Making a character indecisive and timid but not boring...

So my MC's flaw is that she is not confident in herself, and therefore hesitates on decision-making, second guesses herself, and is a bit timid. What are some good ways to convey this that doesn't rely on endless 'should I, shouldn't I" inner dialogue? I feel like my beginning is too angst-y because I spend a lot of time in her head worrying about a big decision she has to make.
Plot context:
MC Kaelie finds out she is the daughter of a famous warrior mother who died when she was young. Now Riders from her mother's former company have come to try to recruit her. Her father is adamant she not go. Mysterious and nefarious warnings from an unknown enemy threaten to harm her/her family if she does go.

What are some ways to show her hesitation without boring my readers?

And later, when she does eventually go to join the Riders, what are some good ways to show this flaw while training? Think weapons training- archery, swordplay, daggers, staff fighting, that kind of thing.

 

Give her interesting decisions and choices to make. I agree that an inner dialog of should I or shouldn't I would get rather boring after a while. But if you confront your indecisive character with unexpected choices to make that both she and the reader didn't see coming, things could get interesting.

 

Only provide half of the puzzle on the page. The rest takes place inside my mind. I feel I am resolving the situation, whilst in fact your 'hidden hand' was there all along - if I can say such a thing without being misunderarrested.

 

A hesitant fighter even just in training will be easily defeated. Have the trainer drill her to make these necessary snap decisions.

 

I would always suggest using her experiences to inform her indecisiveness (or any other personality trait).
Using the family (and her relationships within it) could be good. Perhaps the conflict between following in her mother's footsteps or letting her father down? How much does she feel she owes her father? How close was her bond to her mother? Her hesitancy may be more relatable if it's rooted in interpersonal relationships and you could go as deep (or shallow) as you wanted with it. It's a good placeholder for her psyche.
Hope that makes sense.
When she is training, she will have formed relationships (even if they're tenuous) with the other Riders. I assume since she is the MC, part of her character-arc might be to overcome her indecision? If so, the formative years (in her chosen proffession) will begin to change her anyway. Hard to give useful suggestion without more information. Could she be hesitant to kill? If you're just looking for a scene where hesitation impedes her skill with a weapon, I would suggest archery. Not an expert here or anything, but I expect timing and smoothness of action/motion are essential to being profficient with any weapon. I'd imagine (with a bit of research) you could probably use stilted swordplay to reflect her mental see-sawing. The reason I would look at archery/projectile is - in a target - you get a tangible measure of failings and progress that you don't need to explain. Everyone has tried to hit a target, most won't have attempted a circle parry.

 

I personally don't find that character trait to be boring at all, so long as she eventually overcomes it. I prefer characters who feel like I can relate to them, or at least try to imagine myself in their shoes. There definitely could be a scene later where her indecisiveness/timidness almost (or does) get another character killed who she cares about, and then that could snap her out of fear and force her to not make the same mistakes again.

 

I might try writing some scenes to "see" how she demonstrates this, maybe with several different ideas.

Is she quiet and slow, because she's thinking? Maybe using delaying tactics?

Jane tilted her head slightly as she considered his face. He was smiling, faintly, but his eyes were too intent. She was missing something. She tucked her hands into her pockets, straightened her spine slightly, and said, "Could you rephrase, please?"

Is she hurried and nervous, because she's trying to comply with what she perceives as expectations?

"I don't--" Jane pushed her hair back, folded her arms, unfolded them. What did he want? "I mean, I'm not sure--" She took a breath. "OK, OK, let me think a minute."

Does she just refuse to do anything until she's sure?

Jane folded her arms, eyeing him. What did he want? He struck her as dangerous, but was that unfair? Was it just the mephistophelian mustache? Seeing him take an impatient indrawn breath, she said, "I'll need to think about that and get back to you."

And so on. Maybe just play for a while.

 

A pair of examples that may or may not address this question:

Musing can get boring:

Jane stared at the trees as she struggled with the decision. How could she do this to her father. He'd done everything for her, all her life--how could she betray him this way? (Etc., etc., etc.)

Scene might work better:

That market day she was irritable. She woke late, to find that her father had made the porridge in her stead, rather than wake her--and she snapped at him when he urged her to eat it all.

