“The test of a round character is whether it is capable of surprising in a convincing way. If it never surprises it is flat. Flat characters ... in their purest form ... are constructed round a single idea or quality; when there is more than one factor to them, we get the beginning of the curve toward the round. The really flat character can be experessed in one sentence such as, "I will never desert Mr Micawber." There is Mrs Micawber - she says she won't desert Mr Micawber; she doesn't, and there she is.”
Quote by E. M. Forster
Author
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“The great majority of modern third-person narration is "I" narration very thinly disguised.”
“Everyone is interesting except the narrator in a first-person story.”
Source: Aspects Of the Novel
“The good old days, when each idea had an owner, are gone forever.”
“The secret of successful fiction is a continual slight novelty.”
Source: Critical Writings of Ford Madox Ford
“The novel is a prose narrative of some length that has something wrong with it.”
“Good enough is never good enough.”
Source: A field guide to writing fiction
