z

Young Writers Society


In Need of Flaws



User avatar
263 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 4362
Reviews: 263
Tue Oct 20, 2009 9:35 pm
Angels-Symphony says...



Hey guys ^^ I'm prepping for NaNo right now, and I'm having trouble flawing my MC.

Currently, her main flaw is her fear of becoming a "monster" or a "traitor" because she has special abilities, and this fear makes her a selfish person because she's not willing to risk her powers on people except herself.

The ability she has is dream manipulation, and I could probably go into more detail, but the most important part is that when she was younger she at a hospital and there was an extremely sick boy there, possibly from a poor family. My MC moved from place to place because her parents couldn't take care of her personally, so at this time, she lived at a hospital/apothocary/clinic/sanitorium. Every night from her bedroom she could hear this boy rolling around, pounding, and screaming because his brain illness gave him nightmares, or made him react this way. The nurses at the hospital knew of her abilities and asked her to "soothe" his nightmares (alter them into dreams). Aaralyn wasn't confident and fully familiar with her powers at the time, and she was being pressured. She ended up making a mistake and destroyed his nervous system.

She also fears being genetically altered/experimented on by the "white coats" because she doesn't want to be a machine, or anything unnatural.

On other notes: Aaralyn doesn't like using her powers because once people know she has them, they have the ability to make her feel guilty when she can't help others or refuses to help others.

I'm kind of iffy on the whole thing, so some help would be nice xD

-Shina
You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself into one.

The writer, when he is also an artist, is someone who admits what others don't dare reveal.
  





User avatar
202 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 14895
Reviews: 202
Tue Oct 20, 2009 9:50 pm
Pretty Crazy says...



Wow, I wish I could do that. Like, I know what I want my character to be like but I can never get it right on paper. :roll:

The way you have your character is good. I like it.
Hmm. . . what's another flaw you could give her? Ah! It's right on the tip of my tongue!
Maybe she could be a little paranoid? Suspicious of everyone that approaches her?

Well, that's all I have. Hope this helped!
Looking for someone who won't disappoint you?
Look to Jesus.:)
  





User avatar
365 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 3225
Reviews: 365
Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:32 am
Antigone Cadmus says...



Here's a fun idea. It's NaNo. Don't prep to much -- write and see what comes out. Chances are, she'll evolve a few flaws.
Odi et amo. quare id faciam, fortasse requiris?
nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.
-Catullus, Carmen 85
  





User avatar
382 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 33318
Reviews: 382
Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:35 am
Galerius says...



Idea:

She's a serial killer, possessed by a demon, and participates in insider trading for the New York Stock Exchange. All at once.
  





Random avatar


Gender: Female
Points: 12900
Reviews: 110
Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:51 pm
Karsten says...



Hi Shina,

Just a drive-by comment. Love the idea of the protagonist being too afraid/selfish to use her powers on anyone else. I wonder if we could extrapolate this idea a little further to gain more flaws. For example:

    If she doesn't want to use her powers to help people, perhaps she deliberately shuts her eyes to the suffering around her, trying not to notice people who need her help.

    She might even be afraid/reluctant to perceive other people as "real" in any meaningful way. Real people have real feelings, real suffering, real needs that demand her help.

    She might feel guilty and try to compensate for not helping by obsessively helping in other ways - volunteering in soup kitchens, or whatever's appropriate.

    She might have a hyper-defensive reaction to criticism on this topic: "What do you mean, selfish? I'm not selfish! I do x, y and z!" - and get really mad because secretly she knows it's true.

    Perhaps she has a harsh negative reaction to people with mental illnesses and/or bad dreams of any kind, because they remind her of what she accidentally did to the kid.

Take what you like and ditch the rest. :)

Cheers,
Karsten
  








Remember, a stranger once told you that the breeze here is something worth writing poems about.
— Shinji Moon