fiction

May 5, 2023

Crafting Compelling Female Villains for Your Story

The art of antagonism.

When I think of female villains and archetypes, the scariest to me is the mother archetype.

I don’t know, maybe; it is because I lost my mother early in life, or it could be the whole psychological nurturing thing that is associated with mothers, but as villains, they scare me.

My mother was my world. I knew I was loved; safe, and I was secure in that knowledge. The contrast to that is a betrayal beyond imaging to me. I know it happens in real life.

Two movies pop immediately into my mind. The first is a drama based on the real life of Christina Crawford, Joan Crawford’s adoptive daughter, in Mommy Dearest.

Faye Dunaway played the mother in the movie. It was disturbing to watch such basic human betrayal, and horrifying to know a child lived it. Part of the fascination was the extreme contrasts in personality from good mother to evil mother.

The fear factor of what happens behind closed door, and the image the rest of the world sees created a compelling, disturbed character with many facets, that was hard to imagine in one sense, at least for me.

It was not a horror movie, but still a nightmare.

The second is a horror film, Ma, about a lonely mother who invites a group of teenagers to party in her basement, but with specific rules. Octavia Spencer plays the mother.

The story goes from being a teenage dream of liberty to a teenage nightmare of survival, as the mother-archetype morphs and twists into an obsessively dangerous monster, mentally unhinged, through her own obsessions.

The mother archetype is universal. The twist to the abnormal takes human expectation and comfort levels from safety to the ultimate betrayal and evil.

Challenge the expectations for universal archetypes.

What makes these types of antagonist/villains so interesting?

Well, for one because it is so universally human. Everyone has a mother. Mothers take care of their children, or at least we expect them to nurture, as they are raising the next generation.

Unless you have lived it, you don’t expect mothers to act in villainous or in evil ways. The above movies challenged society’s expectation of the typical-mother archetype and prevalent stereotype.

The mother/child relationship is universal, whether you grew up with a mother or without one. It is globally relatable, and matters, broken or unbroken, it’s part of who we are.

Create Creditable Female Villans.

Make the motive creditable, layer the reasons, dress them in a pure motive layered with the undertones that are linked to selfish motives, such as power, revenge/vengeance, or perhaps a twisted justice.

Movie: The Hungry Games: President Alma Coin
Revolutionizing Villains Rae Elliott barelyharebooks.com

1.Motives require substance: Alma’s veiled motive involved freeing her oppressed people. Her true motive involved vengeance and bloodlust on behalf of fallen victims. While morally upsetting, this was still a believable and tangible motive for Alma.

2. Motives can have a moral gray area: some would say Alma was right to seek vengeance on behalf of her people. After all, it was just getting back at the Capitol for their heinous crimes- Right?

3. Motives can (and should) have layers: Alma sought justice, but her imbalanced thirst for power and blood had her justifying heinous ambitions.

How far will your villain go for love? Think of Kathy Bates in Misery.

Some other suggestions: From The Guide to Writing Dangerous women who are not cliches.

Sexuality — use it skillfully. Don’t make it all about the sex, but give the antagonist complexity and depth. The movie Fatal Attraction plays on the protagonist weakness and the antagonists obsession, which is not obvious at first.
Try not to use romance as the primary motive. Add layers to make a more 3-diminishable female antagonist.
Color your character in shades of gray, creating a tug-a-war and uncertainty in choices and principal motive.

One of my favorite female villains is Ursula, from the Little Mermaid.

Villainous Traits

There is not really any such thing as villainous traits. Traits are just traits and can have a positive and negative side. Even positive (the good traits) can produce negative consequence and morph it into the monstrous.

Find the strengths and weaknesses of your antagonist/villain and then, Flip the Trait, like a two-sided coin, allowing it to be their strength and their greatest weakness. Such as confidence morphed into the trait arrogance that blinds the character to their faults or missteps.

Or ambition that drives them to kill, or admiration that takes it to the level of stalking, or love that forces them to recreate, preserve, claim, perfectionism, or own aspects of that love e.g. serial killer or maniacal futuristic societies and so forth.

