Young Writers Society

OMG ! in some of my stories i make the ppl too perfect, especially the guys, so then i can drool over them and wish they were real but thats just me XD

Otherwise i try to explain WHY this and that guy is so strong, or how come they seem so perfect, and give them flaws. To be honest, flaws are such a major part of humans that it makes the characters more realistic.

I mean... is anybody really perfect ???


I dont have a problem with perfect characters though, unless they're meant to be normal and occur to be more superhuman than anything esle. that is annoying.



Nobody's perfect, so to honest, whyyy should the characters be ??
XxxDo

I once wrote about a perfect character. He was handsome, smart and brave. He saved a girl and was the dream man for her; however! it turns out he just wanted to rape her! So he really isn't perfect is he?

The friend one in Gone with the Wind? Um, Melanie or something. Good lord I wanted to smack her. Sometimes perfect characters are great because they can be perfectly infuriating. In real life, you wouldn't really like a perfect person, would you? Mmm, conflict.

There's nothing wrong with a 'perfect' character so long as there's a purpose for the perfection, I would think...

My problem is that I can't write a perfect character. I couldn't even when I was younger and more impressionable about certain heroes and people. The truth is, we as human beings are so severily flawed, perfection does not exist, and never will, as far as we're concerned.

I'm not trying to get spiritual about this, so much as admit that as entertaining as it is to imagine a person of perfection, they simply are not real. And that's a problem with society today, sadly; the perfection we think we see in mediums like television and video games, music, etc., it all is there for the glam, and that's all it will ever be.

...and with that said, I think I've made my point. Perfect characters shouldn't be written because they're cliches; they shouldn't be written because they're not REAL.

I understand the desire to write a perfect character, because you want your character to be everything that you aren't. I once had a character like that, or at least she started out that way. Most of her problems were external conflicts that she could conquer. The male main character was also pretty perfect. The moment started adding more dimension to their characters, the story fell into place so much more easily. The plot flowed better...I can't even explain how much it helped my story to have flawed characters.

I think there are definitely perfect characters in literature. However, they don't usually serve as main characters or the characters we identify with. For example, Antonio in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice is a flat character who's more or less perfect. He's generous, kind, overlooks the faults of others, and doesn't let the nastiness of other characters influence him. Even though this is fairly boring, he serves a purpose. The same is true of Lucie Manette in Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. She serves as the ideal woman. You don't identify with her, but without her the plot wouldn't work. Instead I actually identified more with Sydney Carton, who seemed to be the character in the story with the most flaws.

I usually have no control of how my characters turn out, and I must admit some of them are quite cliched. In Order to remedy this give them a strong reason for being who and what they are. The Tom Boy, have her be the ignored child. Either she'll become the uncaring tom boy or the girl that tries to do everything.

I often get urges to write perfect characters, but I tend to quash those urges as fast as I can. I don't do this because I find them boring to read and to write about, but rather because I know how much more intriguing it is to write about complex characters. I am often not as ruthless with my characters as I'd like to be, because I know them so well. But I truly believe that people want to read about flawed characters. They want to see characters mature, and more importantly, they want to bee able to relate to characters.

It's not really that I dislike those perfect characters, in fact at times I love reading about Mary-Sues, but I think the only way to really control your reader's emotions is to flaw your characters.

I do believe, however, that there are instances with humor as an example, where it is necessary to use a Mary Sue character for effect. When writing characters there is so much to take into consideration.

Have a good one!

Mmm. In my novel the leading man seemed a bit perfect. And he and the leading woman NEVER got into an argument. So I wrote about them having an argument. Haha. But their love kind of evolves, because at first the leading woman doesn't know she loves him. It's a sci-fi/action with romantic twists. And I don't even know what I'm writing anymore... Silly me. Haha.

Anyway, I do prefer characters with problems and personalities and DEPTH. Haha.

I would write about perfect characters only they don't really exist.

I don't think I've ever written about a perfect person. I know that sounds crazy to not write about the perfect guy or girl but I don't. I write about people with issues if someone read a story of mine, and I mean the whole thing, they would know. Perfect people are boring.

I prefer writing about realistic people, and I prefer reading stories where the characters show flaws and vulnerability. Atticus from To Kill A Mockingbird strikes me as a perfect character (though that's probably not the best example, since it's told from the point of view of his daughter). I've never made a 'dysfunctional' character, but I do make sure they are embarrassed, unsure, imperfect and vulnerable. I always make my characters nice though. As a reader, I prefer to have a protagonist I can root for, which is much easier if said protagonist is a sweet and compassionate individual.

Hmmm.
Isn't the plot of the story basically about the character's issues?

Perfect characters are boring unless there to make a point about how terrible the other characters are OR how empty perfection actually is (Adele Ratignolle, in the Awakening, for example).


I tend to give my characters too many problems, if anything. Real people are like that, of course, but when writing, is it better to stick to one Shakespearian "tragic flaw?"

Still, a bit of escapism is always good. Edward Cullen, to state the obvious...

So what kind of flaws do everybody's characters have?

In my opinion, there is no such thing as perfect characters. In reality, no one is perfect. Everyone has their flaws. So why should your characters be any different?

Besides, it isn't the perfectness that makes up a person. I think the flaws are what makes up most of a character (excluding their personality). Without flaws, people are boring. Perfect is boring. I love characters with lot's of flaws. They're the best. If any story had a perfect character, I'd most likely hate them ^_^

It's best to not even think about writing perfect characters. They're just...ugh.