Flawed characters and how they shape a story

[GrimRose]

I just want to put it out there that i am sometimes the worst when it comes to writing flaws or at least believable ones into my main characters. I think it's why I always end up finding them so bland compared to the side or other characters.

Since I'm currently reworking an old story of mine, i've noticed how much of a boring character the main character was. Just a powerful generic heroic character. No flaws. meh.

I want to take the fact that the story starts off with what seems to be a generic powerful hero and change it up...

Now here is where im at with my character...

Fairly heroic and wants to do the right thing, but he is niave, young and biased. He lets his biases cloud his own actions, and unfortunately has hurt people close to him due to his brash judgements. He has been given power/ social position that he hasn't really earned and when he finally achieves his goal that he has been working so hard for rather than feeling happy he is confused/lost.

I want him to be a generally kind and well intentioned person who realizes he might not be as heroic as he once thought, and then working towards the hero he wants to be.

Since character flaws are the hardest point to add in a main character.
(there is always temptation to make our characters seem amazing/cool all the time) I still don't feel sure about how im going about adding flaws/quirks to my main characters.

Anyways...

I want to hear some of your guys character flaws and how it shapes your characters/story!

[Muigetsu]

I have a few questions to help frame this.

Is it a comic or novel?
What POV are you writing/drawing from?
What is the setting?
What is the character's background?

In my humble opinion, all of these are aspects that must be answered before we could reasonably answer your question.

[Inspector_Spinda]

I'm writing a vampire comic. Not only is my vampire an alcoholic (he's not physically harmed by it, but it does negatively impact him), but he's a hedonist, dyslexic, ex-gangster. Rather than rising above his impoverished upbringing, and troubled childhood, to do good things, he fully embraces all the negative things in his life and makes them a positive without actually making them a positive. In other words, he's proud that he can't read and that he used to kill people for a living. And since he's a vampire and immortal there really doesn't seem to be any pressure for him to change. He has all the time in the world after all.

But he does change and I won't spoil it.

[GrimRose]

It's for a comic i'm currently developing/ writing at the moment.

Most of the POV is from the main character's point of view.

Setting is a more typical fantasy setting. Demons, magic, witches, knights.

The main character is part of a group of holy knights. His main motivation at first is to kill the demon king. He has grown up in a nation that has suffered great losses due to the rule of the current demon king. He believes truly that if he were to kill the demon king he would be able to save his country from turmoil, and has lost comrades due to demons.

He is fairly young and his view of demons are
demons= evil.

But the reality is that not all demons are evil. All Holy knights are not just, and killing the demon king will not bring him peace or solve his countries problems.

Hopefully this clears up anything regarding the main character.

[Muigetsu]

Hmm, well here is my advice. Though, it is more tailored to a novel than a comic. Therefore, you will have to figure out how to "depict" my advice.

1. Be consistent. A believable character is a reflection of his environment, resources, and circumstances. Therefore, him being young fits his naive view on the Demons and Knights. If he were older that would come across as disjointed or nonsensical to most readers.

2. However, a war-torn country and limited resources (Which would be the case in a war-torn country) would also shape his mindset. You should ask yourself how that would impact his actions, perspectives, and subconscious.

3. If you want him to be kind, well-intentioned, yet brash you need to give him a reason to be that way. There are many ways to do this:
   <An idol he admired that acted in a similar way.
   <A priest that taught him the importance of being good (kind, well-inentioned), but died saving him
   because he froze (brash)

   1. Him gaining power he hasn't earned needs to be logic or it will look like a plot point. However, the "rather than feeling happy he is confused/lost" is a natural reaction to gaining unearned power so that sets itself.

   2. Critical, but short internal monologue will be central to reflect how these circumstances impact his mindset. By setting up these scenarios you do a lot of work for your viewers. You don't have to explain it as much because people will understand why he is like that.

   3. If you truly want to create a believable character, you have to be the first person you convince. Once you create believable circumstances and settings that reflect a mindset you believe, it becomes incredibly easy to write/draw from his POV.

