Give me an example of a character flaw?

Compulsive Liar.

It sort of sounds like the character has anti-social tendencies, which would count as a character flaw. It also sounds like she only thinks about herself; selfishness would count as a character flaw.

This is only my opinion, but I feel that character flaws should be understandable or justifiable to make the main character sympathetic. Don't put in flaws just to put in flaws. Instead, try to think about WHY those flaws came to be. Even if you don't spell it out in the story, thinking about the "why" helps you empathize with your MC and gives you a deeper understanding of her personality.

she's an obsessive-compulsive narcissistic brat with vigilante tendencies and a loaded weapon? who's the good guy?

Ideally, you should try to make your main character's flaw, one of the main reasons why she can't achieve her primary goal.

This adds a lot of internal conflict, shows character growth by the end of the book and adds much satisfaction to the reader's experience.

So find out what that character really wants (for instance - to be loved.)

Then find a flaw that prevents that (anti-social behavior, cannot share emotions etc.)

Then work it into your story and in the climax, have her overcome her own flaw (has to break down and cry/share herself/admit she needs love or allow someone to love her etc.) in order to succeed (her acceptance of love allows her to accept help/ feel better/ allows her to sacrifice herself etc.)

Empowered, and visibly changed in the eyes of the reader, she then can defeat the bad guy.

Satisfying ending for everyone involved.

Is the character for one story or for many?

The reason I ask is that for many single-story characters, the flaw is what is developed as the story unfolds. Typically the anti-social protagonist learns the value of friendship or the alcoholic learns to live without the bottle.

The flaw should be real enough to make the character rounded but not so powerful as to make them unsympathetic.

Am I helping?

So far you've described some deadly serious flaws that would make the girl a monster beyond redemption. If her flaws drive her to commit cold-blooded murder, you'll have a hard time drumming up reader sympathy. Need the flaw be so drastic? You can have dramatic inner conflict without resorting to melodrama. I think I know what you're striving for, but be careful to strike a balance that makes her condition one in which we can forgive the flaws and rejoice in some sort of triumph.

Unless yours is a dark plot about broken, soulless people.

You'll have to forgive me but these character points you've described seem over the top. Way over the top. Going gun crazy doesn't come across as a flaw but more like a plot tool to me. I've always perceived flaws as things as small as "biting one's finger nails in public" to things more drastic like "compulsive flirt to constantly fulfill one's need to be desireable".

As MeowGirl pointed out, flaws should have some bearing on the character's past and make them seem more real. What brought this woman to the point where she isn't comfortable unless she has a gun? Why does she want to kill everything in sight? I just remembered one of the few Gun Lovin' Freaks that I like and that's Edward from the Anita Blake books. Whenever he showed up it created massive tension for Anita. He loved to hunt and knew she brought out the big, bad game (monsters). His hand never strayed far away from a gun. His gaze was cold and empty. But he was someone she could count on in a fire fight. When LKH wrote Obsidion Butterfly and finally gave us a look inside the mind of Edward, she did the character justice and made for one hell of a book.

I'd look more seriously at what brought you to create such a character and re-evluate her motivations.

Pike

I think a character flaw works best if its something the character doesn't like about themselves, in her case probably the inability to make friends. Unless her non-gun-holding self hates or is scared of what her gun-holding self is like.

I think you've got a hard road ahead of you with this character as she is now. In essence, you've built a character who is a villian and made her a heroine. She has all the traits that a main character in a thriller or a mystery would find very dangerous and would be seeking to stop her before she harmed someone.

I don't know ... maybe you're wanting to explore the dark side, which can work, but you have to know when to put a boundary on it so it doesn't go too far. As everyone else has said, most of the flaws are way over the top.

I think with these qualities I was thinking of making her a paranormal agent, something like the FBI or a paid assasin.

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Do your research. Three of the flaws you listed are enough to disqualify her from being an agent of any kind. Age would be an issue, too; she'd have to be at least legally an adult, probably older than that.

Specifically, what's over the top:

She's a gun enthusiast. She love guns. She even calls her gun her 'baby' or her 'toy to play with' . But she won't kill anyone without a justified reason, like self-defense. She's 12-13 years old, which makes adults uncomfortable.
She's a thrill seeker, she's even robbed a bank just for kicks. But this kind of thing would get her into trouble.
Every time she has a gun in her hand, she's practically an animal. She loves pulling the trigger and she just wants to do it, but she just can't shoot innocent people or animals.

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I kind of suspect from the questions you've been posting lately is that you might have painted yourself into a corner with how you defined your character. Or it could be that your story started out one way and morphed into something else unexpectedly. Don't be afraid to completely change if you need to. One of the things I read was while you're in the first draft if you suddenly want to change a character because you got a different idea, just start writing it the new way right where you are. Then, in revision, you fix the earlier work.

BlueLucario said:

She's a gun enthusiast. She love guns. Sh even calls her gun her 'baby' or her 'toy to play with' .

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See Firefly (or for us really old folks, Sledge Hammer) for a way to do this without making the character come off as disturbed and creepy.

She's a thrill seeker, she's even robbed a bank just for kicks.

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I'm curious, Blue : how would you feel if someone stole your money and told you they did it for kicks? Would you like that person and want to be their friend?

