List your Character's Negative Traits

[aspiderjonny]

Here's a fun exercise I was doing earlier. We usually talk about what we like and what's good about our characters on the forums. This time try listing off what negative qualities your characters have. A well written character should have both good and bad and knowing what they need to improve on can help us write better stories. So list off things that range from minor annoyances to major character flaws.

The Undefeatable J-Man
- Passion can border on obsession
- Focused on own goals
- Occasionally forgetful

The Mystical Valve
- Jumpy nerves/easily frightened
- Indecisive
- Compares self negatively to others

[BobbyjoeX]

oh hoho~ >:3

Jr Royal

• kinda dumb
  can be reckless
  has a bad habit of forgetting common sense
  has many irrational fears (thunder, loneliness, heights, water... especially water)
  adding to the last point he is physically unable to swim

Oliver Royal

• tries to act tougher than he actually is
  has very little magic to protect himself
  is tiny (so smol O^O)

Paris Boudreau

• bad temper
  can be overly emotional
  worries too much about other people to the point she'll neglect herself

Daniel ???

• stupidly reclusive
  will try to verbally hurt people to push them away
  thinks negatively about self and wishes to disappear

[keii4ii]

I see the merit in doing this, but personally, I don't like to define character traits as positive/negative. What one person thinks is a good trait could be an annoyance or even a serious problem in another's opinion. I've talked to people who adore my main character like he's a puppy, as well as people who admitted they wouldn't be able to get along with him IRL. Both sides are perfectly valid!

More power to you if this suits the way you write. Objective/ near-objective positives/negatives do work for some stories!

[nostalgicroxas]

Off the top of my head let's see (without spoiling much)

Crow: arrogant, anger issues, keeps secrets from those he cares about even if it hurts them, selfish, power-hungry, willing to kill/take a life
Will: shy, lacks forms of courage, selfless to the point of hurting self, out of touch with all of his emotions except sadness (branches of it) and fear (branches of include anger)

@keii4ii - to your point, I agree. Some of my traits I listed could be seen as neutral or positive depending on context. It's sometimes good to be selfless, it's sometimes good to be willing to kill, it's sometimes good to be selfish. It depends largely on the lens you look through.
For my example, Crow's "willing to kill" is in stark contrast to a not listed trait for Will, that he is a pacifist.

[CloudyMagpie]

This is Sonny.
He gives in to his wants fairly easily. This can affect him and those around him negatively when he decides to sneak out to wander, make friends with dangerous animals, snoop around enemy bases, be lazy.
His drive also leads him to take on more than he can handle in order to make up for it, which can cause him to crash.

[amortelito]

LOL Lucien mostly has negative trails and I struggle to make him redeemable
-Selfish.
-Manipulative.
-Clingy.
-Obsessive.
-Childish.
-Attention seeker.
-Rude.
-Reckless.
I will stop now, it is starting to feel like beating a dead horse.

Farah's negative traits are less evident, she is careless, selfish, entitled to do justice as she sees fit and she genuinely likes beating people up.

Olivier is a doormat and has a hard time to stand up for himself. He struggles with confidence and often is the weak link.

[amortelito]

those are literally the reasons why I like Jr, Oliver and Daniel XD: specially Daniel when he is mean.

[BobbyjoeX]

they may be negative to them but thats why we all love them QwQ

also Lucien is still best boi despite the endless list

[aspiderjonny]

I guess I could have used more descriptive words than "negative". I was thinking about it more from a writing perspective, how the story should progress. Didn't want people to think I was being black and white about traits. You never know what readers will think about a character until it's out.

[CodeMonkeyArts]

I'm gonna do some low-key promoting thingie by showing my Toyhouse that lists negative traits:

AMCodaMonkey on Toyhouse

But I shall also show them off for Ira and Tristan!

Ira

Ira is volatile and unstable. She is bloodthirsty who's default answer to almost everything is 'WAR'. She is possessive and since she represents Wrath, she is very short-tempered.

Tristan

Tristan is passive aggressive and manipulative. He does not care for confrontation, but when pushed will stoop to low blows in his insults. He is addicted to feeling loved and needed and this blinds him very much in the story proper.

