What is a good character fault?

Argh! what shall I do to make her likable again? Or shall a unlikable narrator fit my book which is all about how people all suffer and are all horrible and good? I don't really mind having her unlikable as I just wanted to show that caring for others too much can be a problem. Would people read a book with a point of view who isn't exactly the nicest person in the world? I really have no experience with this!

 

Well, it may be that your problem is not giving her a flaw, but giving her some likable characteristics. Is she funny? Human? Would someone want to have her from dinner? Or is she just a dark raincloud of intensity and false nobility?

I do have to say that I don't see her as "caring for others" too much. I see her as "pretending to care for others" too much.

 

Well she would never stab anyone in the back. If you asked her to keep a secret, she'd keep it so she is loyal. She also wouldn't run away but then again that might be her forced martyrdom, I don't know. She isn't really intense though, she would play with children out on the street, she has a massive love for all children as the chances of her having them herself are pretty low. Human, funny you should say that because she is actually just humanoid in shape and is kind of a dragon in human form (yes its a high flung fantasy). I've always imagined dragons as quite noble and proud creatures so perhaps that's where she gets this from.

 

But is the scene of her playing with children in the street interesting? Or is it just a fact--"Oh, she plays with children in the street"--that doesn't actually have the opportunity to engage the reader?

You've been talking about what I might call character; so far, I have no idea of her personality.

 

I return to apologize for being a little snarky and over-detailed. Your character might work fine. They might work very badly. I think that the characteristics that you describe could go either way; it will come down to the writing and the character's personality. One possible exercise could be to write a few throwaway scenes with your character and offer them in the Review Room. Since they're throwaway, you won't really be publishing any of your book, and they'd give us a chance to see if the character seems engaging-to-the-reader or not.

 

Hello again, I'd just like to say that I don't see a problem here at all with the character, but I do see an opportunity. First off I should say that, I don't know how many flaws you've given the character/ characters, but if you only have three..then wow, I think you should add in a few more. I've never met a person with too many flaws, they are just flawed as we all are. So, unless you are writing a children's story, I don't see what would be wrong with exploring all of or any of these faults.

Now, bare with me, I tend to ramble, but let's say...you wouldn't want to show your characters by their faults right? Not unless you want them to be hated at least. So no, you would show the character as a person, and in learning of this person WE will get to see their strengths AND their weaknesses. This is where the magic happens. A person can be many things, and to as many people, so explore this and see what happens. Having faults won't (on it's own) make your character seem like an ass. But if you don't show us the better side of them, the part that shines, that's leaves us only the bad to look at. Does any of this make sense? I really do ramble so I have to ask.

It is really up to you to decide how much of this character you want to show us. These traits, these flaws can be mentioned so little that it becomes background noise, and you could leave us to read between the lines, or you can explain more and give us a, let's say..a tour of the character's inner workings. (That almost sounded dirty) Let's try an example here. We have a character, let's call him chicken foot. Chicken foot wants to be a hero, and he wants to be a hero because he wants people to love him, adore him, talk about him, worship him, and that he would live forever in history.

Now this is a flaw without a doubt, and we could show in a story how this ends up destroying him, or his loved ones etc but this isn't all he was. Let's see, Chicken foot was a loving son and brother. We could show this in the story with scenes, as well as dialogue with his family and have that weaved into his story. He is a devoted friend, we can show this in the same means. This is where you can draw the reader in and show a connection and the humanity of the character...or something like that. (This is also arch plot area to work) You can, should be, able to change the reader's mind about a character, so even if the character starts out unlikable you as the author have the power to change that.

Let me try and wrap this up, (so sorry) I think it's a good idea to show your character as a person/thing, but don't let their flaws out shine their good points. You may even want to give reasons for why your character thinks/feels the way they do, that would help the readers to understand them better and son of a bitch, like them more. When it comes to intolerable characters their a hit and miss. Some crash and burn and others are the most liked characters in the story, it's all in how you the author offer them to us.

 

It is a fault, albeit a pretty common one, but a flaw nonetheless. Because of that flaw, she can self-destruct, hurt others, or put herself at risk doing so. There are many things you could do with it, depends on how severe that flaw is affecting her though.

 

I'm going to say that, as a reader, I find it quite irritating when a character has a flaw for the sake of having a flaw.
Now, from reading the paragraphs you have provided, she has flaws already! She's selfish, manipulative, controlling, etc., which are pretty interesting flaws. Making her a martyr just to throw in an extra flaw, for the sake of having a clear cut "flaw that this character has" will just end up hindering your story, in my opinion.

 

Some of the flaws of my favorite fictional characters:

• Blind ambition. The character's endeavors all go horribly right.
• Self-destructive dependence on something. It could be a drug, sex, gambling, thrill-seeking, etc. Or maybe another character.
• Moral consequentialism. The character has the right goal in mind, but pursues that end by increasingly unethical means. Especially if the character began as an idealist but found that doing the right thing and actually getting things done is easier said than done. Bonus points if the character alternates between trying to justify the means to the end and trying not to care.
• Inability to adapt to life's circumstances. A book-smart character who perpetually lacks street smarts in a crime drama setting, a brilliant mathematician who never develops people skills, an institutionalized ex-con who never adapts to the freedom and the unstructured life of being in society, etc.

 

Honest, answer, my friend.

Sometimes I go into threads with the intent of giving a smart-ass reply. To your question, "what is a good character fault," I was going to respond to something of the effect of, "cares too much about her friends, is headstrong, and won't admit when she herself is in trouble," and then I saw what you had initially put down...

In other words, EVERYONE on this forum describes their MC as such.

 

Wow. That pretty much sums it up, really. A character can have other 'flaws' which affect their likeability as far as the reader goes, or may actually prove to be assets in the end. But the flaws that really count are the ones that hold the characters back.

 

Yep. That's what I was trying to get at with my previous post. Flaws are the internal things that serve as obstacles for the character as he/she tries to go through his/her arc.

 

Personally, I prefer people with traits which are good and bad as opposed to a good trait and a bad trait.

Consider Hitler. He's a pretty reprehensible figure. But, what if he started off as a good guy with good intentions? What if he continued to see himself as a good guy? Its Walter White (at least in the early seasons) wrote large.

Magneto (of X-men fame) grew up oppressed by the Nazis. He wanted to protect his people. He took that to such an extreme that he became the thing he hates (an oppressor of people based on their genetics).

Take a trait and examine how it could be a good trait or a bad trait (flaw) simply by changing perspective. Remember, "different perspective" includes "perspectives from different parts of his soul". A character with a rage issue may have a part of his soul which views that rage as a flaw, but he must also have a part of his soul (maybe a part he's not consciously aware of) that views it as a good trait (perhaps his mom refused to ever get angry and she was emotionally victimized for many years as a result, now he believes that, to protect his family, he needs that rage),

Then, do that for all your main characters and your more important secondary characters.

Then, give all those characters an active objective (something they are going to take aggressive action to pursue rather than something they want to be) which they'll keep until the third act.

If you can do that, then the story writes itself.