Flawed

(WARNING: Blog does include minor Doctor Who spoilers from the recent episodes.)

Anyone that has ever written fiction will understand this next statement and all the frustration that comes with it – creating a believable, witty yet flawed character that your reader can sympathize with is one of the hardest tasks you will ever have to undertake.

For all intents and purposes we are talking about creating another human being using aspects from people we know, people we don’t and people we wish we did. It is natural for an author to want their character to be funny, intelligent, beautiful, honest and dependable. In short, we want them to be perfect so we can let them be the shoulder to cry on or the knight in shining armor.

The point is though, people will cheer for your character for a time if they are so splendid they can do no wrong but what you’re then missing is a character arc and the developments that ensure people remember them.

Take, for example, Doctor Who. The Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) was witty, intelligent, handsome and he was full of rage. That rage was a plot device in many episodes and quelled many foe. “I am the Doctor, fear me.” Ring any bells? Tennant’s Doctor became a Deus Ex Machina and when your lead character hits that point, there are very few places you can take the story.

Unless your character is Doctor Who, then you kill the sod off and reinvent him. This is exactly what Steven Moffat has done since taking the reins of the prime time BBC drama series. The Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) no longer believes in himself and long in the future even the human race is making war against him. He is weak, he is susceptible and we have seen his death.

The deep lying doubt beneath the façade of the indestructible Time Lord gives doubt not only to the character but the viewer. Will the Doctor truly die? Can he handle anymore heartache? Can he bear the weight of destruction upon his shoulders much longer? We don’t the answers but I guarantee people will be tuning in this autumn to find out when the series returns. And do you know why? Because the character is flawed and he might just fail this time. That is something we have Steven Moffat to thank for and thank him we should.

I could easily sit here and write a story about a young man who faced a dozen different troubles and overcame them all. Broke through the adversity and became a great man. But where is the fun in that? What people want to read is about a character that faced those same obstacles and didn’t overcome them all. A heroin addiction he couldn’t shake despite having a family to care for, the grief of losing his closest friend that consumes him and his life crumbles apart around him.

Your character needs to fall before they can rise again. If you want the ‘perfect’ character, make them flawed. Make them arrogant or ugly, make them a coward or stupid. Give them adversity that their flaw means they can’t face head on. Break them to make them stronger.