[Hexigate]

Honestly I haven't gotten that far into the story for any of my central characters' flaws to seriously affect the core story; In fact I haven't even introduced all of my central characters yet.

But I do have some ideas in mind: There are four members of this, lets say, "action squad" that goes around this fictional world doing Interpol stuff. The first is insecure and prone to doubting himself; the second is similar but hers stem from a different past and treats it differently. The third is lost in the past and doesn't understand current times; the fourth is cocky and arrogant to a point where it's detrimental to himself and others.

I'm seeing it with the question of how those seemingly simple traits can swell in situations that become far more complex than first assumed; that's where their flaws will affect how the story will unfurl:
- The first is in a leader position and is in command of the other three, so how will his lack of self-confidence affect said leadership?
- The fourth has a history of scientific research (and has garnered a stellar reputation for it), so how will he react when his reputation is on the line due to concern over his research being used for negative purposes?
- The second follows orders and protocols to the tee, so how will she react when this steadfast loyalty (due to lack of confidence in her own abilities) could serve to harm rather than protect?
- The third holds an important moral position, so how will she handle that kind of responsibility when the story calls for it?

However, I've been very interested in a second thing, which is the relationships between each character in this "action squad", and how these relationships can build character development and further affect the story as a whole:
- The first and second both suffer insecurities, but the first treats his in an effective way while the second doesn't even recognize her issues. How can they interact with one another regarding this similarity?
- The first and fourth are polar opposites in personality, and they've had a rough past with one another. They're stuck in this "action squad" now, so how will they develop each other's characteristics?
- The second and third are both soldiers who are expected to obey orders, but they both come from vastly different times and viewpoints. How will they complement each other regarding their loyalties?
yada yada yada; there's a lot more than those three, but you get the point.

I think character flaws affecting a story is only half the argument. It's like a feedback loop, where changes in the story affect the characters back, and they start to treat those flaws in a certain way, which leads to character development. I'm pretty sure you get that, seeing how you want your character to introspect on himself and the situation around him. I'm just suggesting that you could take those flaws to the next level; not just have those flaws shape the plot, but also have them cultivate relationships between other characters.

Sorry for the PhD thesis, but I hope it helps expand your story's potential.

[Muigetsu]

You can checkout my novel if you need any inspiration. I have tons of flawed character!

The Archaic System | Tapas

[Rhonder]

Hmm, so my example with my main character, his flaw is largely genetic, but then that effects the other parts of his character as well.

So the set up is: in this world not everyone can naturally use magic, but those who can are born predisposed to a particular element (or otherwise type of magic). When casting spells, you're able to either draw and channel mana from sources around you that contain the appropriate element, or mages are able to channel their own mana internally that then has to be converted into the appropriate element/spell.

Thus my protagonist who has an affinity to water magic is largely ineffective in the dry, dusty, prairie-like climate he lives in. There are scarce water sources around, but largely the plants and everything else are very dry most of the time. He is, of course, still able to cast spells using his internal mana but he's inexperienced and bad at it. Thus his spells take a long time to charge and require strict concentration. Most people around here that are born with an affinity to water magic just forgo learning magic.

So this hits his self confidence super hard. He's on a team of Treasure Hunters with some of his friends, but he always has doubts about how useful he is on the team, especially when it comes to combat. However he sticks with magic because he's physically small and weak, and believes if he can just improve enough to become proficient he could be a big help to the team (the other two can't use magic).

So he's kind of stuck between having difficulty practicing by himself without a good mentor to help him learn, trying to use magic, and then feeling down if it doesn't work out.

Sooooo his story is about learning what he can do even with limited powers. His environment isn't going to change, necessarily, but he's stuck thinking about the applications of his magic too one-dimensionally at the beginning of the story. It's not until some experiences a little later on that he starts learning how to think outside the box and learns that there are solutions that even he can execute with his weak water magic~

[unknown_user]

Glad to hear you didn't give up in your story, but are reworking it!

