“You keep telling yourself that.”
Ever heard that comment? Most of us have something we’re deluding ourselves about. So, why should well-rounded fictional characters be any different?
With fictional characters, there’s an opportunity to go all-out on this. The helicopter parent tells herself she’s simply involved in her kids’ lives. The coward calls himself cautious. The selfish, stingy man swears he’s being responsible with money. When they genuinely believe their own PR, these characters become truly interesting—and they have the opportunity for a significant growth arc (or for tragic failure!).
Build That Flaw Deliberately
Here’s a way to build that flaw deliberately…
1. Write a single sentence your character uses to describe their best trait.
2. Write a moment where that “best trait” does real harm. The gap between who they think they are and who they actually are is where dramatic tension thrives.
The parent’s involvement publicly embarrasses her son and costs him a place on a soccer team. The coward’s caution leaves someone bleeding when he hangs back. Make sure your character doesn’t see their culpability yet—let the reader be the first to see the truth, because readers lean in when they’re one step ahead.
3. Write a moment where the character almost sees themselves clearly, flinches because of it, then paints over the potential revelation with a joke or an excuse or a quick change of subject. Save their full collision with reality for later, when staying blind finally costs them more than seeing the truth. (That might just help you enrich your climax.)
4. Write the moment the truth becomes unavoidable. They belong to a cult, not a church. Their cowardice has let people down (and let people die!). Their parenting style has made life worse for their son, not better. It might be a Damascus Road experience. It might be that they’ve lost it all. It might be a catastrophic failure in battle. Their flaw is responsible for their disaster. And now the only way forward (if they choose to) is to abandon the delusion and find a new way to think and behave. Or they can cling to the lie and pay the price.
Try it. You might just find a new way to enrich your story. Because great stories are built around great characters.