Claim: Veronica Mars is the protagonist of a novel based in reality.

A character -LRB- sometimes known as a fictional character -RRB- is a person or other being in a narrative work of art -LRB- such as a novel , play , television series , or film -RRB- . The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person , in which case the distinction of a `` fictional '' versus `` real '' character may be made . Derived from the ancient Greek word χαρακτήρ , the English word dates from the Restoration , although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749 . From this , the sense of `` a part played by an actor '' developed . Character , particularly when enacted by an actor in the theatre or cinema , involves `` the illusion of being a human person . '' In literature , characters guide readers through their stories , helping them to understand plots and ponder themes . Since the end of the 18th century , the phrase `` in character '' has been used to describe an effective impersonation by an actor . Since the 19th century , the art of creating characters , as practiced by actors or writers , has been called characterisation .   A character who stands as a representative of a particular class or group of people is known as a type . Types include both stock characters and those that are more fully individualised . The characters in Henrik Ibsen 's Hedda Gabler -LRB- 1891 -RRB- and August Strindberg 's Miss Julie -LRB- 1888 -RRB- , for example , are representative of specific positions in the social relations of class and gender , such that the conflicts between the characters reveal ideological conflicts .   The study of a character requires an analysis of its relations with all of the other characters in the work . The individual status of a character is defined through the network of oppositions -LRB- proairetic , pragmatic , linguistic , proxemic -RRB- that it forms with the other characters . The relation between characters and the action of the story shifts historically , often miming shifts in society and its ideas about human individuality , self-determination , and the social order .