When writing a story, it is important to not only have a good storyline, but to also have good characters. The characters of a story should be people that readers can relate with. If your readers feel no sympathy for the characters, and do not understand them, they may lose interest in the story.
Everyone has flaws. We’re human, which means we aren’t perfect. Fantasy stories usually aren’t only about humans, but no matter what kind of person the characters are, they should still have flaws. Nobody --whether real or fictional-- is perfect, and we have to remember that when writing stories.
No realistic character is going to be able to dodge every blow in a fight or know what to do in every situation. It’s possible to write a character that acts that way, but it doesn’t make for a good story. Readers want characters that struggle with the same things they do. When creating a character for a story, take a look at their personality and their background. If the character is well-developed, there’s going to be some sort of flaw. Maybe they can’t fight well, or maybe they have a quick tongue that gets them into trouble. Maybe their parents treated them wrong as a child, and they don’t trust others. Whatever it is, there is going to be some sort of flaw. Maybe the character seems perfect on the outside, but has some sort of inner turmoil.
The same goes for races. For instance, Elves are frequently considered a higher race. They live forever, have healing powers, and are great archers. It’s easy to portray them as better than other races. But races should have flaws as well. Maybe the people have a weak king and no order. Or maybe their king is too strong. Maybe they don’t get along well with other races, or maybe they are easily tricked by others. The people may not agree about some things. There’s going to be something that makes them just as “bad” as the other races, even if the people themselves don’t think so.
The characters are what make stories. You can’t have a story without having people involved. If you want people to really feel for your characters, don’t make everything go well for those characters. Everyone has a unique personality that makes them who they are, and characters need to be unique and flawed as well.
There are some exceptions, an example of which is Gandalf the White. Some characters may very well be perfect, and they may have an important purpose in the story. It's okay to have a character like this once in a while, if there's a good reason for his (or her) perfection. However, the majority of characters are not and should not be like this. Doing something heroic seems that much more impossible when the hero of the story never messes up.

Being able to relate with characters makes a book more enjoyable, and writing a believable character will be that much more rewarding.

I decided...Imma help with blog posts. I read 'em, anyways, might as well add my half a penny.

Anywho, that was wonderful, Arias! You made some very good points! I would just like to point out two things, which are entirely matter of opinion. So feel free not to take my advice if you disagree.



Something about this sentence doesn't flow...I think the "most likely" seems out of place. Perhaps you can replace it with "they may lose interest in the story" or "they will probably lose interest in the story". I'm not sure, though, it could very well just be the way that I am reading it that makes it unflowy. *shrugs* It's really however you want it.



I had to read this sentence a few times (which may be due to my mind being half asleep, but...let's take that out of the equation for now. ), because the "if they are well-developed" part took me off guard. It seemed to come from nowhere. If you can revise this to "A character - if they are well-developed - that has everything going right for them on the outside is still going to have some sort of inner turmoil.", or something of the sort. My sentence was made on the spot, I'm sure it can be revised better.

Okay, that is everything, but, like I said before, great post! *applauds* Hehe, I'm done now. *skips away*

Bethany Faith

*hugs Bethy * Thanks, little smurf!

You're welcome.

A question:
I always separate characters into two groups: normal ones, and Gandalf the White.
Gandalf the White sort of characters are the ones without flaws. Their only issue is their physical weakness, perhaps, or in Gandalf's case his being forbidden to use all his power. Would that count as a "character flaw" as far as this blog post goes?

Thanks, Bethy! I'll have to go through and fix those spots.

Reiyen-- That is a very good question. I never actually thought of him back when I wrote this. Hmm...
It does seem like that would be a different type of character. Maybe I should add another paragraph regarding characters such as that?
Thank you for the thought-provoking question!


So should I edit the original post?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay, done. How does that look, guys?

That sounds good! "A" should be "an" in this sentence, though. Nice work!

Bethany Faith

Yay

And thanks for catching that. I'll go fix it.

*Applauds*

Very cool.

- Terra

Thank ye, ma'am. *grins*

Looking good, Arias! Great post.

All right, Arias, are you ready to post?

Yep, I think so. I don't have any idea what I need to do though.

Are you registered as an author on the HW blog?

She is not. You wanna register her, Katie?

I'll check my email periodically to see if anyone has replied to this thread... let me know when I need to do something. *is off to cook supper*

Erm. Missed that somehow.

PM me with your preferred username, Arias, and e-mail address. You'll get an e-mail after that confirming your registration, and telling you your password. You can change your password then, and post the article. Let me know if you need any help with that.

Thanks for taking care of this, Katie. Today... was not a good day.