Character Flaw
*I wrote this for a creative writing website I built for a project, but felt it is rather relevant and thought I’d share it here as well.
I may be alone on this point, but hear me out. Characters with flaws are the best characters. You know the ones I am talking about. They make mistakes. Some point fingers in the wrong direction because they fall for the misdirects, or they have a personality issue (think Sherlock Holmes and being a high-functioning sociopath). The reason why I love these characters is because no one is perfect. We aren’t meant to be. What fun would Star Wars be if Luke wasn’t naive, or if Han wasn’t a bit self-serving? It makes those moments of character growth all the more satisfying. Also, in my opinion, it makes these fantastic stories and characters more believable when they have their own bull to deal with on top of whatever is being thrown at them. I have read too many book reviews where people are upset at the mistakes a character makes because they expect the character to be without significant flaws because their the “good guy”.
It is also okay to make villains sympathetic. The best villains are complex and complicated. The difference between a villain and a superhero is the lines they are willing to cross. Think of Magneto and Professor X, both are fighting for the rights of mutants, but one has become cynical and lost hope for peace, while the other still has hope. It is a fine line from hero to villain when one thinks about it.
My rambling point is, don’t be after to let your characters get messy. No one is perfect, not even the amazing Doctor with his two hearts. (Doctor Who for those not in the know, he is just the Doctor, not Doctor Who, shame on you for assuming so. But I digress.) Villains can be silly and soft and even dare say, sympathetic, while heroes can be cold, calculating, and kind of a dick. This does not only apply to comic heroes but all those wonderful protagonists and antagonists that are floating around in your mind and waiting to burst forth.
