Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/38651
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

# The Quick Route to Distinction

## The Fatal Flaw

This is some part of the personality/self that is out of control of the main character, or at least if it's going to be fixed it's going to take an entire book and whether they succeed may determine whether the characters succeed.

Greed, Perfectionism, Lust, Dumb, Glutony, Naive, Sloth, ... continuous list of faults which could weaken a character.

Each character should have their own and should be tied into their story, why they are the way they are, and why they don't quite fit with others. What's more, when the fatal flaw get's activated it takes character off of whatever track they were supposed to be following.

Each flaw will inform different behavior, different avoidances, different types of failure and at times different responses to innate situations.

## The Handicap

This is a thing that is not "part" of the character, but which the character believes about themselves or about the world that prevents them from doing things. A respect for life, might lead to pacifistic attitudes that make being a part of war particularly hard. Whereas, a refusal to tolerate mistakes in others because you believe you must demand perfection of those around you will likely not win you too many friends, and it's a personal belief.

These are the types of things that make minor character arcs. They are your bread and butter. But, they aren't the things that people remember in ten years after reading your book.

## The Quirk

If you're really struggling then you give each character a quirk. This can be something silly that just really stands out; or it could be a distinct behavior they constantly do. Maybe they exclaim a certain way; maybe they are always steeling things in whatever room they are in; maybe they always poke a bear; Maybe they believe something rediculous; maybe they are always sarcastic; maybe there's a token they always hold and think about...

A quirk is a habit, device, or behavior that's always around when that character is around.

# Goals

Each character likely wants something different. Now that you know what they aren't. And you've got something ancillary that makes your characters distinctive and memorable, you need to make sure they are motivated to do different things. With their flaws, handicaps and quirks they're going to value different things. And so, when they see a problem they are going to tackle it in different ways, believe different things. Or, if they work well together they'll know which way they need to go (but also who they need to steer in the right direction).

## Examples

Go read The Reckoners by Brandon Sanderson if you want to see this strongly in action. It's a team based story, and without ruining anything here are a few quirks, handicaps, flaws, goal:

- A character who can't use metaphor correctly, but constantly wants to.
- A character who say's he's Scottish, has a story about how those ancestors invented every little thing, but likely doesn't actually know anything about that background.
- A character that emphasizes hip/young/popular teen
- A character that used to be a mortician, constantly makes jokes about death
- A french candadian (quirk enough?) who believes the bad guys will be good guys some day
- A character who believes they will betray everyone and is afraid of themselves (more handicap/flaw)
- A character who is lazy and rolls over for others to avoid confrontation
- A character who is caring for a woman he loved who is now in a coma, and can't leave his location, can't be discovered.

# Know Your Boundaries, Get Variation

Give your characters enough unique personality qualities and they can't help but take different positions on issues. They won't seem like the same people at all. The more _individual_ they are, the more distinct they appear.

Original score: 1