Monday, October 7, 2019

In general , can a character be round and dynamic or flat and static at the same time? In other words is a round character different from dynamic?

Yes, a round character is different than a dynamic character, and a flat character is different than a static character.  
Let's start with dynamic and static. A static character is a character that doesn't change over the course of the book, film, show, video game, etc. The character will have a personality, thoughts, and opinions, but all of those things will remain the same throughout the entire story. On the other hand, a dynamic character will change in some way. Maybe he/she starts the story as a bigoted racist and ends the story as somebody that is fighting for racial equality.  
A flat character could also be described as a "one dimensional" character. This character's personality could be described in a few words, or you might even associate only one character trait to this person. Tybalt from Romeo and Juliet would be a good example. He's hot-tempered and angry. A round character, on the other hand, is more complex. This character could also be described as "deep" because they have multiple layers to their personality. Shrek summarized this one quite nicely when he said that "ogres are like onions...we both have layers." Jay Gatsby is a good example of this character. Readers see him as happy, sad, angry, scared, mysterious, friendly, and frustrated throughout the novel.  
With the above in mind, there is nothing to prevent an author from making a full, round character that changes over the course of a story.  That would be a round and dynamic character. Additionally, a flat character is a character that is likely to be static anyway. That's because an audience isn't likely to buy into a flat, one dimensional character changing that much over the course of the story. We just don't see the personality depth to allow for that kind of change.  
http://learn.lexiconic.net/characters.htm

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