How to Write Complex, Flawed Charaters | Terrible Writing Advice
Stories' Matter Stories' Matter
992 subscribers
574 views
0

 Published On May 11, 2024

#authortube #booktube #literature #writingadvice #comedy #parody
Having flaws is an essential part of the human experience. Most of us masturbate 10 times a day or tell pointless lies to our coworkers about dead family members. As a fiction writer, you need to use flaws like these when constructing your characters.

Characters need to have both minor and major flaws to be compelling and three-dimensional. Minor flaws, like having a giant scar across your face, can be memorable but don't drive the narrative. Major flaws are often something that needs to be overcome and it does drive the story's conflict.

In this video, we'll look at ways writers can create flaws that are unique, relatable and that go along with the narrative to make for interesting fiction. For example, you want your characters to have a balance between negative and positive traits, like how Hitler was a vegetarian, but also did some pretty bad stuff.

As always, please like and subscribe to the channel to get weekly updates of writing advice and get yourself on the way to earning a steady passive income.

00:00 - Introduction
00:55 - Title Sequence
01:06 - Product Placement
01:49 - What are Character Flaws?
02:36 - Minor Flaws
03:01 - Major Flaws
03:23 - Fatal Flaw
03:50 - Step 1: Create Relatable Flaws
04:23 - Step 2: Don't Get Preachy
04:51 - Step 3: Find a Balance
05:31 - Step 4: Use Flaws to Create Conflict
06:24 - Outro

=============================================================

Related Videos:
Fighting Writer's Block:    • How To Fight Writer's Block (Writing ...  
Selling Your First Book:    • How I Sold My First Book | Terrible W...  
Why Your Book Didn't Sell:    • Why Your Book Didn't Sell...Terrible ...  

=============================================================

Learn more about John Lazarus

You can find a copy of my latest manifesto here:
https://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/c...

==============================================================

FIND A COPY OF JOHN LAZARUS'S LATEST NOVEL HERE (Note: If you scrolled this far, please support me my purchasing my most recent novel. Unlike most of the work shared in these videos, this is a legitimate book that I actually wrote and isn't just part of this silly parody.)

High Ground: https://www.amazon.com/High-Ground-No...

show more

Share/Embed