I'm currently writing a story with characters that seems... too perfect. What can you do to eliminate some of the perfectness? For example, the main character is a brilliant person who is also attractive, innocent, curses a lot, arrgoant, has a lot of secrects, rich, and ownes his own company. What can I do to make him sound... not perfect? How do you devolop the characters and their personality without the story sounding too choppy and all?
2007-07-11 09:06:25 · 3 answers · asked by phoenixtakaramono 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
Developing characters is all about giving them motivation... people don't do things unless there's a reason, and a reader discovering those motivations are the core of character development.
Giving a character a flaw isn't about writing "he is popular, but he lets it get to his head." Show it by having him do something as a reaction to his popularity. NEVER talk about it outright, because it stops the story flow. Never just say "He tends to curse a lot"... have him actually cursing a lot and don't address it... it will be noticed without you pointing it out explicitly.
Never, never, never, never devote an entire paragraph to describing your character. It's by far the most boring paragraph a person can read. Incorporate! Have another character notice a feature. People don't need an exact picture of the person in the very beginning... bring up only the descriptors that are necessary to the story, or might be absolutely necessary later; introduce other descriptions through storytelling.
Giving characters flaws, and developing them, is ALL about putting them in situations and having them react to situations. Development is action, not descriptions. Don't outright say how he hates his mother... create a situation that reminds your character of his mother and have him react to the situation.
I hope that helps! Best of luck!
2007-07-11 09:27:09 · answer #1 · answered by HP Wombat 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Id recommend working on a character background before you do anything else... Make him more human. Work out the kinks before writing the story.. Make a chart of characteristics and how these characteristics affect the plot. Happy Writing!!
2007-07-11 09:16:37 · answer #2 · answered by mirkwoodmaiden17 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Make him act like a jerk occasionally. Make him make mistakes and learn from them. They say that the main character of a story is the person who changes the most by the end. Your character needs to be that guy.
2007-07-11 09:16:16 · answer #3 · answered by Katie 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