The Flaw in Flawless
There's one major problem with flawless characters: They're boring. They don't screw up, so there's no tension in watching them. For them, there's no trying, there's only accomplishing.
While there's a certain probability that the good guys win, you never know how often they stumble on their way. That makes watching characters' journeys (literal or metaphorical) worth following. Working around flaws, having them exploited and learning from the experience... all that is character growth. No flaws mean no learning, no growth and no change, and that ultimately makes a character less deep than you'd want them to be.
When is a Flaw a Flaw?
We already established that flawless characters are kind of... meh. That's why the writers of these characters are often told to add flaws to make their character less flat. This is when pseudo-flaws come in.
Rule of thumb: If a flaw doesn't bring your character in trouble/cause inconvienience/isn't treated as one in-story, it doesn't count.
This means that many things that sound like flaws aren't, but on the other hand, everything can be turned into a flaw. I'll just throw in a list with my favorites.
Clumsy
This one is too easy. Just have your character stumble a few times and hah, a flawed character.
Not a flaw, because... this mostly serves to make the character endearing. Also, they can stumble in their one true love's arms and deer-eye them.
Make it a flaw: Turning clumsiness into a flaw is really easy. Have the character stumble while carrying something important. Have people be angry at them for spilling something. Clumsy kids aren't considered endearing and cute by their peers, they're being laughed at.
Too Beautiful
Where do I even start? "Oh no, I'm so beautiful it's a curse!" Ergh.
Not a flaw, because... no matter how much the character whines about being too beautiful, nothing harmful ever comes of that.
Make it a flaw: Beauty is superficial and thus attracts superficial people. It's coupled with expectations in both men and women. There's jealousy from others. I still wouldn't call this the main flaw of any character.
Too Helpful
Yes, that exists, too.
Not a flaw, because... being helpful is kind of a good thing. And these "too helpful" characters are often just a decent amount of helpful, not really too.
Make it a flaw: Where there are helpful people, there are also jerks who abuse that. But it's not just others that can cause trouble for the overly helpful character. If they really want to help everyone, they can easily overburden themselves or feel guilty for failing people in need.
I could continue this list for a while, but the bottom line is that many pseudo-flaws can be turned into real flaws by adding consequences.
Too Many Flaws
Flaws don't replace believable writing. If you just pile up flaws on your character, you'll risk making them unrelatable the same way you do when you add none at all. Also, failing at everything, if it's not in a slapstick comedy, isn't all that entertaining.
So, as with everything, try to find a middle ground between squeaky clean perfect and oh god how can this guy even survive a day. And, to quote a Mary Sue Test on this, if you ever describe your character as too perfect, douse yourself in cold water now.
It also helps a lot to just step back and think about your character a bit. These things happen because writers just give their characters a flaw or other personality trait and then just say "That's what that character is!".
ReplyDeleteBut if you think about it, people aren't just clumsy and nothing else.
There are reasons and implications about their personality and life. Clumsiness implies a certain impulsiveness and lack of control. Maybe they aren't fully comfortable in their environment and have low self-esteem which causes them to hesitate, or they aren't especially clumsy but when some accident happens they feel especially down about it. Maybe they're the type who has to think about everything and can't react fast. Maybe they're just absent-minded and don't pay much attention to the world around them. Maybe it's a medical problem of some sort, like poor eyesight or limited control over their limbs due to some nervous condition.
Each of these things then helps you figure out more things about them. How they react to it, how others treat them, why they are the way they are, ect.
So even with a pretty lame and overly simple starting point, you can make a more fleshed out character if you just think about it a bit.
You're already one step ahead. In order to think about the details behind the character flaw, it needs to be acknowledged as such first.
ReplyDeleteAlso, maybe they're just not good with their hands. =P