How To Write Character Flaws

How To Write Character Flaws

One of the most important aspects when writing a character are flaws since flaws increase reader immersion, reader investment, and the overall compelling energy of a story.

Flaws are necessary in creating character arcs where either these initial problems are improved or exacerbated.

Despite the fact that flaws are important, writers can struggle with how to seemlessly incorperate flaws within their characters in an interesting and natural way without just feeling like they're throwing bad traits in randomly.

Here we go!

A) All Character Traits Are Both Flaws And Strengths

Flaws are often dark reflections of the positive qualities identified in an individual.

If your lover is a strong and determined person then you are also likely dating someone who is stubborn.

If your friend is emotional and caring then they're also overly sensitive.

This is due to the fact that flaws are really just character strengths taken to their logical extreme. As the saying goes "the dose makes the poison". An excessive amount of carelessness, curiousity, love, emotion, confidence, and every single virtue inevitably results in personality defects.

You most likely have your character's strengths somewhat laid out whether these strengths be open-mindedness, kindness, determined, and anything else.

Taking these strengths to their logical extreme, you will often find flaws such as naivety, savior complex, stubborness, and other such flaws.

B) Whether Something Is A Strength Or A Flaw Depends On Context

Character A is trusting and Character B is distrusting.

Let's put them in the situation of meeting someone in order to illustrate how both character's defining traits could be their downfall depending on who this character is.

If this "someone" is a helpful individual, then Character B's flaw of distrust create unnecessary discorse within the group and could drive away this positive influence.

If this "someone" is a manipulative someone, then Character A's trusting nature harms the group as it allows someone harmful to enter.

Whether or not a character's actions are perceived as beneficial or harmful depends on if the result is good or bad for the character's goal.

This means that when you are presented with a character who seemingly has no flaws, what you can do is create situations where these good actions result in bad results.

An open-minded character might accidentally walk face first into a cult because they were too accepting of the weird activities

A kind character might cause their allies to become overly dependent on the individual's generosity

A determined character might be so obsessed with succeeding at this specific task that they fail to see the bigger picture and the more effective solution

How to name and why is it so hard? Especially for fantasy

Finished! @melda0m3

An 8-Bit Horror Game About Ghosts And Lesbians

I once had a dream where there was this older couple who lived in a victorian house. The older woman decided that enough was enough! It was time to fulfill her dream of inviting butch lesbians to her house!

When the people had arrived, the woman was upset that all the women were femmes and that some men were here but her husband allowed the travellers to stay. The party was underway. 

The camera had changed as now I went into the perspective of one of the men unfortunately at this party. 

The man wanted to try and "date" one of these women. And just when he nearly succeeded at this scandelous in-house meeting, everyone died! The scene of this guy smash-cut to a new man showing of pictures of the event where the only photo left alive of this random guy was minutes before "rolling in the hay". It was horrifying as this man was completely obscured in shadow as his arms seemed to be towering over the viewer.

I then jumped back into the body of the woman he was just about to "date". Before everything. She made her way to the movie theatre. She crossed her legs on a bean bag chair, laid down, and was surprised when she had laid on someone. I didn't get a close look at her except for her afro puffs and beautiful smile. That didn't matter. She needed to fulfill fate. 

She was walking with this man, the man who I used to be. We were looking for a bedroom. She gingerly sat down as I waited for the "passionate" events to start. Well, that never happened as the man gave me his phone!? He wanted a picture of what was going to happen. Ironic. 

However, the phone was dying so I plugged it in. But there was something strange about what appeared on screen. It was a pixel game of the entire house. But what was this icon in the corner?

It was a ghost. A ghost that the game specifically labelled as "invisible lesbian". I was visibly confused. I wondered if it was real. Then I noticed the icon was slowly approaching the room I was in. I heard it breaking the door down. Everyone ran. I kept the mysterious phone close to my besom.

I eventually ran into the kitchen. I knew I was dead as the icon crept closer and closer to my own. 

This post specifically focuses on the process of censoring words using symbols and numbers. However, it can also include other practices such as:

Bad Word

BAd W0Rd

Rhyme Similar To Actual Word

Examples Include: grap3, unaliving/k*ll, F--ck

Writing Requests!

Hi, here is another little post from your lovely tall person who is the tallest person in my family!

Ask for whatever topics you want just as long as you promise to interact with the post.

I get anxious whenever someone doesn't interact with a fulfilled request. It can literally be one like. I just want to make sure that you have seen it and that i'm not just speaking out in the world.

Again, ask anything writing-related you want. Or even ask something personal about me if that's your cup of tea :)

My first post on here was Narumitsu

In case you weren't aware, Narumitsu is going against another ship at a yaoi tournament poll and losing by a small margin. Please vote for phoenix and miles here