What? I can't think of a character who is not flawed. If a character's flaws are tied to their desires and goals, that could come across as a little too convenient and maybe even cliche, and I thought that's what we're trying to avoid.
They're odd because they're a character trait, but unlike character traits you can't just insert a flaw. And no nothing you said about flaws is true. Characters can still be cliche, unrealistic and ultimately dull even with flaws. In fact, whenever someone says, "I layer my characters in flaws" I guarantee that character is dull and stupid as hell. That's why they're odd.
I'm not clear on what this means. I wouldn't say that you can "just insert" a character trait either. In fact, I'd say that character traits might be positive, neutral, or negative--and if they're negative, they're flaws.
One flaw is that perhpas she has trouble connecting with other people? Given that she can never know whom she will need to kill she needs to keep people at a distance and this could work as something she needs to overcome in the story? Or perhaps she does overcome it, and it dramatically backfires as it lets her enemies get to her through this person she cares for and thus she hardenes herself even more against letting people close to her? The story don't need to end well for the main character and perhaps she will throughout the novel be cursed with isolation from her surrounding and loneliness?
Well, she is described as 'smug' and 'sassy'- ie. she's a conceited loud-mouth- so she's already likely to have trouble really getting close to people or having people want to get close to her, but is that her true nature or just an act she puts on to push people away? She's a gun-for-hire, so maybe she's lost friends in combat or been forced by circumstances to kill people that she really didn't want to kill? Maybe she doesn't want people getting close enough to see what's really in there because she's ashamed of it or scared of it.
She uses her mouth to keep people at a distance to protect herself. She chose her career because it is far from what is considered "acceptable" for someone of her perceived heritage. She's done it so that she can disappear into another life and keep her past well hidden because if her true origins were to come life, it could get her killed. Mainly I was trying to find chinks in her armor to keep her from being too perfect but as the story develops, I think I've found the upheaval that'll unbalance her and move her life into something grittier and more relatable.
Even though she's a mercenary and makes sense, I really hate the whole dark and brooding stereotype, for anyone.
