Characterisation in a novel refers to the _____?

Step 1: Analyze the question The question asks for the definition of characterisation in a novel.

Step 2: Explain the concept Characterisation is the technique a writer uses to create and develop characters and to show the reader what they are like. Writers do this in two main ways:

• Direct (explicit) characterisation: the narrator or another character tells us what someone is like, e.g. "Okonkwo was a proud and fearful man."
• Indirect (implicit) characterisation: we learn about a character through their actions, speech, thoughts, appearance, and how others react to them.

So characterisation is about the method or process of revealing characters, not the characters themselves.

Step 3: Evaluate the options

• A. Writer's opinion of the characters: Wrong. The writer's opinion may influence the portrayal, but it is not the definition.
• B. Way the characters are revealed to the reader: Correct. This matches the definition: how the author presents and develops characters.
• C. Characters and the way they behave: This describes the characters and their conduct, not the technique of presenting them. It is close, but it confuses "characters" with "characterisation".
• D. Reader's opinion of the character: Wrong. This is the reader's response, not the author's technique.

Step 4: Answer The correct option is B.

Tip: Remember the difference: characters are the people in the story, while characterisation is the how of presenting them. Whenever you see a word ending in "-isation" in literary terms (characterisation, plot development, setting), think "technique or process", not "thing".