Open up almost any writing book and it will extol the virtues of the sympathetic character, which makes sense since most people don't want to read a book if they don't give a damn about who's in it.
Does your main character have to be like Mary Poppins and practically perfect in every way in order for the reader to care about her/him? Ick! No! For one thing, perfect people don't exist. Sure, you might know people who seem perfect, but they have their flaws too; they're just better at concealing them (a skill many of us would love to have). For another thing, perfect characters are boring because they have no room to grow and improve, and part of the fun of reading is seeing how the characters change as the result of the book's events.
Flaws are also a good way to make your protagonist someone your reader can relate to. Of course, you want these to be forgivable flaws. If your main character is a pedophile or a wife-beater, chances are, your reader is either going to throw the book across the room, root for your character's downfall (which had better include dying in a chemical fire), or send you a crap-ton of hate mail and dead rats. But I digress.
Now, these flaws have to be real flaws and not something that only serves to enhance how awesome your main character is. A strategically placed scar that brings out your hero or heroine's fabulous bone structure is not a flaw. Someone caring about their friends too much is not a flaw. People constantly asking your genius hero for help is not a flaw (yes, I've seen this, and let me tell you, it made a great appetite suppressant). Having an oh-so-tragical past is not a flaw either. Google the term "Mary Sue" and you'll see just how reviled these not-flaws are.
Your main character's flaws should be personality flaws, flaws that get him or her into trouble, flaws that s/he has to work through in order to grow as a character. You know, actual obstacles. For example, let's say your heroine has a bad temper. If she were a Mary Sue, this would likely be her only flaw (aside from a tragical past) and she'd have the most adorably bad temper to boot. Everyone in the story would think it's cute the way she pouts (her slightly too-full lips, of course) and stamps her teensy little high-heeled foot whenever she throws a tantrum. Anyone who thinks otherwise is just jealous and will be relegated to bad-guy status.
Your temperamental heroine will be written better than this, of course. Her blow-ups actually get her into trouble and threaten to keep her from reaching her goal, whether it's making partner at her firm or bringing about world peace. Other characters (and not just the ever-so-jealous bad guys) are willing to call her out on her bullshit, and by the end, she hopefully learns that popping off at someone for looking at her the wrong way isn't the best way of going about life. No, she doesn't have to turn into some mealy-mouthed doormat who bakes cupcakes for her enemies (without poison, spit, or ground glass in them, that is), but she should actually know the difference between being aggressive and being assertive. This is character growth.
For another example, let's say your hero has that tragical past after all. The past isn't a flaw in and of itself, but a person's past can inform the way they act and think in the present. If he had suffered a betrayal back in the day, maybe his fatal flaw is that he can't trust anybody and his character arc involves learning that everyone's not out to screw him over. Maybe his cynicism gets him in trouble at a crucial point in the book. Take that not-a-flaw and turn it into one.
Besides the fatal flaws, since you want your characters to be human and believable, they're likely to have a few bad habits, sometimes even full-on vices. Remember, you're writing a novel, not some Fifties pamphlet on moral hygiene. The occasional drink, f-bomb, or joint isn't going to make your character a bad person. Just don't go to the other extreme and use your character's vices as shorthand for their "edginess" (don't get me started on the word "edgy"), because that's lazy and cliched. Habits and vices have to be honest to your character is what I'm trying to get at.
Genres like action movies, superhero comics, and glittery novels about the jet-set tend to have a little more leeway when it comes to how flawless the characters are, because this is what the audience loves and expects. They want an adventure and to live vicariously through these virtual titans. Even then, those characters still have the occasional flaw or two, like Superman and his Kryptonite and double life, or the ruthlessness of the so-called rich-bitch heroine who wants to break through that glass ceiling in your glitter-and-glamor novel.
No matter what flaws you give your characters, their virtues have to outweigh them whether it's a matter of quality or quantity. Stay tuned for Part Two where I give you examples using some of the characters in Mad Men. If you haven't seen it, Netflix it already.
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