Flaws - Tumblr Posts
Bold of you to assume I don't care about what people say about me.
I unfortunately do.
I think about and count all my flaws whenever they're pointed out at me.
As if I don't have a mirror at home.
I feel those words under my skin.
Like a knife in my chest.
Saying "you're never enough".
"You'll never find true love".
"You don't deserve any type of affection".
"Nobody would look at you twice".
I still do.
But I also DO think that I'm enough.
I DO think that someday I'll find true love.
I DO think that I deserve affection. A lot of it.
I DO think I would be looked at. Twice. Thrice. Millions of times.
WHY?
Because, unlike the rest of people, I look in the mirror and what I see is so far a masterpiece, if I do say so myself. Julia Fox was right.
I think I'm a masterpiece.
And the rest of them is just blind.
This was so amazing. The writing was so good. I dont think I can gush enough about how much I love how this was written. It was an amazing twist and take on the classic soulmate trope.
What Remains Masterlist
Summary: Being unable to smell wouldn’t matter if you were anyone else in a completely different world. For you, it means you don’t–can’t–won’t ever find your soulmate. So is it any wonder that you don’t believe the guy who one day insists you smell like jasmine?
A/N: My first soulmate AU! I have no idea what I’m doing! Welcome!
Pairings/Ships: ReaderxYoongi, JiminxTaehyung (Vmin), JiminxJungkook (JiKook), TaehyungxHoseok (VHope), NamjoonxSeokjin (NamJin)
Warnings: Some bad words, underage drinking (don’t do that!).
W/C: 157,358 (with quotes) (Complete)
1. Sunflowers
2. Roses
3. Wild Flowers
4. Jasmine
5. Larkspur
6. Hydrangeas
7. Camellias
8. Geranium
9. Kingcup
10. Poppy
11. Petunia
12. Hyacinth
13. Almond Blossoms
14. Carnations
15. Dogwoods
16. Peonies
17. Irises
18. Lilies
Hear me out
So, I have been reading a lot of posts of criticism. Not just one movie/series/book, but many. While many point out the flaws in the continuity of the story, flaws in the writing etc, others blatantly call the author/creator out for the flaws in the character.
How did they fall in love? How did he change his mind? What he is doing is wrong. How can she possibly think that?
These questions puzzled me greatly. Are you seriously calling out a creative individual just because they created a human with flaws?
Haven't you ever fallen in love where the person probably is a complete jerk who doesn't even know you exist? Look around you. Is your spouse flawless? Are your parents flawless? Are you flawless? Have you never had weird thoughts run across your mind?
All the author did was create such a character. So what if she fell in love? Why are you disparaging a character for being silly or whimsical?
So friends, give your review and your valuable feedback. But don't question why the story played out the way it did. It is the author's world. Don't crush it by saying that the character was not correct by the rules of normal human behaviour that society thrusts upon us.
I love to read intellectual comments (I don't refer to comments on my works, but reviews in general). The ones in which the person says how the story could've changed if so and so did so and so. I love to read grammar corrections. I love to read their input on the character development (better or worse).
This is just my point of view. I think that characters may have flaws. That's all. Thank you for reading this through.
List of 40 character flaws
Stubbornness, Unyielding in one's own views, even when wrong.
Impatience, Difficulty waiting for long-term results.
Self-doubt, Constant uncertainty despite evident abilities.
Quick temper, Excessive reactions to provocations.
Selfishness, Prioritizing one's own needs over others'.
Arrogance, Overestimating one's own abilities.
Trust issues, Difficulty trusting others.
Perfectionism, Setting unreachable high standards.
Fear of change, Avoiding changes.
Haunted by the past, Old mistakes or traumas influencing the present.
Jealousy, Envious of others' successes.
Laziness, Hesitant to exert effort.
Vindictiveness, Strong desire for revenge.
Prejudice, Unfair biases against others.
Shyness, Excessive timidity.
Indecisiveness, Difficulty making decisions.
Vulnerability, Overly sensitive to criticism.
Greed, Strong desire for more (money, power, etc.).
Dishonesty, Tendency to distort the truth.
Recklessness, Ignoring the consequences of one's actions.
Cynicism, Negative attitude and distrust.
Cowardice, Lack of courage in critical moments.
Hotheadedness, Quick, often thoughtless reactions.
Contentiousness, Tendency to provoke conflicts.
