Flat and round characters

Flat and round characters are E. M. Forster's two basic types, set out in Aspects of the Novel (1927). In the article's wording, "flat characters are two-dimensional, in that they are relatively uncomplicated," while "round characters are complex figures with many different characteristics, that undergo development, sometimes sufficiently to surprise the reader." Flatness is not a verdict: a flat character is easy to recognize and remember, which is why the article notes stock characters are usually one-dimensional, and why a character "virtually devoid of flaws" reads flat by accident, whatever the author intended.

For the working writer the pair is a budget decision. Leads and viewpoint characters generally need roundness, a want, contradictions and room to change across an arc; the crowd of a long novel can be serviceably flat, sketched in one memorable trait apiece. Building the round ones is the work of how to create characters, and their development across the story is the character arc.