"It's going to be a long--"

"Long day. Yes, Dad. Long day, don't want to be hungry. You say that every week. I can remember it."

He raised his eyebrows at her, then just bent over his own porridge--lumpy; he'd never been able to get the making of it quite right--with a faint smile. She didn't say another word, just gulped down the last of hers and stormed outside.

She saddled her pony, and remembered the day that Dad had presented him to her, all decked out with ribbons and bells. She donned her knapsack--made by Dad, mended by Dad, packed with cheese also made by Dad, and with bread...well, Dad was a dreadful baker; she was responsible for the bread. But Dad was always so damned appreciative when she baked it.

She mounted the pony and yanked on the reins, then felt another spasm of guilt as little shaggy-maned head drooped sadly. She pulled him to a stop at the edge of the clearing and looked back at the cottage.

She couldn't do this to Dad.

She had to do this for Dad.

The pony whickered.

"Oh, shut up."

 

Thanks, @ChickenFreak , you've given me a lot of good advice today. I appreciate it.

 

Are you trying to go for something like a female Shinji Ikari?

 

I have no idea who that is, sorry.

@Homer Potvin - part of the indecision at the beginning is not knowing what she wants yet. She thought she was happy living life in her small town, then suddenly she's got this huge opportunity dropped in her lap. She kind of wants to go, to live up to her mother's legacy, but she's scared- she's a miller's daughter, knows nothing whatsoever about being a soldier. So she's very indecisive. Because she can't decide, she keeps going back and talking to the Riders to try to help with her decision. This prompts the mysterious enemy to blow up the mill with her father inside. Which then sets her on the road to being a Rider. My issue is more of not knowing how to show that inner turmoil as opposed to telling it with inner dialogue.


And yes, a large part of the plot arc involves my MC overcoming this flaw.

 

I have a character similar to this who has to make a decision but agonizes over it. I had a good 2-3 paragraphs of inner turmoil. I'm not sure what perspective you're writing from but, if it's first-person then I think it's more acceptable. I would still say that studying authors who have had more success recently such as George RR Martin, a lot of his strength is in dialogue - avoiding both inner and outer monologues. I believe this is because it relies on the old addage "show don't tell."

I'd recommend having your character play off another character (perhaps a best friend?) and maybe this best friend is very outgoing and confident (the inverse of the MC) and part of the development of the MC is being confident enough to stand up to her best friend and lead (I'm guessing the warrior woman who is her mother had some sort of status that is passed on to her daughter).

Alternatively, you could have a mentor character, that tries to encourage the MC to grow in confidence and resolve over time, perhaps a character who knew her mother and can tell stories about her mother's struggles.

In either case, having someone to play off of can give your character something to say, an opportunity to state her inner turmoil. I like for my characters to echo reader sentiment. Sometimes I'll have characters give an angry/exasperated comment when the MC makes the same mistake again. You don't want your reader getting too frustrated with your character's inner turmoil that they feel the MC isn't making progress or that no one is really challenging the MC on their chief flaw: their indecisiveness.

 

Is it important to show how she joins the Riders? Can't you just start right when she's already joined?

Why is she indecisive? I don't mean about the Riders - but why is she indecisive in general? Is it because she knows what she wants and doesn't know how the decision will impact on that? Is it because she's afraid - of what? Is it because she feels there're expectations and social should's and shouldn'ts that she should abide by that somehow clashes with the situation? There's gotta be something she wants, and there's gotta be something stopping her from getting what she wants. The indecision stems from somewhere - find the root and you'll find her drive, too, and then you can go from there.

The danger of an indecisive MC is that she'll end up just going along with what everyone else is doing and not initiating anything at all, which is not MC material. If she's easily influenced, sways to other people's opinions easily, or just in general not very active, you need to either change that or change who you choose as your MC. Is it really her story if she doesn't make most of the decisions?

 

I have vague answers to this, but I will use what you have written to nail it down better, and hopefully that will help. Thanks.

 

*giggles*

 

Indecision can create chaos and humor as well as other emotions. Stress the problems this creates and how she or some one around her deals with them. Chaos and the after math of that chaos can be very interesting.