Characters: Static or Dynamic?

Photo credit: Tom Raftery on Flickr

Some of you may remember learning about static and dynamic characters in high school (or equivalent) English class. For those who don’t remember or otherwise could use a quick refresher, let’s take a quick look at the dictionary.com definitions for static and dynamic characters:

Static character: a literary or dramatic character who undergoes little or no inner change; a character who does not grow or develop. Examples: President Snow, Voldemort, James Bond and Sherlock Holmes.

Dynamic character: a literary or dramatic character who undergoes an important inner change, as a change in personality or attitude. Examples: Beatrice “Tris” Prior, Frodo Baggins, Ebenezer Scrooge and Anakin Skywalker.

While it isn’t necessary for all of your characters to be dynamic, nor is it a requirement for your protagonist to be dynamic, it is important to consider while writing whether or not you want your characters to undergo a change, and if so, make sure that the change is relevant and clear. 

Sometimes a dynamic character's change manifests physically. An example of this is Divergent when, in Tris’ transformation from Beatrice to Tris, she cuts her hair and begins acting more like a member of the Dauntless faction. A number of superhero movies also use a physical change, such as when the hero dons a new uniform and attitude to boot. 

Other times the change is more subtle and gradual, such as Frodo’s metamorphosis from carefree, happy hobbit, to a scarred, somewhat distant individual. The change may be a choice, as was the case with Tris, or forced by circumstance as was Frodo’s case.

Now while it’s true that many protagonists fall in the “dynamic character” category, as I mentioned earlier, it's completely acceptable to have a static character as a protagonist as well. 

Static characters should not to be confused with flat or one-dimensional characters—as explained above, just because characters don’t change throughout the course of their story doesn't mean that they’re one-dimensional. Perfectly interesting characters can still be static characters, like Sherlock Holmes—he’s eccentric, completely ingenious and sometimes (oftentimes?) a jerk. He never changes and we love him all the more for it. Or at least I do.

There isn’t a right or wrong choice as far as static or dynamic characters go, and now I’m curious: taking a look at your latest WIP or book that you’ve read, were your favorite characters static or dynamic?