• Introduction
• Character
• Plot
• Setting
• Point of View
• Style
• Poetry

Characterization

Authors use “characterization” to create and reveal the characters within a literary work. Sometimes authors describe the characters “directly,” and sometimes they allow characters to reveal themselves “indirectly,” allowing readers to come to know the characters by what they do and by what others say about them. Direct characterization is easier to write, but skillful indirect characterization can help readers feel they really know a character more fully.