Plotting Around Character Flaws

So, you have your character sketch from last week. Now what?

Now we look at the sketch and at those flaws, and ask, "What plot ideas come from these flaws?"

If someone is vain, how does vanity affect story? If someone is scared of bugs, what happens when their house is infested? How do flaws give you story and affect the story you have?

Characters don't exist in a vacuum. If you have multiple characters, where their flaws intersect is where story happens.

Writing prompt: Take your character sketch and come up with some plot ideas based on the flaws. What makes their life difficult? What can stand between them and their objectives?

Writing Prompt-Hubris-My Example

A character sketch, with a focus on flaws. I'm going to use a character I already have - Suralee Vellacort, from I Am Subversive.

Visual - in this story, that's not really relevant. So I'm putting this aside.

Mental - she's very vain. She wants to help people, and cares about them, but sees them more in abstract than in specific. It's easier to care about abstracts. Putting an actual person in her path is difficult for her. Even with those she loves, she keeps herself closed off somewhat from them. She's been betrayed too many times by those around her to trust.

Spiritual - she believes in the void between stars and the great quest to keep humanity alive against that void. Everything else that she was ever taught religiously she now discards. All that matters to her spiritually is allowing other people to find the same freedom she has - preferably without letting them get too close.

Who's next?

Flaw: Hubris

No discussion about flaws is complete without discussing hubris. It is the classic flaw, the overriding one of Greek drama, and it informs much of our concept of fiction.

Hubris is the belief that one is equal to or above the gods. It is putting yourself up so high that there is no ground beneath you to support yourself. And the tragedy is the falling from grace, and the resulting consequences to everyone around them.

It's hard to find modern stories that include true hubris. It's hard to use effectively, especially without active gods in the story. But there are still stories of incredible arrogance and self-pride that tell of how someone's feelings about himself caused his downfall.

Bonus writing prompt: write about someone dealing with hubris. What do you think of the flaw?

What is a Character Sketch?

My mother (thanks Mom!) pointed out that perhaps not everyone knows what a character sketch is. Sorry for the jargon, I didn't even think about it.

A character sketch is a quick outline of what a character you're creating is. It's a set of ideas - often not even complete sentences - giving you a general idea of who the person is. That can include a physical description, mental description, family members, or anything else that's important to who the person is.

This isn't a formal write-up. No one else ever has to see these. It's just enough information to give you an idea of who the person is. And it can be fleshed out later as required, too - you're not required to keep the original one.

What's important is that you write enough to get a good idea of who the person is. And writing as much or as little as you need for that.

Designing Character Flaws

When building a character, one of the most important things to keep in mind is the flaws. All characters have flaws. And it is that flaw, that imperfection, that makes us able to relate to them.

So what is a literary flaw? The classic one is hubris - it is central in Greek drama. But thousands of other flaws, from great to small, have been added in. And they all make characters interesting.

By "flaw," I mean an obstacle that's interior to the person. Pyromania is a flaw. Greed is a flaw. Loving people isn't, though it can become one in the wrong situation. But in this post, I'm only talking about clearly obvious ones. (Situational flaws I'll cover later).

So. A character needs flaws. There needs to be something imperfect about them, something to make them fall when they want nothing more than to climb. The flaw is the inner obstacle that stands between them and their goal. Sometimes overcoming that flaw is the entire story. Sometimes it's only a part of it. Sometimes it's an overriding facet of the character, and sometimes it's just a side note - but one that touches everything.

Writing Prompt: Write a character sketch. Be aware of the flaws of the person you're creating. Don't go overboard - one or two should be plenty. Make this a rounded person, good points and bad. A career, hobbies, whatever you need to understand the character.

Next week we're going to be working with that sketch.

Talking about characters

This is a discussion of character building. Stories are based around characters. Without a character, there is no plot, there is no story, there is no life.

So what makes a good character? What do you want to know before you get started with a story? How do you build a good character, and what does a character do to the rest of your story?

If you have questions about character building to start off, feel free to ask me. I'm talking about both characters for stories and characters for role-playing games, because the central point is the same. (and characters can easily transfer from one to the other if they're built well - and not at all if they're built poorly).

Please join in the discussion!