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You are mistaken in your basic assumption regarding what gives characters depth. If heroic Beowulf is in your story secretly a bad guy, that in and of itself doesn't make him three-dimensional. Tha...
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#4: Attribution notice removed
by
System
·
2019-12-12T21:57:38Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/45574 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T12:02:09Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/45574 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
You are mistaken in your basic assumption regarding what gives characters depth. If heroic Beowulf is in your story secretly a bad guy, that in and of itself doesn't make him three-dimensional. That just makes him a two-dimensional bad guy instead of a two-dimensional good guy. **What makes a character three-dimensional is internal conflict**. He knows what he should do, but for some reason he struggles with doing it. Or, two seemingly positive ideals point him towards different paths, and he doesn't know which he should follow. Or he wants to do something even while knowing he shouldn't. Etc. What internal conflict you give Beowulf is up to you, and it would be paramount to the story you wish to tell.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2019-05-30T13:00:37Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 1