These are extremes, but there are many shades of gray in between positive and negative.

And nothing says your villain cannot have some positive traits with good results either. That just makes them human and more relatable, despite their bad deeds or monstrous acts.

23 Of The Best Female Villains You’ll Love To Hate
Female villains across film and TV often have three things in common: a killer wardrobe, a dramatic beauty look and an…www.vogue.co.uk

The female antagonist against a male protagonist.

Writing Complex Female Villains She Writes

MAN VS WOMAN

“Female villains are notorious for fighting other women in novels, movies, TV shows and comics. The implication often being that women can defeat other women, but it takes a man to bring down a fellow male. While we all know that’s not true and we also know there is a lot of interesting material in pitting women against each other, make sure you don’t fall into any territory where you are assuming the only match for a female hero is a female villain and vice versa. “ ~SHE WRITES

Challenge the stereotype of female. Women can be just as powerful antagonist/villains as men.

Hella from the Marvel Universe faces off with her brothers and holds her own.

In the movie Fatal Attraction, the female antagonist becomes terrifying in stalker pursuits, creating a feeling that she’s unstoppable. This would give me nightmares for years.

Mystique in the Marvel Universe is one of my favorites. She is both supervillain and an antiheroine.

She started as one of the X-Men’s deadliest foes in league with Magneto, the main Superbad, and then her character arch carries her into the status of antiheroine. She is just a cool character, able to shift hiding in plain sight.

Top 10 Female Villains in X-Men.

So challenge the archetypes and flip the traits, adding layers and dimension to your villains.

Bonus Exercise: Challenge The Archetype — Create Female Villains That Rock The Protagonist World! Get the brainstorm sheet here.

Find out more about Juneta here, her Medium publications: The ART of Fiction & Storyteller’s Gambit.

April 26, 2023

Ninea by Chris Makowski Storytime Blog Hop

NINEA

by Chris Makowski

Ninea dropped a coin into the phone and called. The bus had run late, so she missed the connection. She’d be there tomorrow. She put her bag on the bench and lay down.

“Can’t stay here, Miss. We’re closing up. The sun’s going down.”

“But I missed my bus?”

“Sorry, Miss, the next bus is after sunrise. Gotta close up. You can’t stay here.”

He locked up and all but ran down the alley. She heard the whine of an engine and smelled exhaust. There was a bench out front. Sweat discolored her dress.

The light above went out. Everywhere she looked, the lights were out. Businesses were closed, and not a soul walked the streets.

Except in one direction – a radio was playing, and there were lights from houses.

“Gotta be something this way.” At least her bag had rollers.

The street was potholes and broken asphalt, and the sidewalk was cracked and spat itself up here and there. Windows were open and inside people were listening to the radio about how they were responsible, they were ruining things, and if it weren’t for them, everything would be better.

A dog’s head came up in a yard; instinctively, she turned away and kept walking, right into the darkness.

“Barking dog ain’t safe,” she told herself. “Gotta find somewhere safe. Then get back for the bus.”

It got quiet. A slight breeze ran through her legs, and the moon played hide-and-seek with banks of clouds.

Her stomach rumbled.

Dark, dark, dark – a porch light was on. The house was old, a shotgun shack with one light inside, perched in the middle of all these trees. On the porch, an old man in old overalls and a pair of old boots rocked back and forth, each rock a squeak or a sigh.

Fireflies floated all over the lawn.

Everywhere else was dark.

The rocking stopped.

“You’re not supposed to be here.” He said.

She pointed down the road. “My aunt’s just down that way.”

He didn’t look. “That’s a graveyard, so she’s not likely much help now.” He stood up and stretched. “Hungry?”

“No,” but her stomach growled again.

“Ain’t much, but it’s dinner and it’s food. Or you can stay out here. Likely not safe out here… but it’s your choice.”

The sound of the radio carried from far behind her, a speech, cheering, louder and louder. The hairs on her neck stood up as she glanced back into the darkness. The dog barked.

He was holding the door open when she turned back, stepping carefully over the toadstools on the walkway up to the house.

