Fascinating Flaws
Greetings and salutations Scribblers!
You know how sometimes when you read a book, you find these incredibly complex characters that you think are going to just be your run of the mill archetype, but then the author turns it all on its head? I personally love those characters. Think Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones, you spend the first book absolutely hating him because he fits into the villain archetype so well, but as we learn more and follow him through the rest of the books, we learn he’s also got some hero archetype in there as well. As readers, this just makes us all the more engaged and interested in reading their story.
We’re going to look at how challenging or combining character archetypes can help you to create characters that are irresistible to readers.
First, let’s look at why creating characters that fit multiple archetypes works. Human are not all good or all bad. We don’t just have one trait that makes us who we are, we’re complex. So, as we read books we’re looking for characters that represent who we are and how we feel and when we find that on the page, our engagement skyrockets. We become invested in how they’re going to get through the story and if they’ll come out on top. This emotional relatability to our lives is what draws us in.
When we encounter a character that is 100% one archetype and doesn’t ever move from that position, we’re bored. You’ll see the characters in picture and chapter books stick a lot closer to the archetypes than characters in middle grade, young adult, or adult novels. This doesn’t mean the characters in those picture and chapter books are boring! They just don’t stray as much from the central ideas of the archetypes because their audience is still learning the basics. But once readers have those archetypes down, they start craving more nuanced depictions that resemble themselves and the complicated way we exist in the world.
Everyone has been a bully at sometime in their life. Everyone has also been bullied. One day we’re happy and making jokes, the next we’re snapping at the cashier. When we write characters that embody these changes in our nature and offer a realistic look at the way we move through and interact with our world, readers love it.
The bully being bullied trope is a common one. We’ll meet a character who seems to just punch down on everyone around them, only to learn that they’ve put up with some major bullying at some point in their life. It doesn’t make us excuse their behavior, but now we understand it and we relate to it. The challenge is to make even more nuanced characters that draw on various aspects of multiple archetypes. Maybe a villain who’s also a mentor to the main character or maybe a ruler who wants control who’s also driven by creativity or love. As a writer, your goal is to find interesting and nuanced way to deepen your character’s complexity. If they’re only one dimensional, readers will get bored. We want to see flawed characters because we’re flawed. And seeing that it all works out for the characters on the page can help us feel like it’s all going to work out for us too.
Using those flaws and those conflicting archetypes can really help to move the plot forward and guide your characters through their arcs. In the last manuscript I finished, I paid a lot of attention to ensuring that each decision my main characters made caused the next plot point to occur. In the moments, they thought they were making the best choice that would fix everything, but at each turn, it only caused more problems because they were making decisions based on their flaws. It was really a lot of fun and although it took some serious thinking on my part, it was absolutely worth it! As my character’s reached the end of the story, they finally started to realize where they were going wrong and they grew from their flaws and made different decisions that actually worked.
But had I not taken the time to explore how I could make my characters flawed and give them imperfections, the story wouldn’t be very fun or entertaining to read. When I read stories where nothing every goes wrong for the main character and everything just seems to work out without them losing anything or making mistakes, I lose interest fast and often don’t finish reading them.
It’s not relatable. I’m flawed. I’m imperfect, I want to read about people like me who mess up and learn, then mess up again before they finally get it right.
So, Scribblers, don’t just focus on your character’s strengths and how awesome they are, dig into their flaws and put some front and center for your audience. It’ll engage your reader and increase their investment in following the story to the end!
As always, your mileage may vary! Feel free to tell us who your favorite flawed characters are in the comments.
This mini-course focuses ONLY on developing the character voice in your manuscript. As the most popular unit from our Revision Strategies course, we wanted to make it available for those who are looking solely for this aspect of leveling up their craft!
