Avoid ‘Em
Like the Plague
By Windsong
Ah,
the ever-popular fanfic “perfect character.” You know the ones: always in a
cheerful mood (though this may be a good and dynamic characteristic for a
naturally happy person, normal
characters’ faces and feelings are not set in a permanent smile), coming
away from every battle unscathed, knowing exactly what to say in every social
situation, always having that spare dagger handy (“just in case”), friend to
everyone; essentially never screwing up. Has your blood pressure risen yet?
A
perfect character can affect the story itself. A large, scary-looking cloud
labeled in big neon letters “Boring” always hovers about the stories having one
or more perfect characters prancing through the sentences. And, as these
positively charming (*seethe*) personalities are without fault, there is no way
for them to grow or develop throughout the story. You have no flaws, you have
no story. Ever heard your dad (or
grandpa) say, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it”? That applies to story
writing. If your character is completely without fault, that leaves nothing for
you to do while writing your story. They might as well be sitting in a field
plucking daisies somewhere (Hmmmm…the male characters might not appreciate that
very much. I guess we could cart them off to this mysterious place where all
fanfic characters learn how to fight “better than anyone in their [insert group
here].”). And that would make for a very uninteresting read. Characters should
have faults of some kind or another.
Personality
flaws generally make a story. A character who is extremely spontaneous may
blurt things out more than he should, but usually this endears him to the
readers. A person who is irrepressibly funny (even at the inopportune moments)
may become a reader's favorite character, transforming a good story into a
great story. This also gives you somewhere to go in the way of a parallel that
runs along your main sequence of events. If your character is growing and
maturing, learning from his mistakes and slowly smoothing out his flaws, your
story suddenly becomes realistic—what happens as real life progresses; your
readers can clearly see the change that has been brought upon your main
character. And, because most of us aren’t perfect warriors, readers tend to
identify with someone who messes up, just like them.
Connecting your readers with the character and
creating dynamic characters is most
of the battle when it comes to writing. For that reason, Perfect Pam or
Flawless Floyd doesn’t fly with publishers and story contest judges. As I
mentioned before, a perfect character brings the entire story to a grinding and painful halt.
The story goes nowhere; therefore, it’s not a good one.
The
most extraordinary stories are the ones about ordinary people. Readers will be
more interested in reading how Joe Schmoe saved the world instead of flipping
through pages riddled with the name "Superman". Superman is
predictable. He's unnaturally strong, can fly through the air, has a nifty-looking
cape, and does cool stuff with his laser eyes. He's perfect. We already know
that it's possible for him to save the world. We already have guessed that he
will likely accomplish it. The only thing left to wonder at is how he’ll be the hero, which only gives
you an interesting but very short
last page or two. But what about Joe, with arms like string beans, coke-bottle
glasses, and a lisp? Could he defend
Perfect isn’t always good. Character
development is an area where imperfection is better.