Also, if this was the kind of robbery where she walked in waving her "baby" and told people to hand over the money, then she got a kick out of frightening people and using up the time and effort of the police. This is very difficult to sell to readers if the heroine does it.

She seems like a cruel person. But really she has her reasons or she's probably helping.

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No, Blue. From everything you've told us about her, she IS a cruel person. No "seems like".

Every time she has a gun in her hand, she's practically an animal. She loves pulling the trigger and she just wants to do it, but she just can't shoot innocent people or animals.

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I'm curious. If she had been caught robbing that bank, what would she have done to the cops or the security guards?

(Maybe the fact that they were stopping her from having kicks would make them bad people, meaning she could shoot them?)

When she has that gun, she's 'different'. She just wants to have fun with it. She pointed a gun at someone waking up from sleep, just for fun. But people are just too afraid of her now.

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I'm really puzzled at the "but" here. Seriously, disturbed teenagers who go around pointing guns at people for fun do not end up with lots of friends. Were you under the impression that they did?

I'm not sure if they count as 'flaws' but I know these qualities won't make her a likable character. There are a few positive qualities, but I can't name those either. I think with these qualities I was thinking of making her a paranormal agent, something like the FBI or a paid assasin.

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I can see reasons people wouldn't hire her as an assassin. She's immature and unbalanced. She doesn't know when to keep the gun hidden and when to play around with it. She takes risks for kicks. No one in their right mind would trust her to carry out an assassination.

If you want to know how to write a realistic assassin, read The Day of the Jackal.

I understand that in your story, she was orphaned and raised as a killer. But you've given her some major, major flaws. As other people have said, these are over the top. It's like trying to write a book where Jack the Ripper is the hero.

Plus, you may not be prepared to look at this character objectively, to figure out why she doesn't work for other people. That you were able to post all these flaws and then wonder if they were flaws does not bode well. Good luck.

I have to agree with Linda. This character is too over the top to the point that she borders on silliness. Robs a bank at age 12 and gets away with it? Access to an uzi? Her flaw would seem to be her parents. Granted I don't know the rest of the story, but based on the information you've given, it does seem as if you've written yourself into the corner of non-redemption.

I'm not trying to be mean, really I'm not. It's purely meant as honest feedback.

BlueLucario said:

I wanted to use these flaws as an advantage. Like, she would enjoy killing, she would still work as a hired assasin for that organization.

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A hired assassin needs a few more qualifications than just blood lust.

Plus, it's difficult to sell readers a heroine who loves to kill.

She'd kill the bad guys, and follows orders from a superior officer.

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I imagine that the first orders any intelligent, responsible superior officer will give her will be, "Put the gun away until it's needed, don't ever point it at people for fun and don't rob banks for kicks."

You see that kids can do extrordinary things at a young age, just many of them aren't taken seriously. I've see a seven year old bull-fighter.

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The more unusual this is, the more you as the writer need to work on selling it to the readers. If you have a thirty-year-old teacher, you can mention this and no one will be surprised. If you have a six-year-old teacher, you'll need to explain further before I buy it.

Right now there's no plausible explanation of why this heroine is able to do all this at her age.

BlueLucario said:

I agree with Linda too. And don't worry about being mean. *She grew up without parents* I told you adults would be uncomfortable with people like her. I wanted to use these flaws as an advantage. Like, she would enjoy killing, she would still work as a hired assasin for that organization. She'd kill the bad guys, and follows orders from a superior officer. She could become a paranormal investigator.

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See, this still doesn't work for me because killing bad guys doesn't redeem her in my eyes, especially if she enjoys killing. WHY does she enjoy killing, and how is that supposed to make her sympathetic to the reader?

There was a show way back when called La Femme Nikita (I believe there was a movie too). The main character was an assassin and killed bad guys (following orders), but the character worked for me because they also showed her inner conflict about what she did. That conflict drove the story line and made her more sympathetic and complex. I loved that character.

a_sharp said:

So far you've described some deadly serious flaws that would make the girl a monster beyond redemption. If her flaws drive her to commit cold-blooded murder, you'll have a hard time drumming up reader sympathy. Need the flaw be so drastic? You can have dramatic inner conflict without resorting to melodrama. I think I know what you're striving for, but be careful to strike a balance that makes her condition one in which we can forgive the flaws and rejoice in some sort of triumph.

Unless yours is a dark plot about broken, soulless people.

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Blue,
Why not make her dream, and/or just fantasize about killing people. The character could dream of murder, fantasize about murder, and even plan to do it, but battle within herself as to whether or not she would actually go through with it.
This way, you could 'show' her in a certain light, but still retain reader sympathy for the character as we are in suspense as to whether the character will redeem herself in the end, and not give in to the murderous impulses and fantasies.

Let me ask you what is there to LIKE about this character? What will make me want to spend time with her? How will she get me to root for her and be on her side? How will she make me care about her and what she's striving for? What is she striving for?

From the description you've given she's kinda coming off more like she is suffering from mental illness rather than character flaws. If there is nothing to humanize her or show her as having some redeeming quality (and I mean more than she likes puppies) she will most likely come off as a nutbar, completely unsympathetic, unlikable and flat. This may make it very hard for a reader to want to stick with her.

I think you have an interesting concept to work from and if you can figure out how to make her likable or appealing in SOME way it will probably give her more depth and make her more readable. The character flaws can be worked out from there.