---

About mine MCs:

• Male MC is the killing machine which currently have lost its purpose (it will be more clear when the plot will be revealed further). Long time ago he killed people because he trusted his superiors, who assigned him targets. He had no doubt that if superiors set someone as a target, that this person is the enemy and deserves to die. He have hard times since his organization have fallen apart, because nobody say him what to do anymore, and he himself have no moral compass or strong believes anymore. Now he kills just for surviving and sometimes for profit.
  Summarising, his main flaws are: 1) lack of kindness or pity 2) lack of understanding of the value of human life 3) lack of beliefs 4) lack of independency.
• Female MC is unhealthy obsessed with forbidden knowledge and hacking. As we will see later in the plot, she doesn't hesitate to sacrifice others lives in order to survive or to gain the access to knowledge she needs. And as we already can see, she is arrogant, overly self confident and due this seemingly have almost no instinct of self-preservation. She doesn't take life seriously. Life is just a game for her, and desirable information is the prise.
  Summarising, her main flaws are: 1) lack of understanding of the value of human life as well 2) lack of responsibility 3) lack of self-preservation 4) arrogance.

So, they both are very far from being good people in general. Actually, there will be revealed more flaws and unhealthy things in their personalities, as well as their bad deeds and heavy consequences of those deeds, but these are the huge spoilers.

---

Some thoughts and suggestions about your MC (Of course, feel free to ignore them if they don't match your purposes. There are just some random internet stranger's thoughts):

As far as I understand, he want to be a good person and have some moral compass, but makes mistakes due lack of understanding how the world works and maybe some impulsivity (?). It actually sounds like pretty realistic personality and gives the potential for inner conflict.
If you want to make accent on his imperfection, I'd suggest to reveal brightly bad consequences of his actions, which supposed to be good from his primal opinion, but have appeared to be mistake.
And then show how your character reacts on consequences of those mistakes. For example, he may ignore those consequences if he supposed to be shown as a stubborn and not wise person. Or he may become overwhemled with guilt and desperation by realising them. Or vice versa, such a things may give him impulse to change and develop. There are bunch of possibilities! And he can be revealed better and brighter due the way of thinking and acting, which he will choose, reacting on complicated situations.

[Aetoras]

I think you have the makings of an interesting character, particularly with his bias against demons. Because your world, like the real world, doesn't have clear lines dividing good and bad groups of people, the MC's black and white worldview is a clear character flaw. This opens up plenty of opportunity for interesting character development.

Say, for example, you choose to have him gradually realize the folly of his beliefs regarding demons and holy knights. Even as a generally kind and well intentioned person as you describe him, the undermining of your fundamental beliefs can be hard to take and could lead to him developing new flaws as he is forced to confront the truth. Perhaps he becomes bitter and resentful to the people he cares about as a result of losing faith in their mission. Perhaps he becomes even more hateful towards demons and invents excuses to justify his biases.

There are some great arcs that could come out of this single flaw and allow for a lot of character growth in overcoming his own inner demons.

You could also just give him little, humanizing flaws like:
Habitually swearing despite being a holy knight.
Looking down on people he sees as less than heroic.
And hundreds of other little things that real life people do.

But I think your character is already flawed and interesting. He's unsatisfied with his achievements which is something a lot of people can relate to, he's inexperienced and brash which are classic ways to make an otherwise noble and heroic character flawed and fallible, and he has a deeply flawed black-and-white worldview which gives him a lot of opportunities for character growth.

With regard to my own characters, I'll admit my MCs are a little close to being Mary Sues. Ava from Athena's Chosen is not only a selfless, humble person, she's also gifted with superhuman speed and strength thanks to her divine lineage. Her only real flaws being that she isn't the brightest bulb in the ceiling and that she really really doesn't want to be a hero.

Johanna from In the Angels' Stead is a similar paragon character, though she is naive and can be somewhat self-righteous.

[MK_Wizard]

Well, the whole point of my comic is that everyone is flawed and complex as well as that the pursuit of being perfect futile. Improvement is not about changing yourself into someone new or hiding behind another alias either. No matter which I identity you assume, you are going to have flaws and make mistakes. The only true path to improvement is to accept your flaws and address what you can and to make up for your mistakes.

