B Plot

Whether you’re writing a protagonist, an anti-hero, an antagonist, or a villain, you’ll make them more rounded characters if you include flaws. If your readers can’t relate to or don’t like your characters, you risk alienating them. Let’s examine some ways to keep your audience with flawed characters.

Start by giving them deep hurts that created the flaws. Deep hurts are childhood traumas (abuse, neglect), life-changing events (car accidents, sports injury, workplace injury), being misled by someone (nasty older sibling that hid their university acceptance letter, step-father who was intentionally late to a pro-league try-out, a co-worker who doesn’t share all of the information about a project, so your character doesn’t fully complete the assignment), or trusting the wrong person (loving the wrong person, trusting a stranger who then wounds them, believing someone in authority who turns out to be manipulating them).

Most readers can identify with being lied to, missing an opportunity that would give their career a boost, or missing out on something because someone stopped. Let’s say your character is middle-aged and bitter because the three great opportunities for career advancement were sabotaged. The first by a stepmother who was angry they outshone the stepmother’s biological children. The second from a university professor who stole the character’s great idea and claimed all of the credit. The third from a boss who has consistently promoted other people because the character is ‘too valuable where they are to be promoted.’ These are all related events that inform the reader about how and why your character is so angry and takes the edge off for the reader. Such scenarios also create opportunities for character improvement because they are events that can be reworked, improved upon, and the character can heal from them.

Make the characters human. Some characters have personality disorders. Sometimes, the character chooses not to take medication to address their personality disorder. Sometimes, there is no treatment available. Either way, take the time to show the human side of your character. No one is a jerk 100% of the time. No one is anxious all the time. Use the opportunity to show slices of other behaviours, other facets of the characters life, show them trying to improve and failing, but trying again. Someone with severe social anxiety might spend all their time painting. They might produce beautiful works of art they don’t show the world, but the reader knows they exist.

Remember, a person (and a character) is more than their flaws. A person is more than a personality subset. They have talents, skills, experience, insight, and hobbies. Flesh out some of the other aspects of a person’s life to make the character better-rounded.

Give opportunities for your characters to shine—yes, even the antagonist and villains need moments to shine. Everyone is an expert in something. Sometimes the expertise impacts the plot (great at handling weapons, fantastic strategist, excellent at maths), and sometimes the expertise goes to characterisation (can cook a gourmet meal from anything, can knit a shawl in under a day, has a way with horses). Villains often have the best lines because it showcases their wit and intelligence. Expand on this to ensure every character has a moment to shine.

Create opportunities to show a character’s nuance. Most people have a professional side and a personal side. How you talk with your colleagues often isn’t the same as how you speak with long-time friends. The choice of topic, language, and level of detail is often different between groups of people (co-workers and friends). The same applies to your characters. Your villain might be extremely aggressive towards your protagonist but highly personable with their intimate partner or sibling. Your protagonist might be very reserved at work but incredibly open with their hobby group.

Deeply flawed characters generate opportunities to engage your reader. You can shed light on a different world, provoke reflection and emotional response from your audience. Make sure to make a character more than a flaw, and you’ll bring them to life.

Feel free to reach out on Twitter @reneegendron to continue the conversation. How do you make character flaws relatable?

Thank you, @minday76, for the topic suggestion.

James' and Mirabelle's story will be released in Fall 2021. You can read an excerpt here. If you'd like to receive an advanced reader copy, please join my newsletter with a note "ARC".