Forgetfulness, Difficulty remembering important details.
Kleptomania, Compulsion to steal things.
Hypochondria, Excessive concern about one's health.
Pessimism, Expecting the worst in every situation.
Narcissism, Excessive self-love.
Control freak, Inability to let go or trust others.
Tactlessness, Inability to address sensitive topics sensitively.
Hopelessness, Feeling that nothing will get better.
Dogmatism, Rigidity in one's own beliefs.
Unreliability, Inability to keep promises.
Closed-offness, Difficulty expressing emotions.
Impulsiveness, Acting without thinking.
Wounded pride, Overly sensitive to criticism of oneself.
Isolation, Tendency to withdraw from others.
“You can criticize something you love!”
Yeah, and you can also get tired of criticizing something you love. You can get completely fed up with it and decide, “You know what? Flaws aside, I love this thing, and I don’t have to waste hours of my life admitting its flaws to strangers on the Internet in order to somehow justify my love of it.” You can get sick of watching others gleefully tear it apart, for no reason other than that it’s popular and they hate that you love it. You can get sick of watching others tearing it apart with good intentions, too.
In the end, it’s just a cartoon, or a book, or a movie. It’s not that serious, and you can enjoy it without hyper-focusing on its flaws. You don’t need to justify your love of something to someone else, least of all a person you don’t even know.
How To Write Trauma Like The Lego Batman Movie
Using Batman from The Lego Batman Movie as my example. I will give you dissertation on how to write trauma whether that trauma is related to orphan shenanigans or not!
STEP NUMBER ONE: TRAUMA AIN'T COOL
This is the biggest thing that The Lego Batman Movie gets spot on! Batman, throughout the movie, behaves more like an emotionally-stunted comical manchild then the suave self-insert straight power fantasy we're used to seeing.
Not only is this more realistic then the countless power fantasy stories that romanticize traumatic experiences and shitty coping mechanisms but it serves the narrative.
And the movie is all the better for this since it's this character development which serves as the necessary emotional core for the movie. If Batman was the perfectly suave badboy then him learning to have a family wouldn't be emotionally groundbreaking.
STEP NUMBER TWO: Have The Trauma Impact EVERYTHING and do it uniquely pwease
From Batman's child-esque tendency to throw tantrums to his higly performative playboy appearance which seems more like movie then man to his edgy sensibilities, everything has been grown from Batman's infamous backstory of orphanry.
His childish and immature attitude give the sentiment that Batman has reverted back into the maturity of a child which is a common coping mechanism as it allows someone to return back to the good old days.
His playboy "stoic"/edgy mean sensibilities (when in public and as Batman) are designed to keep people away as his greatest fear is having a family only to lose them again.
I enjoy the mention of "reverting back into childhood memories" as a coping mechanism because it's a coping mechanism that's not widely explored because society tends to denigrate dependency as "weakness that doesn't deserve to be explored".
Most of the time it's just stoicism which is portrayed as cool and sleeping around which is portrayed as bad not because it's hurting the person but bad because of our puritanical values
Final Lesson: Flaws Are Only Flaws If They're Treated As Flaws
Alot of writers know they need to write flaws connected to a character's trauma because they read writing advice blogs (hey) but they don't want to write actual flaws.
So what is a guy(gender-neutral) meant to do?
Write fake flaws!
This tends to be what Batman as a legacy falls into. Batman is a sleazy capitalistic megalomaniac with control issues who has an obsessive relationship with criminals and every single emotionally unattached woman (and Joker) he can get his hands on.
But it's cool!!! Because it's philosophical, and hot, and power-fantasy worthy.
However, The Lego Batman Movie subverts this! Batman's fear of losing his family and his subsequent abandoning of Dick, Alfred, Barbara, and the Joker nearly lead Gotham to ruins.
It's only when he overcomes his flaws, he can succeed in his goal of protecting Gotham
TL;DR: Trauma isn't cool. Trauma causes a shit ton of issues that create so many different kinds of coping mechanisms from the admirablely unhealthy to the pathetically unhealthy. And the only time you should (cutely and sanely) ship Batman and Joker is in this movie universe.
I'm lazy about someone who doesn't make mistakes. I have the deep sleep of someone who prefers the warm. I like the risk. Of those who take risks. I have a deep admiration for those who follow their heart. I believe in free people. Freedom to be. Good courage to show yourself. Slap your face! That's the way I am. I have a million flaws. But I live to feel.
