Don't Make Your Protagonist Perfect, Perfect, Perfect. Employ Character Flaws!!!

When writing...

If you have a solid idea of the bare bones of your story and are ready to flesh them out, try to remember this: Make your characters as fallible as you can. After all, nobody is perfect--we all have flaws.

The reason I raise this issue is not only because it's true, but because I knew a girl who aspires to be a writer. She's in her mid to late 20s, and she had put me on the spot and had me read what she had written so far.

From what I read, the dialogue wasn't up to par, and more than that, her protagonist and subsequently the "good guys" relating to the protagonist were all described as good-looking and otherwise perfect, whereas her antagonist(s) sported seriously flawed looks and behavior. What utter triteness! The good guys are beautiful, the bad guys are ugly. Check please!

I pointed this out to her and suggested that she use every chance she could in order to create a much more realistic, and therefore profound story, and that included putting a blemish on her faultless protagonist, et al. The more imperfect your characters are, especially those in the protagonist role, the more you have to work with (not to mention the realism you'll garner within your pages). Creating imperfect characters who are subject to the moral code and confused when confronted with it is not only much more fun but makes for an interesting read. Tormenting your protagonist with a dilemma enables you add depth and character as well as interesting scenarios.

At any rate I don't think she agreed with me, and that among other things told me she wasn't mature yet enough to write a novel. That being said, she had abandoned her "novel" which only stated further that she wasn't a true writer, at least at present. Writer's don't abandon their work for new boyfriends. And though I knew this, as a writer, I still felt obligated to be truthful to her while reading her shaky, unfinished manuscript.

I am not fair to any of my characters. They all have good in them, they all have bad in them. The only intervening factor regarding both aspects is the degree to which they are good and bad. Employing these characteristics to all of my main characters allows me to have something to work with, to perform character arcs and quite possibly allow them a form of redemption if their character is found wanting. You'll have the ability to allow your characters to grow.

You want to make sure your characters have to face adversity, and by causing them to face moral and ethical situations will allow you to push the story in different directions all while keeping your readers on their toes. Don't make it too easy for your audience to know what your character will do based on the personality you have created for him/her. A character that does not make any mistakes and, therefore, cannot grow and learn, is boring. Making your characters imperfect will also help your readers relate to your work which, I might add, opens the door to their becoming attached to your story.

In my case, my characters have the potential to surprise my audience (and even myself) by possibly doing the opposite of what they and the readers would think. There is no telling what either my protagonists or antagonists will do in any given situation, and this helps keep the suspense going.

If you keep everything on the straight and narrow you won't have much of a story. You certainly wouldn't have an interesting story (in most cases) to say the least!