Recently, when I start thinking about a new story, I find myself really focusing on the character and their flaw.
Character flaw – Every hero must have some kind of flaw to them. They can’t be perfect, and they can’t be totally despicable. We want the reader to root for them, but also empathize with them. Harry Potter’s flaw was he felt alone and didn’t fit in. Emmet in The Lego Movie was an outcast with no friends. He didn’t believe in himself or his abilities. Miguel, in Coco, didn’t understand how he fit into his family. He didn’t understand his roots and where he came from.
Every character that we love in a book or a movie had a flaw built into them that let us feel sorry for them and make us root for them . . . this is critical when you design your characters.
In my newest book, The Giant’s Giant, I gave a lot of thought to my protagonist, Brianna MineShaker. She’s a giant of the TreeAgate clan. She’s tough, a good fighter and won’t take any bullying from anyone . . . but she’s small. She’s a short giant, and I chose this characteristic for her because I think it
would create some interesting situations for her that would had conflict and tension, and in your stories, you must always have conflict and tension.
When you develop the characters for your next story, try to create the character with a flaw that is the opposite to what they’d want. Here are a few examples.
- A rabbit with bad eyesight – That would be bad for Mr. Bunny, and maybe it causes the other rabbits to tease him. How would he deal with all the teasing . . . I don’t know, but I think it could be interesting, with lots of conflict and tension. Maybe, at the end of the story, the rabbits have to stop the evil fox, but it’s pitch dark; the other rabbits can’t see. But because Mr. Bunny has bad eyes, he has really really good hearing. He can use this apparent weakness as a strength at the end of the story. That could make an interesting story.
- A dragon who breathes frost instead of fire – I bet the Frost Dragon would feel like an outcast. Maybe no one would trust him because all the other Frost Dragons are extinct. Perhaps the Frost Dragon has to battle the big bad evil dragon named Darth Dragon. I wonder how blowing freezing frost would effect Darth Dragon? This could create some interesting conflict.
- A wizard who lost their magic – I bet wizards rely on their magic, and one who lost their magic would not only be sad, but afraid of being attacked by the other wizards. This wizard would have to learn how to do things by them self instead of using magic. Maybe they’d have to rely on some ordinary people to help get back their magic. This could be interesting, with lots of potential for internal conflict as well as external conflict.
- You come up with the next example . . .
When you think of your next character, think about what you can build into them to automatically create tension and conflict. The reader will feel bad for them and empathize with them. They’ll root for them and want to see the character get their powers back, or be accepted, or defeat the bad guy, because you gave them this flaw. Think about this. Now, whenever I start a new book, I give this a lot of thought before I ever start writing the story.
Mark
Woww… I need to make a flawed character someday…
Also, Mark, I saw your image test earlier. I was able to reload the page without it crashing. I think it worked.
Also, I need to make a minecraft render of this character!
have you read my fanfiction book i published on this website “Stranded On Planet X”? It’s on page 12
i’ve read that!
did u copy my user name
Like my own character, Herobrin. She has white hair and eyes, but when the glow goes away her eyes are neon green!
Ok let’s all agree Herobrin is epic no matter what
Any ideas for limit’s and flaws to a character of mine that can teleport and go back in time? Her name is Xuri, im writing a book about her.
What if every time she does either, a small tear in the time-space continuum is created, causing her to have to use it sparingly?
She is already bad with people, she is sarcastic and she likes to make people confused, she is brilliant, but maybe ya’ll could come up with ideas to limit her powers.
IDEAS IDEAS IDEAS
Any ideas for flaws and limits to a girl named Xuri who can make portals and go back in time? She is a sarcastic street orphan who is from the poor part of Steamgaurd called Ocrain, she likes getting people all twisted up and she has a pet fox with a tail of flaoting keys called (believe it or not) Keys. She also has a friend named Echo, he can make illusions that are either real to him and not to others or to others and not to him. Xuri meets more people along the way, Ivy (a healer and knife thrower), Shade (a girl who MIGHT get a super suit), and even Crystal (Neither of them know but Xuri and Crystal are sisters), Crystal might be an interesting character. . . you’ll have to find out how in my book. HEH HEH
So any ideas for the characters?
Maybe Xuri’s flaw is she doesn’t trust anyone. Being abandoned by her Mother, she distrusts everyone. She has friends, but only because they are useful to her. But as she goes through the adventure you’re laying out for her, she will learn that she must not only trust, but rely on her companions if she is to destroy the villain who hunts her.
Interseting idea! I have already written stuff where Ivy and Xuri meet, its like in the middle of the book but maybe it can be put onto the Website if you wanted. Xuri’s parents were killed by terrorists or assassins, directed by Taterick. He might be a main bad guy. Do you also, have any limitation ideas for her powers?
For Xuri………………
If she can travel back in time as u say, then maybe something happens to her each time. Say she gets increasingly weaker, or each time she is wracked with pain, or maybe she doesn’t remember anything about her parents’, and each time she travels back in time a memory gets unearthed about them that she wishes would stay down.
(u could also take an idea from Philip Pullman in the Amber Spyglass, and make it that each time she travels through time, a monster is formed near her in that timeline, and that it could begin to mess things up and she’d need to fix them, otherwise it’d destroy time as we know it [that isn’t what Avengers: Endgame talks about time travel, but I still like it :-)])
SNAKE!! END GAME IS SO GREAT AND SO DEPRESSING!! CAUSE IRON MAN IS LIKE MY FAVORITE SUPER HERO!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
😖😱😭😃😥 <—– Take this for an example LOL
I love endgame toooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
when i saw infinity war, and when thanos snapped his fingers….my mind blew up……..
my favorite part of endgame was when falcon and the rest flew out of the portals
“Ahem…On your left.”
Oh! Or she could not be able to survive in different time zones because she begin’s to turn into what she was at that time zone, but she cant get out of the time zone until an amount of time has passed, but when she gets back into her normal time zone she’s gone back to normal
What if she’s scared of something? I don’t know what, but that could slow down her down. Fear always does something to someone.
Good ideas everybody! Thank you so much for your ideas and support! :}
Like… somebody who was born in a family full of people with one distinct trait but they don’t have it. Like… magic!
maybe, like TheSnakeWhoKills said, she remembers something about her parents and at one point she finds out that her parents died or didn’t want her or????
My charcture has a flaw that he is afraid to battle because he is worried the enemy is not as bad as thinks.
So, I’ve been reading into what your tips have said, and I think I got the idea. I ‘ve had the idea of making a Pokémon Trainer named Marc, who once had a loving family. Once well known as a model student, very well know around his peers, and a natural at training Pokémon. He had it all, until his father was taken away by a pair of mysterious men, never to be seen again. Since then, his life changed drastically, his mother became more abusive with each passing day, other students at his school began to bully him. The last straw was when one of them mentioned something insulting about his father. Marc singlehandedly beaten up the gang that was bullying so badly they had to go to the hospital. When his mother heard about it, she was furious (obviously). But he didn’t want to hear any of it. Since then not only he adopted a passive aggressive attitude against his mother, but also emotionally detached from anything and everything he knows.
Although, he can sometimes be seen around with some of the native Pokémon. “Brings me some of that long lost peace I desperately needed” he says.
That peace would not last as he finds his mother finally decides to send him to a boarding school which is “For his own good”. Marc was enraged by this. So he packed his belongings, contacted his cousin and aunt in the Hoenn region, stolen 2 of his mother’s big golden nuggets, and finally his father’s old military vest he wore since he left. When the clock in his watch struck midnight, he made his move and started to run away. Away from the shell he once called “home”.
I’m sorry if this turned out to be too much of an essay of sorts.