How do I round out a powerful character?
I've created a character named "Mathias Mindblade" who is trained by a wise wizard to lead a rebellion against the Darkness Empire and eventually to establish an Empire of Light.
Mathias has some severe obstacles to overcome and he will come into possession of some very cool powers. But I also want to be able to illustrate his humanity.
What I'm missing are ideas for his personality and character, and for some flaws or problems that might make him more interesting.
That last point is particularly important - in a previous question of mine, responses made it clear that readers have little interest in omnipotent, "Superman"-like characters. So what I want for Mathias is the kind of flaws that will keep him from being a boring Superman - but still allowing for him to have good points and a plethora of "bad-ass" abilities.
How do I choose what flaws to give him, and how do I prevent those flaws from overwhelming the likable, cool core of the character?
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First off, unless "Mindblade" is a use-name he took or was given because he has some kind of esper abilities, give him a last name that doesn't sound like it was lifted from Shadowrun.
Second, if you want him not to be a superman, give him some physical challenge he has to struggle with on an daily or even hourly basis. Give him a bad leg. A club foot. Terrible scars. One eye. What the hell, give him three eyes, just to be different. GRRMartin is doing awesome things with a dwarf these days.
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I'd recommend a character synopsis. In depth, google it. It'll force you to ask yourself some questions about your character(s)
This brainstorming may lead to some ideas, or scenes coming to you that fit the answer you seek.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/4143. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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I think the best way to attenuate the blandness in your superhuman character is by dropping the superficiality of invulnerability. Your protagonist might be an epitome of impeccability but what you have to keep in mind is that his challenges are equally overwhelming. The negative character that he is supposed to overcome or deal with should be having equal and opposite powers of similar amplitude and should be overall equally resourceful. That way no one is an underdog and what we have is a battle of equals, which is interesting in a way.
Now once your plot has these elements in place what you need is a personal life attached to these characters, which is going to spin enough controversy to keep the reader interested. Now there are various ways of depicting an impaired personal life. The most usual way to go about it is to create a character from the opposite sex who has a history with the protagonist, and maybe seduces the protagonist or gets him/her in a trance by so much as looking at her/him, but unfortunately plays for the opposite team. This sounds exaggerated but you have to decide on the meticulous details depending on what kind of picture you're interested in painting/at what pace you want your novel to move/in which era of history does the chaos breed, you know basically the 'theme'.
Another way of doing it is by showing him having an emotionally malnourished childhood and the fact that he went into drugs and is unable to quit so needs rehabs and without a regular visit to a rehab or without refueling himself periodically with a certain chemical he is no more than a freak dancing to the music of oppression. Use him like a lock with a rusty key that needs to be lubricated for the lock-key system to work properly and give the lubricant to his opponent and watch the story take shape...
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/4900. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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