{"id":1026,"date":"2019-01-16T07:52:53","date_gmt":"2019-01-16T12:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/?p=1026"},"modified":"2019-01-16T07:52:53","modified_gmt":"2019-01-16T12:52:53","slug":"nobodys-perfect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/2019\/01\/16\/nobodys-perfect\/","title":{"rendered":"Nobody’s Perfect"},"content":{"rendered":"

First a reminder of two events: tomorrow (Thursday, January 17th) at the New York Society Library in New York City, and Sunday (January 20th) at The Studio Around the Corner here in Brewster, New York–although that one may have to wait for the snow date on February 3rd. For details, click on\u00a0In Person<\/em> here on the website. If anyone can make it, I’d love to see you!<\/p>\n

On November 16, 2018, Emma wrote, I\u2019m an aspiring 13-year-old writer and really appreciate your blog! I was wondering if you had any advice on developing character flaws. I kind of want my characters to be \u2018perfect,\u2019 but I know that\u2019s not realistic and the readers need to be able to connect with the characters. Thanks for any suggestions!<\/em><\/p>\n

Melissa Mead wrote back, Have their flaws grow out of their strengths. For example, if they\u2019re very smart, they might look down on people who aren\u2019t. Maybe without even realizing that they\u2019re doing it.<\/em><\/p>\n

Kit Kat Kitty wrote back, too, Characters can also have flaws because of the situation they\u2019re in. One of my characters was raised in a strict order, so she has no idea how the rest of the world works, so she needs someone to help her. Her aunt also died to save her, so she feels like she has to do something to make her dead aunt proud. She\u2019s also amazingly headstrong. My other character was the sole survivor of a massacre in his village, so he doesn\u2019t like to attach himself to people, although he is a lady\u2019s man. And my other character was taken from her parents when she was a child to be raised in the same order as the first character I mentioned, so she has trust issues, and some identity issues, and her lover dies.<\/em><\/p>\n

I am not very nice to my characters, am I? So the point is, characters can have emotional scares or be thrust into situations they can\u2019t handle to bring out their flaws.<\/em><\/p>\n

Yay, Emma, for wanting to give her characters flaws! We all have \u2018em; our characters need \u2018em.<\/p>\n

Early in the life of the blog, people kept posting about Mary-Sue characters, and I asked who or what a Mary Sue is. Some on the blog were kind enough to explain: a Mary Sue (or Marty Stu) is perfect! She can solve any problem, and almost everyone loves her. Those who don\u2019t are eventually revealed as villains. You can read about the Mary-Sue trope on Wikipedia.<\/p>\n

My husband and I have been watching The Amazing Mrs. Maisel<\/em>\u2013definitely high school and up\u2013on TV, and, in the second season, I\u2019ve noticed that the writers have given Mary-Sue attributes to their eponymous MC. For example, a brilliant but eccentric artist, after meeting Mrs. Maisel for just a few minutes, is so smitten with her that he shows her his masterpiece, which no one else has been allowed to see. She hasn\u2019t done anything so extraordinary as to merit this honor. Grr…, I thought, about a show I generally like.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t want our readers to be similarly irritated.<\/p>\n

I agree with both Melissa Mead and Kit Kat Kitty. Flaws can come from strong points and from backstory.<\/p>\n

They can also come from plot. Here on the blog I seem to go back often to \u201cSnow White.\u201d Snow White is about as Mary Sue as a character can get, since the prince falls madly in love with her even though she seems to be dead!<\/p>\n

But she has flaws baked into the plot that we can exploit. The dwarfs warn her not to trust anyone who comes to their cottage, but she seems incapable of taking their advice and repeatedly opens the door. She lets the evil queen lace her bodice and comb her hair and feed her a poisoned apple. Earlier in her story, she has no suspicions about her stepmother\u2019s character. What character flaw or flaws can we derive from her behavior?<\/p>\n

\u2219 She\u2019s stupid. This is low-hanging fruit because she sure seems stupid.<\/p>\n