~ Clarice Lispector
Eu tenho preguiça de quem não comete erros. Tenho profundo sono de quem prefere o morno. Eu gosto do risco. Dos que arriscam. Tenho admiração nata por quem segue o coração. Eu acredito nas pessoas livres. Liberdade de ser. Coragem boa de se mostrar. Dar a cara a tapa! Eu sou assim. Tenho um milhão de defeitos. Mas eu vivo para sentir.
— Clarice Lispector
Hi! My protagonist is very stubborn - he does not like to apologise or admit when he's wrong. How do I include flaws like this in my characters without making it seem like I condone/excuse the behaviour? Thanks! :)
Exhibiting Character Flaws without Condoning Them
Readers are smart and they know that in fiction, writers have to portray negative traits and negative situations, and that doesn’t mean the writer is condoning those things. However, what gets authors into trouble is when they romanticize negative things. Romanticization occurs when the author fails to illustrate the negative consequences and realities of a negative trait, behavior, or situation.
So, for each negative thing you need to portray in your story, think about the negative consequences and make sure you illustrate them. Also, you can use other characters to highlight the problems with a character’s negative behaviors. For example, if your character consistently fails to apologize or admit when they’re wrong, their friends are going to call them out on that. If the character doesn’t alter their behavior, they may face the negative consequence of friends refusing to interact with them until they get the apology they’re due, or possibly even ending the friendship.
Good luck with your story!
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𝐼 𝒶𝓂 𝑒𝓃𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝒻𝓁𝒶𝓌𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒶𝓁𝓁
She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn’t supposed to look nice. And she knew that. She wore dark red lipstick the colour of blood, and not just any blood, but period blood. She wore smokey eyes and didn’t bother hiding the dark circles from insomniac nights and had a perfectly winged eyeliner that she had read in sixth grade made you look like a cat and she loved cats though she was, as she begrudgingly admitted to her animal lover friends, afraid to touch them. Her nose was radically different from what the rest of her family had and someone said it made her look like a Greek sculpture. She refuses to wear high heels unless it is a wedding and she loves standing taller than the people who used to look down on her. She practically lives in her well-worn sneakers that she bought with the money from her first salary because the heels prescribed by the boss at work were ergonomically stupid and anyway, she would like to have her spine and muscles intact in old age. She had a small little birthmark right beneath the outer of her left eye, on her high cheekbones that her uncle had told her resembled her country. She has two very slightly crooked front teeth, hardly visible unless you are asked to look at them because though she intended to, she never could bring herself to take the initiative and wear braces because it hurts and she hated things that brought her pain. She always carries a picture of her parents in her purse and a bottle of perfume. She goes to the movies without buying popcorn because she hadn’t been to the theatre for five years once and the first time after, she forgot to buy them and anyway, it’s difficult to hear with the constant chewing. She writes little letters and half-finished stories, pores over ancient texts and is a treasure trove of little facts. She knows all the Greek stories, despises Zeus and the gods and adores mythology, be it Celtic, Indian, Chinese, Norse or Japanese but loves folklores the best. She knows suspiciously too much about Unit 731, Operation Nightingale, the Nazca lines, poison, the history of chocolate, the world wars and Europe after the French Revolution for a medical student but who cares, she’s fascinating. She appears cold but those who have known her for years would tell you that she’s an empath and her fault is caring too much. She speaks bits and pieces of several languages, all influenced by the books and series she’d seen and loved. You could ask her what ‘What’s for dinner?’ was in Thai but she wouldn’t be able to tell you the classes of tones in it. She is a fashionista and abides by the teachings of her father who taught her what fashion really is and made her see how even a small wardrobe is enough to last you years because he never seemed to buy himself something unless his existing clothes were too worn and that was rare because he took extremely good care of his belongings, good enough to still be able to use the same sunglasses he wore during his college days. She is a wonderful cook but rarely cooks her native dishes because she’s a picky eater who thrives on pasta and Chinese and the fish curries her mother makes are still the best things that graced her mouth. She is a mosaic of information and experience. She is everything and nothing, all at once. She is human, and perfection is her flaw. She is art.
My ultimate romantic fantasy: being accepted flaws and all
Not because of them, not despite them, just an acknowledgement that yeah, they exist, and that doesn’t stop commitment.