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Q&A Does a character without huge weaknesses need improvement?

Your MC does not exactly have to have weaknesses, the main thing is that she has problems. She can also have negative emotions. Her problems have to be big enough that she struggles against them ...

posted 7y ago by Amadeus‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-19T22:13:11Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/30889
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T07:10:51Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/30889
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T07:10:51Z (almost 5 years ago)
Your MC does not exactly have to have weaknesses, the main thing is that she has **problems**. She can also have negative **emotions**.

Her problems have to be big enough that she struggles against them and readers believe she may fail to overcome them, or in most cases at least do not see HOW she will overcome them, and that is why they keep reading, to find out. (For example, in most detective stories we feel certain the detective will solve the crime somehow, but from or point of view it seems an impossible puzzle).

There must be some kind of uncertainty in the reader: If they know how it will all turn out, they get bored and stop reading. In Star Wars or Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter we never believed the villains would prevail; and the heroes had no terrible flaws or weaknesses (other than self-doubt), but the stories had a lot of uncertainty. And we always believed the heroes could at least be **hurt**.

She doesn't have to have weaknesses. Her problem does need to be daunting.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-10-18T18:35:33Z (about 7 years ago)
Original score: 5