\u2219 She is determined to see the best in everyone and willing to go to great lengths to prove she\u2019s right, hanging onto the conviction that the old lady didn\u2019t mean to lace her up so tight and wasn\u2019t aware of the comb\u2019s properties. She may even worry that the old lady, in her innocence, was herself harmed by the comb. When she shows up for the third times, Snow White is relieved.<\/p>\n

\u2219 She\u2019s defiant. When the dwarfs tell her not to let anyone in, it\u2019s inevitable that she will.<\/p>\n

\u2219 She\u2019s almost as vain as the evil queen. She wants to be laced up tight to make her waist as small as possible and wants the curls that the comb is guaranteed to provide. The apple is touted as great for her complexion. She can\u2019t resist.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure there are other flaws that can explain her behavior. For an early prompt, list three more.<\/p>\n

The next step is to consider which of the flaws interests us most and which expands our plot and gives us new ideas for conflict.<\/p>\n

We can use the same strategy for minor characters, like the dwarfs. What flaws can they have that might lead Snow White to welcome the old lady? We probably don\u2019t need to develop all seven in depth. One or two will do. So what might their flaws be?<\/p>\n

\u2219 One may be a neat freak. If anything is the slightest bit out of place when he and his fellows come home from mining, he has a tantrum. Snow White is scared to move when she\u2019s alone.<\/p>\n

\u2219 One has a terrible temper. The other dwarfs and Snow White tiptoe around him.<\/p>\n

\u2219 One is grudging about her presence and makes clear that she has to earn her keep by cleaning and cooking.<\/p>\n

\u2219 Another is a slob. Snow White is forever cleaning up after him.<\/p>\n

And so on. There must be more.<\/p>\n

For another flaw-creating strategy, we can make a list, and you all know how much I love them. We can write down every fault we can think of. For this, we don\u2019t want super-villain flaws, like a desire for world domination. We want garden-variety shortcomings. Here are a few:<\/p>\n

\u2219 absentmindedness
\n\u2219 forgetfulness
\n\u2219 being a tad self-centered
\n\u2219 talking too much
\n\u2219 overconfident
\n\u2219 under-confident
\n\u2219 can\u2019t keep a secret<\/p>\n

For another early prompt, list twelve to twenty more. It may help to think of the foibles of people you know and even of yourself. What drives you crazy in them and in yourself?<\/p>\n

Once you have your list, cast your eyes along it. Mark the ones that appeal to you. Jot down some notes about how you might give one or more of them to your MC and how the flaws will contribute to your story, and also how these flaws mesh with what you already know about her.<\/p>\n

Then, as you continue writing or move into your story, remember to bring them in as your flawed character acts, speaks, and thinks.<\/p>\n

Here are three prompts, in addition to the ones above:<\/p>\n

\u2219 It\u2019s November. Your flawed MC and her flawed best friend take on NaNoWriMo. Write the tale of their month. Use their flaws both to help and hinder them from reaching their goals. Decide if one or both of them succeeds and if they\u2019re still friends at the end.<\/p>\n

\u2219 Pick three different flaws for Snow White\u2013or any fairy tale MC. Write a synopsis of the story three times, showing how the flaw influences the way the plot develops. If you like, choose one and write the whole story.<\/p>\n

\u2219 I just looked at the Wikipedia entry for the Hindenburg disaster. Sabotage was suspected as a cause but never proved, and there were other, technical possibilities. Along these lines, read up on the Hindenburg disaster or any other terrible event. Develop flawed characters who influence the way history plays out. This is fiction, so you can change anything\u2013introduce a dragon or zombies, set it in the future or the Middle Ages. Write the story.<\/p>\n

Have fun and save what you write!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First a reminder of two events: tomorrow (Thursday, January 17th) at the New York Society Library in New York City, and Sunday (January 20th) at The Studio Around the Corner here in Brewster, New York–although that one may have to wait for the snow date on February 3rd. For details, click on\u00a0In Person here on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1026"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1026"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1027,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1026\/revisions\/1027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}