Note 19 — THE BOY WILL

Characterization is more difficult for the tyro to manage than plot. Consistency of characterization is attained through discovering in the beginning a motive that will sufficiently account for the part taken by the character by means of speech and action, and through constantly testing the characterization by this motive. Such consistency of characterization is illustrated to perfection in Tarkington's Beauty and the Jacobin. The writer of the one-act play does not use many characters. "Examination of several hundred one-act plays has revealed that the average number of characters to a play is between three and four."[19]