Flawed Characters Back to Blog

I don’t particularly enjoy reading about perfect characters–maybe because I’m so far away from being perfect myself. 🙂  Instead, I liked to read about characters who are flawed.

Oh, yes, give me a flawed character any day of the week–and you’ll have a happy woman.  I like characters who are real–and to me, real folks, well, we’re flawed.  We have anger issues, some obsessive compulsive moments, and some food addictions (chocolate, anyone?).

More than that, though, in order for me to feel fully connected with a character, I like to know about the character’s past–the events that shaped and hardened the person–and the results of those events.  Got a heroine who can’t commit to a relationship? Why?  Was she abandoned by a loved one?  Betrayed by someone she trusted?  What made her into the person she is?

Or, have a hero who is single-mindedly fixed on vengeance?  Why?  Did he lose a sibling to needless violence?  Was he the victim of violence?  What made the hero the way he is?

The past…no one can escape it, certainly not the characters that writers create.

My favorite all-time example of a flawed character with one twisted past?  Come on, if you’ve read my blog before, I bet you can guess…Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  That guy had so many issues–no way should he have been the one I rooted for, but I did.  Over and over again. Why? Because his flaws made him into the (im)perfect character that I could love.

Oh, yeah, give me a flawed character instead of a perfect one any day of the week…

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11 responses to “Flawed Characters”

  1. LaDonna says:

    So true, Cindy! I love to take a glimpse into a character’s past, feel what they feel, understand what brought them to a certain point. Life doesn’t have just one ingredient, it’s more like a tossed salad some days. The books I always go back to, are those with memorable characters…and they aren’t the perfect ones! 🙂

  2. Brandy says:

    Flawed characters are more dimensional than a perfect character. And they are definitely more memorable!

  3. Cynthia Eden says:

    LaDonna, oh, I love your line about life not having just one ingredient! So very true!!!

    Hi, Brandy!! I think the flawed characters are more memorable, too! 🙂

  4. danette says:

    You’re right,they are more momorable. I think that’s why I love reading Sherrilyn Kenyon’s dark hunters, they’ve all been though some kind of tragedy.
    Hugs, Danette

  5. Michelle says:

    I agree, Cynthia! To be flawed is to be human, and I like characters I can relate to 🙂 .

  6. Zoe Winters says:

    Oh yes…Spike…yum. He was so real, so human for a vampire. He had all these flaws but he was just so sympathetic. “Sympathy for the Devil” meant something as soon as Spike flashed on the screen.

    I think a part of this isn’t just the writing, it’s how JM brought so much of himself to the role. He was a method actor at the time and really got into what he was doing. So so much of the heart in Spike I believe comes directly from JM.

    While JM isn’t Spike and Spike isn’t JM it takes JM to make Spike what he is. And I think in writing we have the same thing. The characters and the writer shouldn’t be the exact same person, but I think something of the writer has to go into it. Writing is raw and naked and anything else is just lying and not as effective IMO.

  7. Edie says:

    Cindy, I can see you and Zoe will head a Spike fest. She’s another Spike fan-girl. One of my all-time favorite TV detectives was probably on before you were born. Rockford Files. He and all the characters in his shows had a load of flaws. I rarely watch “House,” but there’s another flawed character.

    In books, one of my favorite heroes is the Marquess of Dain from Loretta Chase’s Lord of Scoundrels. OMG, is he flawed. But for sure he was never boring.

  8. Zoe Winters says:

    bwahahahahaha Edie. I know. Someday I want to meet Cynthia and compare notes to find out which of us is the biggest Spike freak.

    And Edie, I was just thinking of House. I love him. He is just such an asshole, but somehow in a sexy way lol.

    I’m going to have to add that book to my reading list.

  9. Cynthia Eden says:

    Hi, Danette! Oh, I love Sherrilyn’s books, too! She is going to be a my local writer’s conference next week and my plan is to score an autographed copy of her latest book. 🙂

    Michelle–Love that quote. “To be flawed is to be human.” Can I use that in a conference workshop I’m doing? With full attribution to you, of course!!

    Hi, Zoe! I completely agree–I think JM brought an enormous amount to the character. Without him, Spike wouldn’t have been, well, Spike. He was the reason I watched the show for the last three seasons. I literally seemed to fall in love with his character. Um, let’s not tell the hubby, okay?

    Oh, Edie, I love the Rockford Files!!! I used to be able to catch it (and Remington Steele, another of my favorites) on A&E, but I think they may have stopped carrying it.

  10. Zoe Winters says:

    hehe my husband knows of my mental infidelity. He claimed Spike was a midget nancy boy. I neglected to tell him “nancy boy” happened to actually be a spikism. But he could have just been being ironic too lol. From the first Spike episode in season two when they were fighting (he and Buffy) I thought…”Oh yeah, those two are going to be in bed before it’s over with.”

  11. Kate S says:

    Oh, yeah. Spike. Yum. 🙂