Perfect Characters

[DamaNegra]

Have you ever created a character that was too perfect to be true- yet you based him/her entirely on someone you know? Have you ever found yourself wondering if you should just add bad things to him so he'll look a little bit more believable?

[Sage]

Nobody is perfect. The person you based the character upon is not either. They may seem so, but they have some flaws.

Since perfect characters are not as interesting as flawed ones, adding some flaws would be a good plan. If it's a supporting character, perhaps, there to show off the flaws of the MC, that might work, though.

[Annabella5780]

One of the things I love to do in my writing is create characters that OTHER characters perceive as perfect, and then find ways in my writing to show the flaws and imperfections to the other character, thus showing the reader too.

As was said, though, no one is perfect and flaws tend to naturally come out as the character develops.

[Akuma]

Well, maybe the character will be disgustingly perfect.

Then you could have the best of both worlds.

[maestrowork]

Have you ever created a character that was too perfect to be true- yet you based him/her entirely on someone you know? Have you ever found yourself wondering if you should just add bad things to him so he'll look a little bit more believable?

No one is perfect. If you tell me that you actually know someone who is "perfect" I wouldn't believe you for a second. Everyone has flaws. It might not be "bad" things but flaws nonetheless (maybe the person is impatient, or possessive, or insecure about himself, or something). "Perfect" characters bore me to death and are not believable, IMHO.

One of the things I love to do in my writing is create characters that OTHER characters perceive as perfect, and then find ways in my writing to show the flaws and imperfections to the other character, thus showing the reader too.

That's what I did in my book. The protagonist thinks of someone as this perfect human being, but he finds out that she really isn't.

[CaroGirl]

Ugh, I hate characters that are "perfect". I don't believe them for a second. Gimme a nice flawed personality that I can relate to.

[reph]

I'm not convinced that people line up along a continuum between "perfect" and its opposite. "She's too good? Add a flaw!" Well. Personalities are complex, but arranging them on a good/bad axis doesn't do justice to them.

[katiemac]

I think if someone simply "adds a flaw," then it's not going to be a realistic one that flows nicely with the plot.

On the other hand, from experience, I've found "perfect" characters incredibly dull to write. They're difficult to work into a story, especially when everything around them goes wrong. They can't always have the right answer.

[Puddle Jumper]

I have a habit of making my heroes a little too perfect. If I feel they're going in that direction I try to do something to make them less than perfect. If nothing else, I'll give them inner turmoil.

[Adam_Atlantian]

I was afraid i would make my MC perfect. Since i gave him the special power of light i thought i might go holy so i made the first chapter a normal teenagers life. That let me work in all those things teenagers do because they don't usually think before they act or speak. (I should know I am one of them)Some times it helps to look at your own flaws and add them to your main Character. That way you know what the flaw is and you can portray it better.

[Ronda]

My gut feeling is that if you think the person is perfect, you don't know him/her well enough yet. It's like the dream of a great romance vs the reality of living with someone day-to-day. Get to know the character and you'll get to know the flaws.

Warmly,
Ronda

[Glenda]

Have you ever created a character that was too perfect to be true- yet you based him/her entirely on someone you know? Have you ever found yourself wondering if you should just add bad things to him so he'll look a little bit more believable?

You might show his insecure feelings on something, his thoughts about something that will bring out his imperfect tributes. What looks to other characters and what looks to the reader could be two different views.

[P.H.Delarran]

when i was 13 i started reading the Nancy Drew series. read a book a day until the school library ran out. now, that chick was perfect. disgusting. but it worked for my 13 yr old brain, she was my hero for a while. a very short while, as my next phase was Stephen King.

[Nexusman]

Creating a perfect character is like going on a first date with the woman (or man) of your dreams: you're so blindsided by everything you want to see that you completely overlook the small flaws.

Give the character some breathing room. Don't try to force them to be someone they're not, or the character will resist it when you write and make it more difficult for you to do so. (Slightly OT but similar: one of my character's hair color changed from dark red to blonde abruptly during a scene. I noticed what I had done and hit ctrl+backspace to retype "red." For some strange reason, blonde appeared on the screen again.) If it happens, don't fight it. If you do and win, it still won't be a victory.

-Nick

[bylinebree]

Yes, I had this happen to a primary female protag, who becomes what she's always dreamed: a Master Healer. She's in control, calm, intelligent, lovely to look at, virtuous, spiritual.

She was nauseating after a while! Boorrring!

So I took a deeper look. Ok...she's in control in her craft/career, but how is she in relationships -- with men? I decided she's really insecure due to some (angst) in her background. The insecurity makes her put up walls against the very man she wants. The 'control freak' is often a person with issues, even in real life! Ah ha! Found flaw or weakness in her character, and I have played it a like a song.

Gee, it was fun, too. What a feeling of control (say, what?!)

[Mistook]

Ask yourself if you aren't obsessing over somebody. If you are, then put that whole situation on the back burner and work on something else.

[janetbellinger]

Perfection is in itself an imperfection.

[Jamesaritchie]

There are no perfect people. There are no people even close to perfect. There should also be no perfect characters, unless you're going after humor.

I don't think just sticking in a flaw helps much of anything. A character who is perfect except for hating kids is still a perfect character who hates kids. A character who is perfect except for shoplifting is still a perfect character who likes to shoplift.

Real people are imperfect in every way there is to be imperfect. The question only where on the scale the person lands. It will never be perfect in any area. One person might be fifty on the losing his temper needlessly scale, and another might be a ninety-eight, but I doubt anyone is going to be a perfect one hundred.

And no matter what area you look at, this is going to happen. Everyone will land somewhere above zero, and somewhere under one hundred, on every possible issue. No one is perfectly kind, perfectly loving, perfectly understanding, perfectly generous, etc. No one is perfectly anything.

[jules]

It doesn't even matter if there are real people who are perfect. If we actually met one, we wouldn't believe they were. But if we read a book that contains one, we will find it hard to believe the story in the book.

Novels have to be more realistic than real life. It's part of the trick of convincing people that the world they're reading about is real.