How to Write Flawed AKA Real Characters | StoryCraft Advent Calendar Day 8
For most of us, our characters begin as simple shadows of themselves. They might grow from a moment of inspiration–a visual image, a piece of dialogue, maybe even an attitude. We build them up limb by limb, our own Frankenstein’s Monsters. First a brain, then eyes, then hands and feet.
Great characters need to feel like real people, and this can be the most difficult hurdle to climb over when we start writing. Why? Because we can be too afraid to make our characters as flawed as they need to be to tell a good story. The phrase “Kill your darlings” applies here. If you baby your characters, they won’t feel authentic to the reader.
Think about some of your favorite characters of all time. There are probably some strong defining characteristics about them that stand out to you, and I would hazard a guess they make some bad decisions in their stories.
Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, for example, is a bit of a snarky know-it-all, and she kind of treats the men around her as not good enough for her. These qualities, even though they’re negative traits, make her feel like a real character. Every single person you know has flaws, and readers know that without these flaws, characters feel 2D, like paper dolls instead of flesh and blood. No one is perfect, and watching someone make only the right choices would be awfully boring.
Another great example from classical literature are the characters from The Great Gatsby. Daisy and Tom Buchanan are careless, selfish people, ready and willing to use those around them however they please, then abandoning them when times get tough. Gatsby, for all his hope, makes a series of terrible choices in his obsessive quest for Daisy’s heart, and even Nick Carraway passively drinks himself into a stupor while he facilitates his cousin’s affair. (Bombastic side-eye).
But this is the reason this story became such a longstanding classic–the characters are kind of terrible people. This feels real. Everyone is a villain in someone else’s story.
We all love our characters because they are fragments of ourselves, and sometimes this affection can cause us to shield them from actually being flawed. I see it a lot as an agent when I’m reading query materials. Characters who don’t have strong motivations or dramatic flaws simply don’t have the promise of conflict, and the reader craves conflict. It’s the good stuff that makes the story exciting.
Your readers will also trust you more if you give them complex characters with nuanced perspectives. Maybe the “right” answer is easy, but the character’s backstory makes it impossible for them to choose that path. Maybe the choice that would save the world would hurt the person the Protagonist cares about most. Every choice should be difficult to make.
As you’re building your novel, think about this internal conflict with every single plotpoint. How can you add conflict and stakes to this narrative moment, and how does the Protagonist’s flawed worldview make it difficult for them to overcome?
Elizabeth Bennet is so proud that when she gets a legitimate marriage proposal that could solve her family’s concerns, instead of saying yes (and the story ending), she refuses it. Your characters should be making the difficult choices.
The other side of the coin is their Inner Need or internal motivation. Who does the character want to be if they could be the best version of themselves? What is the opposite of their flaw? When these two elements work in opposition to each other, it makes for really dynamic conflict that can help fuel the entire novel.
Let’s use Katniss Everdeen as an example. Katniss is fiercely independent and doesn’t trust anyone. Her dramatic flaw is her inability to let anyone help her, and yet, her primary motivation is helping others. She wants to protect the people of District 12, especially her sister Prim. This motivation is what propels her into the Hunger Games in the first place, and at every crossroads throughout the story, her inability to let others help her creates conflict, whether that be with Peeta, or Haymitch, or even herself.
Because we understand who Katniss is and how she’s going to respond, every moment of conflict becomes stronger. The reader can anticipate the drama because they know every obstacle is going to have a fallout, and that keeps them turning the pages. This becomes a hook for the reader, and they can trust you as the writer to take them on an exciting journey.
If this is a new concept for you, first try identifying the Flaw/Inner Need of characters in the media you consume and which speak the most to you. Notice the choices people make around you and why. Notice the choices you make in your own life.
Then, when you’re working on your characters, try thinking of this Protagonist Emotional Arc, as we call it, as a core part of their personality. What about this character’s worldview is flawed, and how did that come to be? For example, an abandonment wound can cause someone to be closed off and end things before they begin because they’re afraid of being hurt (again). But someone with an abandonment wound this deep must crave being loved unconditionally, right? How can these two elements push and pull on each other to create conflict in the story and in their relationships?
We also need to be careful to make sure these dramatic flaws are things that can be changed and not innate things like disabilities or diseases. While something like chronic illness, for example, is debilitating and can create a ton of conflict, it’s not something the character can overcome, and places the blame on the character as opposed to the narrative.
We’ve created a Protagonist Emotional Arc list from some of the highlight novels of the StoryCraft: Writing Your Novel online course that you can use as a source of inspiration. Remember, the more you can pull from your own authentic experience, the more that’s going to shine through to your readers. As writers, we are students of humanity, and when we shine a light on the real, human moments that we can all relate to, that’s what gives books the ability to reach out and touch people at their cores.
Book | Character | Dramatic Flaw | Inner Need
Pride and Prejudice | Elizabeth Bennet | Proud/Prejudiced | To find a love marriage
The Great Gatsby | Jay Gatsby | Deceitful | To be loved for who he is
The Hunger Games | Katniss Everdeen | Doesn’t Trust Anyone | To save her family
The Lord of the Rings | Frodo Baggins | Fearful Hobbit | Save the world from darkness
-L.
