I’m Obnoxious!

Ah…. I love Finding Nemo. Many thanks to Disney/Pixar for creating it. And it leads nicely into my post for today – character flaws. Ask Daphne had some interesting thoughts on perfect characters, namely, that it’s hard to like them. Anell, a friend of mine, has named this writing style “first person perfect” hahaha. None of us are perfect, so why would we relate to perfect characters?

In Catalyst, my WIP, character flaws were my favorite part to develop. The thought that I went with was that people can cause all kinds of trouble without being evil. They can be thoughtless, or neurotic, or selfish, or immature, or view the world in stereotypes. Kate, my MC, is all of these, at times, and that’s where most of her trouble comes in. For example, she’s got preconceived opinions about hippies and 4H’ers, as well as about society’s preoccupation with size – something she struggles against and falls into at the same time.

But characters that are only weak, or only selfish, don’t have appeal for me. It’s a balancing act. Kate loves her family, her pet, and her friends. She does random good deeds and bites back retorts in situations that would have me spewing them (I’m not perfect either, folks…).

Heros can still be good – but that Achilles heel is what makes them relatable. Tell me about your characters, what’re they like?

Original post published on Old People Writing for Teens by GotYA contributor Holen Matthews. To view original post and reader comments, please click here.