what are readers going to expect from them based on similar characters from other stories?

In this article, we’re going to talk about the different types of characters in a story that you’ll encounter across mediums (T.V., movies, books, etc.). Not only will this make it easier for you to analyze the media you encounter, but it’ll help you more intentionally and thoughtfully craft your own work.