Few readers want to read stories with perfect characters. If they’re perfect, what can go wrong? What challenges will seem dramatic to anyone who can deal with anything?
This is part of the reason authors give their characters flaws. It makes the story more interesting.
There is a drawback, however. If a character is too flawed, it can make the character less sympathetic to the reader. This can become a big issue in an erotic story. It’s no fun reading about a character who stumbles ignorantly into sexual situations, or one who lets others take advantage of him/her.
On the other hand, I prefer my main characters to be smarter than average, which means the burden is on me as the author to come up with very challenging situations. Or clever flaws.
For my work-in-progress, being a science fiction story, my main characters have had their memories messed with. They can’t remember everything they’ve experienced. And with that comes subtle personality changes. But as some characters retrieve more of their suppressed memories, their personalities alter, as do their relationships with other characters who, without their own retrieved memories, cannot understand the reason for the changes yet.
This gives me the opportunity to put in unique conflicts (remember, conflict equals drama), as well as an overall motivation for my main characters—namely, who’s causing these memory issues and why.
More on this work-in-progress as it, well, progresses.
This is part of the reason authors give their characters flaws. It makes the story more interesting.
There is a drawback, however. If a character is too flawed, it can make the character less sympathetic to the reader. This can become a big issue in an erotic story. It’s no fun reading about a character who stumbles ignorantly into sexual situations, or one who lets others take advantage of him/her.
On the other hand, I prefer my main characters to be smarter than average, which means the burden is on me as the author to come up with very challenging situations. Or clever flaws.
For my work-in-progress, being a science fiction story, my main characters have had their memories messed with. They can’t remember everything they’ve experienced. And with that comes subtle personality changes. But as some characters retrieve more of their suppressed memories, their personalities alter, as do their relationships with other characters who, without their own retrieved memories, cannot understand the reason for the changes yet.
This gives me the opportunity to put in unique conflicts (remember, conflict equals drama), as well as an overall motivation for my main characters—namely, who’s causing these memory issues and why.
More on this work-in-progress as it, well, progresses.
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