Exploit Your Hero’s Flaws

Every hero has a flaw, and that is a major element drives stories to their conclusions. In the meantime, the character goes through all many trials, overcomes all several obstacles to reach a point of self-realization where they can change and become a different person.

Sometimes, however, the flaw leads to the downfall of the character. Aristotle called this the tragic flaw, often referred to by the literary term hamartia, although that is also taken to mean the error the character makes that leads to the tragic end.

Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman is a classic example of a hero with a tragic flaw. Loman has many flaws, but his pride and refusal to accept the reality of his situation and his obsession with success and achieving the American Dream leads to him to deliberately crash his car.

It’s not clear from the story if he does this because he can no longer take his repeated failures—and therefore has accepted his flaw of denialism—or to simply to make sure his sons get the insurance payout on his death, which would suggest he never accepted his flaw.

So some characters don’t want to overcome their flaws. They persist regardless. And some even work hard to maintain them. Don Draper in Mad Men is a good example of this. He goes to great lengths to sustain the illusion of the persona he had created for himself.

Temporary answers

Clearly, not all flaws are tragic. Many characters change to become better people, but that’s only at the end of the story. Before that, they struggle with their flaw, fight against it or deny it’s even there. As the story progresses, most characters will employ short-term solutions. They might hit the booze, take drugs or run away from their tricky situations.

While these tactics solve the problem that day, night, maybe even for a few weeks or longer, the same issue will inevitably return, and often magnified as time is running out—a great technique to develop suspense in a story. Or the problems accumulate and cause increased pressure for the character, leading to more and more obstacles for the hero.

So, it’s worth being clear about what your character’s flaw is and how they deal with it.

My previous article of the wonders of your character’s world view can help you identify the flaw. But how can you make the best of it to raise that suspense and pressure in the story?

The first step is to make a list of the short-term solutions your character could try. Usually that’s some kind of avoidance. It doesn’t have to be as dramatic as alcohol or drug abuse; it could just be walking out and slamming the door in the middle of an argument.

Build suspense

Next, look at the effect of these solutions on the character. How did they help in the short term? Did some smooth-talking from the character addicted to gambling buy time from the angry bookie? Did the corrupt cop’s tipoff at the right time buy some temporary favor from the mafia boss? Or did these actually make things worse?

Imagine, for example, a jazz singer with stage fright. She tries many ways to deal with her anxiety, such as sitting at the back of the club, near the door, so she could sneak out before her set even started. She had a few drinks to relax, but ended up too drunk to perform well. Tranquilizers worked better, but she needed more and more until she was spending more on the drug than she was making from singing. She found a job working nights, which meant she couldn’t go to the clubs, but this made her miserable because she couldn’t do the one thing she wanted most. She pushed herself to go on stage before she was really ready, which affected her performance too.

There might even be a point in your story where your character considers these tactics and assesses what they did to solve the problem. Such contemplation can come towards the end of the story, in the long dark night of the soul phase, where it looks like all is lost but some realization—often after this kind of reflection—gives the protagonist one last push to fight that final battle.

Our jazz singer might seek professional help, for example, to learn more constructive ways of dealing with her anxiety. This would undoubtedly be a difficult process with many setbacks along the way, but she might finally find the determination to stick with the process and gain the life she really wants.

Even if the character doesn’t go through a list of short-term solutions, it’s still useful for you as the author to look at each way your character does or could avoid their flaws in the short term. It can help you identify areas where you could increase the pressure and suspense. Get that clocking ticking faster until you reach the moment when your character has to deal with that flaw one way or another: continue with potentially fatal consequences or change and overcome it.

How important is it for your characters to have flaws? How do you exploit those flaws to improve the story?

Jim Dempsey

Jim Dempsey (he/him) is a book editor who specializes in detailed analysis and editing of novel manuscripts through his company, Novel Gazing. He has worked as an editor for more than 20 years. He has a master’s degree in creative writing and is a professional member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading and is a trustee of the Arkbound Foundation. Jim is fascinated by the similarities between fiction and psychotherapy, since both investigate the human condition, the things that make us uniquely human. He explores this at The Fiction Therapist website. If you have a specific concern with your novel, send an email to jim [at] thefictiontherapist.com, or visit the website to ask for a free sample edit. You can follow Jim on Instagram @the_fiction_therapist.

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