Character Flaws: It’s What Makes Characters Real

Character is a Greek word that means a “distinctive mark.” In psychology, they define character in their subject’s degree of integrity and virtue, as in their nobility of character. Writers and actors define character as the representation of a unique human persona through the written or spoken word. Contest judges yearn for character flaws in submissions for the added interest and creativity.

Writers should let their characters have flaws, which should be gently woven into the plot. The best flaws are when the character’s finest characteristic can be a flaw in a different situation. We all know the very trait you love in someone can be a thorn in your side at times. An example of this would be a patient character, a man who is calm in a crisis, yet who frustrates his wife because he always runs late. His refusal to sweat the small stuff drives her nuts, yet this trait helps make him the crises manager she admires.

Character flaws hold your plot together and keep readers interested; Think Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. Rooster would not have been so life-like and appealing without the loss of one of his eyes and his propensity to drink. Both of these flaws are believable. Save any out-of-the-ordinary personalities or strange quirks for secondary characters.

Sometimes it’s hard to expose your character’s underbelly. However, if you don’t, they’re “paper cut-outs” without the feeling they’re real. We all have emotional baggage we carry with us throughout life, such as an embarrassing past, a secret not to be shared with anyone or feelings of guilt and regret. Let your characters have these things because they lend them a wonderful dimension.

Detective Adrian Monk is a character with OCD, phobias and anxiety. He’s an appealing character because he’s a wounded soul. The problems associated to his personality are what made him a great detective. He spawned the TV tagline, “Characters Welcome.” Sheldon Cooper with The Big Bang Theory is another example of a wounded, yet brilliant, soul.

Some research into personality types would not go to waste on writers. In short stories, the knowledge of the physical traits of a personality type (wringing hands, superficial charm or inflated self-worth) would help to develop a character in few words.

Let your character, especially your hero, to be mystified by a situation. You add drama and emotion if your character struggles to determine what happens next, what their response will be to their current, bewildering situation. After a time of contemplation, they’re ready (and have thought of a plan) to slay the dragon.

Every character needs to serve a purpose in the story. If they don’t, get rid of them. How does the hero find out there’s a problem? Why, it’s the noisy friend of his wife who alerts everyone about it. All the characters in your story should want something. Using the noisy friend of the wife example above, her motivation is stirring the proverbial pot. She likes to be the first to know something bad and then spread the ugly information around and watch people react. Another secondary character example could be the neighbor wanting to borrow a lawnmower and stumbling into an attempted suicide.