It was basic fare – potatoes in white gravy, fried chicken, collard greens, rolls and butter, and sweet tea. He laid a second plate and let her choose, and when she chose he nodded and filled her glass. He ate as much as she did, set the bones in a pile, and asked no questions she’d have to lie to answer.

Not even her name.

One cough and he wiped his face. She blinked. All the food was gone, they’d eaten it down to the dregs.

Her stomach felt full.

“Can I wash up?”

He pointed at the sink, got up, stretched again, and went into the other room. So, she washed and dried; he only had four spoons, four forks, four knives, and four plates.

The wind blew again, cold and harsh, rattling the window. Outside was darkness, even the moon had fled.

The middle room had a box fireplace lit and burning so it was warm but not hot. A cotton sheet, a blanket, and a pillow sat on the couch.

A grandfather clock, the wood lovingly polished and each figure a craftsman’s delight, shared the room with her.

“Plumbing is in there. Sink, washcloths, soap, so not that hard.” He gestured vaguely in the direction of the only other door. Then he closed his door, a yellow light spilling underneath until she heard a click and it went out. Fold the sheet in half the long way, put the blanket over and the pillow at the top.

There was a creak from the other room. Then silence.

No music.

No radio.

The clock chimed.

She woke up with the sunrise in her eyes.

“Morning.” He came out of the kitchen. “Sausage in a biscuit, if you hurry you might make your bus.”

Thanking him, she accepted her breakfast in a napkin and took off down the road. Halfway there, she heard the radio again and saw the dog sleeping on the ground.

She hadn’t mentioned the bus. She hadn’t talked at all about traveling. She hadn’t talked about much at all.

The dog looked up and then lay back down. The radio was still talking about them and how awful them was and how them caused all the trouble. The sidewalk was still a cracked and broken mess.

The phone was still there. She sat on the bench. The man came and jingled his keys and opened the bus station.

The bus arrived, and she got on.

Ninea dropped a coin into the phone and called. The bus had run late, so she missed the connection. She’d be there tomorrow. She put her bag on the bench and lay down.

About Chris Makowski

Chris was born in the Pacific Northwest and lived briefly in Hawaii before being reared in New England. After traveling up and down and back and forth from coast to coast, he was dragged kicking and screaming in the bonds of matrimony to the State of Texas and has been mostly residing there ever since with his wife and son.

Royal Assassin by Vanessa Finaughty

The Big Bad Wolf and the Easter Hare by Katharina Gerlach

Earthquake Aftermath by Bill Bush

The Gynnos Seeker Project by Juneta Key

Cursed by Barbara Lund

A Different Kind of Raise by Amy Keeley

Night At The Museum by Vanessa Wells

Flowers For Angela by Curtis Phills

Ninea by Chris Makowski <–YOU ARE HERE

Archive by Gina Fabio

April 26, 2023

Flower For Angela by Curtis Phills Storytime Blog Hop

FLOWERS FOR ANGELA

By Curtis Phills

Three dots bounced on the bottom of Terry’s cell phone screen. Angela was reading his message. That was good. It meant she hadn’t blocked him. He re-read his message to her:

I don’t know why that girl told you I was going to marry her. I swear I only spoke to her once for less than a minute. I don’t even know her name

The dots disappeared. She’d left him on read. Again. This was completely unfair. He’d done nothing wrong. Ever since her cousin’s wedding, women had been saying things like that to Angela about him.

The phone buzzed. A message from Angela!

Shes not the only girl whose told me that

Terry furrowed his brow and leaned back against the driver’s headrest. Why was this happening? He’d never cheated on Angela. He never would.

Another buzz. Angela wrote:

Shes the fourth girl this week

Terry shook his head. That made no sense. He brought up the screen keyboard to reply but stopped. Texting wasn’t getting anywhere. He had to speak to her in person. She’d know he was telling the truth when she heard his voice. He grabbed the bouquet of flowers from the passenger’s seat and hopped out of the car.

Angela’s medical center was busy so Terry waited in line to speak to the receptionist. One person gave him a weird look about the flowers but most were excited to see who they were for.