Birth of a Sin | Tapas

[rmdooley]

Nolan: Arrogant, judgmental, insensitive

Thalia: Lets emotions and personal attachments cloud judgment, stubborn

Oded: Withdrawn, condescending, dismissive of others

Tim: Overly idealistic, dangerously altruistic
Lucy: Too trusting, indecisive

Marianne: No flaws. She's perfect.

[CloudyMagpie]

Lol, perfect doggo, makes sense to me :3

[AirisKiahin]

Oooh, I love working on my characters' traits. So much that I have great troubles showing all the depth of their personalities XD

I have many of them, but here are my most developed boys

SHEAS RENOIR

This cute and shy boy will soon surprise my readers with the following:
- He sometimes can be really aggressive
- Mental violence (he is good at reading other people and he uses that to demean or intimidate them)
- He is a way too suspicious and jealous
- He doesn't have good sense of humor
- He is a big bore

LUKA FIET

This handsome and popular guy has some negative traits too:
- He is pretty narcissistic
- Very, VERY stubborn
- Childish
- Breaking rules all the time
- Shameless

SHELBY JADE

Shelby is known to my readers as the most sweet and positive character of the comics, but...
- He sometimes is very annoying
- Trusts everyone
- Clumsy like hell
- Noisy (his poor neighbors)
- Lusty (and I'd say that's his really bad sin)
- Really sly

VICTOR FORD

• aggressive
• violent
• hardly ever shows positive emotions
• doesn't trust anyone
• selfish

...and he is one of my most popular guys and people often find him hot as hell even knowing he is the least positive of my characters

[Kann]

Is this an opportunity to pick at your own OCs? Because I'm so gonna do it later. XD

(Jk about picking at your OCs part.)

[ivanskilling]

My main character is the Empress Dowager!

• Stubborn
• Ruthless even when dealing with her own children
• Rules with an iron fist, authoritative
• Does not trust anyone
• Blunt and harsh

Shackles | Tapas

[LunarSushiCat]

Akari

-airhead
-not very good at anything,maybe like one thing.
-lost or confused most of the time
-can be to emotional
-gives up to soon
-worries to much
-overthinks everything
-hypocrite sometimes,but refuses to admit it
-night owl

Elliot

-gets into fights
-two faced
-self serving
-will lie to get his way
-reckless
-sarcastic
-enjoys killing demons,good or bad he does not care.
-vengeful
-manipulative

Shiro

-a bit of a doormat
-shy
- lacks self esteem
-forgetful
- lazy
-very messy
-night owl
-childish
-does stupid stuff,(trying to trow keys up a tree,no reason)
-ignores problems till they get to big

[Kann]

Okay, here we go. xD

Himuri:
- being talkative might be seen as a bad trait for some
- dude acts tough and cool but bottles up his feelings
- he's also very clumsy
- acts before thinking

Sakari:
- shy
- nonexistent self-confidence
- assumes the worst outcome out of a situation
- kind of a pushover
- overthinks everything

Kiyomi:
- some readers say she's mean, which is true tbh
- grumpy
- way too secretive about herself
- did I mention grumpy?
- I think I'd call her lazy

Iwao:
(He's the main antagonist so this kinda speaks for itself.)
- selfish
- cruel
- feels no remorse
- prejudiced towards mixed bloods of his race and humans

[Lucca_Vendramel]

My character is very reckless and can be quite arrogant. Those flaws actually put the story in motion!

[imiogri]

my Sheshe is a big emotional mess
- socially inept and has difficult handling others emotions
- bases everything from logic which can get very boring (hes not good with art)
- lies a lot to escape judgement
- biased towards people without an education, even if he's always trying not to be
- eats too much mayonnaise

[PaulDevers]

This is something I've done by myself before, actually! It's kind of fun.

JAIME ALVARO
-Neurotic
-Overly Worrying
-Thinks on the 'half-empty' side of life.
-Gives up very easily.
-Melocholic

JADE SINCLAIR
-Very impulsive.
-Dismissive.
-Overpowering.
-Selfish.
-Just. Kind of dumb?