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Had a reader tell me my secondary character was too perfect, now I rewrite every side character with at least one flaw first.
She said in our book club that my hero's best friend never made a real mistake and it made him feel like a cardboard cutout, so now I run every new side character through a 'what's their biggest screw up' checklist before I even start writing a scene - has anyone else had feedback that forced you to totally rework your approach to character building?
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robert_smith363mo ago
Man that's rough but also super helpful feedback in a way. It sucks to have to go back and rework stuff you thought was solid, but I bet your characters are way more interesting now. I had someone tell me my main character never showed real anger, just got mildly irritated, and I had to rewrite half my outline to give him some actual tantrums and bad decisions.
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drew_patel573mo ago
Ngl that checklist idea is gold. I do the same thing now after realizing all my side characters were just mirrors for the hero instead of people with their own messes.
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uma_baker993mo ago
@drew_patel57 that checklist idea really does save you from those flat mirror characters... I started doing a "worst mistake they ever made" thing too and it changes how you write every scene with them. @robert_smith36 bringing up the main character anger issue makes me think we should all push past just flaws and really dig into how those flaws hurt other people in the story, like real life. A side character who screwed up once but everyone still gets annoyed at them for it feels way more alive than one with a neat little tragic backstory.
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