We have two principal views of that mind: the Objective view from the outside looking in, and the Subjective view from the inside looking out. The reason there are two kinds of characters goes back to the concept of the Story Mind. For now, the key point is that Dramatica identifies two different kinds of characters: those who represent an audience point of view, and those who fulfill a dramatic function. Later on, we will explore many other ways in which the Main Character can be employed in much less archetypal terms than as a hero. Here, the character, Atticus, (played by Gregory Peck) is clearly the Protagonist, yet the story is told through the experiences of Scout, his young daughter. The value of separating the Main Character and Protagonist into two different characters can be seen in the motion picture, To Kill a Mockingbird. When we consider all the characters other than a Protagonist who might serve as the audience’s position in a story, suddenly the concept of a hero becomes severely limited. In other words, a hero is a blended character who does two jobs: move the plot forward and serve as a surrogate for the audience. A Hero is a combination of both Main Character and Protagonist.A Protagonist is the prime mover of the plot.A Main Character is the player through whom the audience experiences the story first hand.Before we proceed then, it seems prudent to establish what Dramatica means by each of these concepts. As writers become more mature in their craft, they may come to think of their central character as a “protagonist,” or perhaps a “main character.” And yet, through all of this, no consistent definitions of any of these terms have ever been agreed upon.

It is easy to think of the principal character in a story as “the hero.” Many beginning writers tend to base their stories on the adventures or experiences of a hero.

Literature character type grid