When he reached the front of the line, the receptionist asked him, without looking up, “Do you have an appointment?”

“No.” Terry held the flowers up. “But I–”

“We’re full for the day.” The receptionist adjusted the shawl around her shoulders. “If you have an emergency, call 9-1-1. Otherwise, use our app to make an appointment.”

“I brought these for Angela.”
The receptionist looked up, her eyes narrow and her jaw stern until she made eye contact with Terry. “Awww. That is so sweet.” She grabbed the flowers. “Take a seat and I’ll put these in some water.”

Terry found a seat at the back of reception and wrung his hands. Hopefully, Angela would like the flowers half as much as her receptionist. She loved the way carnations smelled.

The line to check-in grew. An elderly man with a cane joined the line, followed by two gray haired women–one helping the other. Next a woman with two toddlers running around her legs pushed a stroller to the end of the line.
Terry stood to make room for her. “You can have my seat.”

“We’ll be fine.” She picked one toddler up and glanced at Terry. When their eyes met, her cheeks flushed red. She put her kid down and wiped at the baby food stain on her shirt. “Just so you know, their dad is out of the picture and the kids are always in bed by 8, maybe 8:30 at the latest.”
Terry furrowed his brows in confusion. Why would she tell him that?

“So I still have plenty of time in my life for a boyfriend.” She placed her hand on his forearm. “The right boyfriend.”

“Hey!” The receptionist had returned to the front desk and pointed at the mom. Her shawl was gone and she wore a thin white shirt with spaghetti straps instead of her uniform top. “That’s assault! Get your grubby hand off him!”

“It’s fine.” Terry held his hands up to show there was no problem.

The receptionist’s bare shoulders rose and fell with every angry breath. “Stay away from him.”

The mom glared back. “He deserves a real woman.”

“Oh wow, are those the flowers?” Terry said in an attempt to make peace while he approached the front desk. “They look beautiful in that vase.”

The receptionist looked at him and melted into a smile. She hugged the vase. “Too bad Dr. Angela won’t appreciate their beauty.”

Terry sighed as another receptionist sat down. “I can take who’s next.”

The elderly man coughed and used his cane to shuffle toward the new receptionist. She nodded at Terry, their eyes briefly connecting, then put her hand up to stop the old man. To Terry, she said, “You’re so thoughtful to bring those for Dr. Angela.”

Terry shrugged. If only Angela thought that.

The new receptionist put her hand on her chest and cooed. “I’ll bring them to her right now.”
“No,” the first receptionist said. Her lips were redder than before and her eyeliner sharper. “She doesn’t deserve them. They’re staying here with me.”

“He doesn’t want to be with you.” The second receptionist snatched the vase and ran to the back.

The first receptionist ran after her. Terry shook his head, his mouth open. Why was this happening? The first time he’d noticed women acting strange around him was after he caught the bouquet at Angela’s cousin’s wedding. She’d asked him to stand in the line for her.

He went to return to his seat, but the mom slowly licked her upper lip and winked at him. He decided to go in the back and find Angela himself.

It wasn’t hard. He followed the sounds of the receptionists screaming.

“You don’t deserve him!”

“You’re lucky to have a man bring you beautiful flowers.”

“Angela.” Terry stood in the door to her office. “Can we please talk?”
Angela sighed while she stood. “We’re through Terry.” She looked in his general direction, her brown eyes red from crying. “I’ve had enough of your lies. Now you’re seeing my receptionists? How long has that been going on?”

“I’m not.” Terry stared deeply into her eyes. He remembered getting down on one knee after catching the bouquet. Of course, Angela didn’t see. Before he could propose, her cousins tackled him, knocking him to the ground and scratching his eyes with the flowers. “Please, let’s talk about this.”

“You’re not going to make a fool of me anymore.” Angela grabbed her white cane and tapped a path past the receptionists, past Terry, and out of the office.