In the case of Jekyll, he is a complete and total pushover and a coward when it comes to EVERYTHING. Because of this, he is prone to being used and when people wrong him, he takes blame for their mistakes even. This is taken to such an extent that one point, his niece gets hurt by the bully, but instead of standing up for her, he allows the bully to get away with it because she is the daughter of a governor.

In the case of Hyde, he is the opposite. He is very self centred and arrogant to the point where actively avoids getting too close to anyone romantically and platonically because he doesn't want to get hurt or used. He comes to realise that in attempt to avoid becoming antagonised, he becomes the antagonist and he winds hurting the one woman he really does love and his best friend.

These two character shape the story in such a way that there are different kinds of good and bad people. Nobody is one hundred percent black or white regardless of their moral alignment.

MK's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | Tapas

[DiegoPalacios]

i like to use what i call "the light and shadow trick". There is a principle that a brighter light makes things to project a bigger shadow, so certain virtues can lead to certain flaws or viceversa.

For example, a person`s strong determination can lead him to be more stubborn.

Or maybe a distrustful person will be more prudent, cautious and harder to fool.

Of course it can lead to other flaws and virtues connections instead, so look for combinations of virtues and flaws that fit your character and see how do they connect.

This principle also applies on how their strenghts and weakness affect the way they solve their problems.

A physically weak character will probably be forced to think outside the box to solve their problems, making them more cunning or smarter.

Or a skilled person may rely too much on their own abilities, making it harder for them to work with a team.

[unknown_user]

@DiegoPalacios Very good observation!
I had similar thoughts as well, but they were too vague and I didn't know how to express them. Thanks for formulating it well.

[JeanGuillet]

I like having character flaws intimately related to a character's strengths.

Is a character loyal to a person or group? well then they're completely unprincipled when it comes to helping that person or group against outsiders
Idealistic? when reality doesn't line up with their ideals, they waltz off into delusions
Responsible? well then they can be a bit of a control freak
Voice of Sanity? their ideas sometimes are just dumb.
A protector of the weak? they're unable to say no to those they protect
Have special knowledge of the plan? when plans change they're left in the lurch
and the empath? the one who is completely able to understand everyone's individual point of view? has zero sympathy for these guys as an almost inevitable byproduct and becomes arrogant and therefore equally self-destructive.

then the challenge for everyone is complementary, find balance, find equilibrium, find peace. anyways that's how I'm doing it in this story. sounds so zen, lol.

[GesuGesu]

Not my own story, but I love the characters in Golden Kamuy. Basically, everyone in the series has killed at one point in time. There is no one inherently pure or good in the plot. They may have their own reasons, moral alignment, and justice, but all have very few qualms about murder and alliances or loyalty.

[dawgofdawgness]

The way I think of it, your main character should have one central flaw. The other imperfections about your character are to make them more human, but doesn’t contribute to the plot as heavily.

But basically, (for conventional storytelling) your character’s flaw should be what’s keeping them from achieving their goal. The flaw hurts them, and until they have their self revelation, they won’t be satisfied with their life. (Or at least, the audience won’t be satisfied with the story... unless you’re deliberately trying to make the story a tragedy where the main character goes on a path of destruction)

I think a pretty good example is Peter in Spiderman Homecoming. His main flaw is that he’s an inexperienced , immature teenager. To achieve the main goal in the story, he overcomes his flaw and saves the day. Woo!

Also With main characters, they should have a flaw that
- hurts themself
- hurts others

That way, when they have character development (or don’t) and have their self revelation, it’s more powerful and you can communicate to your audience more easily that they have changed.

[pooknero]

I recently reworked an old story of mine too, and I think adding character flaws really helped make more sense of the plot.

The original version of the main character was meek and sweet and BORING. The events of the story just HAPPENED to her. It was awkward. It didn't make a whole lot of sense.

It felt like she became more real and autonomous once I added some flaws. I made her a little selfish, a little unreliable as a narrator. She proclaims to be mature, but from her actions it's obvious that she's not. I could understand her motivations better. I started to see the reasoning behind why she makes the decisions she does. Once she developed more of a personality, I found her much easier to write!