How Writers Use The 4 Main Characters As Literary Devices

Who are the four main characters in fiction? We explore how these character roles function as literary devices—and how you can use them to strengthen your stories.

One of the easiest ways to tell if you have a plot, and not just a story idea, is by looking at the characters you’ve included in your story. You need to pay special attention to the four main characters who give your story the structure it needs.

Who Are The 4 Main Characters?

1. The Protagonist
2. The Antagonist
3. The Confidant
4. The Love Interest

Is It A Plot Or A Story Idea? The Protagonist Will Tell You

Beginner fiction writers often struggle to distinguish between describing a series of events and telling a story that truly makes readers care. If we do not learn how to shape our ideas into a plot using storytelling techniques — including using characters as literary devices — readers are far more likely to abandon our books.

Have you ever read a book where things simply happen, but there is no clear character for the reader to connect with? Stories without a strong central problem quickly lose momentum, and without a protagonist readers can identify with or empathise with, it becomes difficult to keep them emotionally invested. A compelling protagonist gives readers someone to follow through the conflict, making the story clearer, more engaging, and far more memorable.

Something happens in your story that negatively affects your protagonist’s life, creating a problem they must resolve. For the story to matter, the problem needs to be significant enough to create meaningful consequences and force the protagonist to act.

Why The Others Matter As Literary Devices

One of the most effective ways to make readers care about the protagonist is by using the other key characters to reveal who they are. A story rarely exists in isolation—without these relationships, the protagonist has nothing to react to, struggle against, or grow from. Each of these characters serves a distinct narrative purpose.

The love interest introduces emotional stakes and vulnerability. The antagonist creates conflict, which is essential for any story to move forward. The confidant offers support, and insight into the protagonist’s inner world.

Together, these characters shape the protagonist and the plot from different angles, making the story more dynamic and far more engaging.

How Writers Use The 4 Main Characters As Literary Devices

1. The Protagonist

A good protagonist is one who wants something (story goal), and sets out to get it. We need a proactive character in this role. A passive character will kill your story. A great protagonist makes decisions and chooses to act. These decisions and actions influence your story. John Gardner says, ‘Failure to recognise that the central character must act, not simply be acted upon, is the single most common mistake in the fiction of beginners.’

2. The Antagonist

On this journey, they meet resistance. This is usually a result of the antagonist’s actions. This causes the conflict that creates a plot. Remember that conflict must have consequences, so your antagonist has to be as strong as, or stronger than, your hero. As Franz Kafka said: ‘From a real antagonist one gains boundless courage.’ This character should be believable. Their motivation should be reasonable from their perspective. This character is the hero of their story, and your protagonist is their villain. (Suggested reading: Very Important Characters)

3. The Confidant

Along the way, the protagonist needs some help. Provide a confidant or a sidekick to support them in this quest. You need this character so that your hero does not spend too much time alone thinking about things. The friend is a sounding board for the main character. As Chuck Palahniuk says: ‘One of the most-common mistakes that beginning writers make is leaving their characters alone. Writing, you may be alone. Reading, your audience may be alone. But your character should spend very, very little time alone. Because a solitary character starts thinking or worrying or wondering.’

4. The Love Interest

To make your protagonist three-dimensional and to complicate their life, you should add a love interest to the mix. This character reveals the protagonist’s strengths and more importantly, their weaknesses. (Suggested reading: The Romantic Sub-Plot) Please remember that the character we use for this device does not have to be a romantic love interest. It just has to be somebody who is able to make your hero act irrationally and unreliably. Love makes fools of all of us. As Ernest Hemingway wrote: ‘I am so in love with you that there isn’t anything else.’

Why Are These Four Main Characters Important?

As literary devices, the main characters force us to show and not tell. The nature of the relationship between the protagonist and the other three leads to tangible interactions.

We have to talk to these characters and interact with them. We cannot avoid our worst enemies if they are determined to find us. We cannot ignore our best friends, unless we are prepared to risk losing those friendships. We cannot abandon the people we love most if we are human. (Suggested reading: The 3 Most Effective Types of Inner Conflict)

There will be other characters in your book, but they will be easier for your protagonist to deal with in a perfunctory manner. Too much of this type of interaction makes the character unsympathetic and boring.

(TOP TIP: Fill in Character Questionnaires for your main characters.)

So, you use your four main characters as literary devices to create a plot when:

1. An action (inciting moment) somewhere (setting),
2. Taken by somebody (your antagonist),
3. Has a negative impact on somebody else (your protagonist).
4. This creates a problem
5. That your protagonist must solve (story goal) by acting,
6. Which leads to confrontations with the antagonist and other characters (conflict in scenes and sequels).
7. This goes on for approximately 60-80 scenes and sequels.
8. Your protagonist is supported (can be a sub-plot) by somebody (confidant),
9. And made aware of their weaknesses (sub-plot) by somebody else (love interest)
10. Until they achieve, or fail to achieve, the story goal. (ending)”

In the next four instalments, I will discuss each of these four main characters as literary devices, and how you build a story around them, in more detail.

1. How Writers Use The Protagonist As A Literary Device
2. How Writers Use The Antagonist As A Literary Device
3. How Writers Use The Confidant As A Literary Device
4. How Writers Use The Love Interest As A Literary Device

The Last Word

Understanding the four main characters in fiction gives you a powerful set of tools to shape stronger stories. Use these roles as literary devices to deepen conflict, reveal character, and drive your plot forward. They can transform your novels and stories into more compelling, cohesive narratives.

by Amanda Patterson
© Amanda Patterson

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