In a recent post, Janice Hardy suggests three ways to pick flaws that help your readers relate to your characters. “Picking any old flaw isn’t going to cut it,” she says. “Who cares if the protagonist can’t cook if cooking never matters to the story? So what if they can’t commit if they’re never asked to?”
Your characters’ flaws and weaknesses make them interesting and should add to your story. “A lack of flaws and weaknesses makes it much harder to plot, because there are fewer ways things can go wrong,” Hardy writes. “A character who never makes mistakes, never gets scared, never makes a bad choice or reads a situation wrong, must rely on outside forces to drive the plot—which results in a reactive protagonist.”
Where can you find these flaws? Hardy identifies a few places:
- Under their bed and in their closet. Start with fears. “Fears are useful character weaknesses, because they can lead to mistakes, wrong decisions, or even out-of-character behavior—all things that create trouble and add conflict in a novel,” Hardy notes. “Aim for fears that hinder the protagonist and their pursuit of the goal, help create conflict, and cause trouble in the novel.” In contrast, your character may try to overcompensate for their fear and mess up in a different way.
- Their lousy role models. “Prejudice is taught, and your protagonist might have learned terrible lessons about their world,” Hardy says. Your characters’ ideas about the world may be based on fact, experience, or the example of others. Some of these opinions may be good or bad, and some might be outright shameful.
- Their good qualities. “Even positive traits can cause problems in the right situation,” Hardy writes. “For example, tenacity is a useful trait, but refusing to give up no matter what could be quite troublesome if faced with a problem that requires the protagonist to give up to win.” Any good quality can become a negative when it’s taken to an extreme.
However, avoid going overboard with flaws. “Broken is good, but utterly dysfunctional can steal sympathy from a character,” Hardy notes. “It’s a bit like being too perfect—someone who always makes the wrong choice and always has things go wrong is just as predictable as always having things work out.” Find the right balance and you’ll have a character your reader wants to root for.