Royal Assassin by Vanessa Finaughty

The Big Bad Wolf and the Easter Hare by Katharina Gerlach

Earthquake Aftermath by Bill Bush

The Gynnos Seeker Project by Juneta Key <–YOU ARE HERE

Cursed by Barbara Lund

A Different Kind of Raise by Amy Keeley

Night At The Museum by Vanessa Wells

Flowers For Angela by Curtis Phills <–YOU ARE HERE

Ninea by Chris Makowski

Archive by Gina Fabio

April 21, 2023

Create Villains Readers Love To Hate

Photo credit for featured photo above by TOMMY VAN KESSEL on Unsplash

Using the negative character arc to make your villains stand out.

Three years ago, I learned about Clifton Strengths. These strengths focus on your potential rather than your weaknesses.

My top five strengths are: Connectedness, Adaptability, Intellection, Empathy, Input.

Number five input clarifies my constant need to always learn something new and explains why I am such a fiction writing course-acholic. I can’t get enough.

Now you are asking what does this have to do with negative character arc?

Nothing, unless you use the 34 skills to enhance your characters’ villainy (which I do), but it was an interesting way to lead into talking about my delight in discovering Abby Emmons on YouTube.

I became addicted to her writing style methods and perspective on writing fiction, which is very similar to my own, with great aesthetics and fun presentations. I am not as organized or aesthetic-minded as she is, and I learn a lot from watching her. And yes, I own a few of her courses, course-acholic, remember?

What is a negative character arc?

The simplest way to look at it is when a character, through life circumstance, situations, or tragic events, goes from bad to worse in choices, outlook, and attitudes.

They descend into a moral decline.

Abby Emmons says, “a negative character arc is simply the lie the character believes and embraces as their truth.”

How does the negative character arc work?

First, what is a character arc? A character arc is most often described as a transformative journey the main character must take throughout a story from beginning to end.

There are three types if character arcs:

The Positive ARC: Character starts out with a need/want. Often unhappy in present circumstance, they face obstacles they must overcome to learn the lesson that will return them to the happy status, and get them what they desire. OR they start out happy, it’s taken away, and they spend the story finding their way back to their new happy.
The Negative ARC: The character makes bad choices, behaves badly, and gets worse. They decline morally and hold the negative perspective as their truth. You see this in tragic stories, and it works well for creating villains, but ultimately never ends well.
The Flat ACT: These are stories where the character does not change. You often see these in detective type stories where the character has all the skills and knowledge needed to solve the crime-think Sherlock Holmes. You may see in supervillains and comic villains where the character has no backstory, remaining mysterious, illusive, taking great pleasure in their own villainy. K.M Weiland talks about Wonder Woman being such a flat arc character here.

In this article, I am focusing on the negative character arc, specifically for antagonist, arch-nemesis, and villains.

Anyone who knows me knows I am a Star Wars superfan. Star Wars gives me joy and was part of the inspiration why I started writing. Okay, why am I telling you this?

Emperor Palpatine is a super villain. He acts out of his own selfish desires and causes great harm to others without remorse. This negative character arc brings him to a tragic end through his own arrogance and false belief that his knowledge in the Sith arts makes him all powerful and ultimately undefeatable.

The Emperor is a flat character in that he never grows or learns. He is a character whose sole focus is to conquer the universe. Palpatine is the definition of evil, as defined by Holly Lisle.

Holly Lisle says, “Villains act against that which is good, taking definitely evil actions that result in horrifying consequences that envelop the hero and others.” How To Write Villains.

Darth Vader’s negative character arc starts in young adulthood, born out of fear creating a lie he holds as truth — a truth that consumes him, shaping all his choices until the point of no return.

This eventually turns him into the big bad until years later, when he grows and learns when faced with the choice of losing his son or choosing to do the right thing, no matter the cost.

This shifts him into a redemption arc, but the big bad still meets with his tragic end. He learns the truth of his choices too late, the consequence of the negative character arc. Abby Emmons Redemption ARC.

There are three types of negative character arcs.

The disillusionment Arc: The character believe a lie, learns the truth which is much worse than the lie. This arc has a nasty twist.
The Fall Arc: The character believes a lie, learns the truth but rejects it, and adopts a more destructive lie.
Corruption Arc: The character knows the truth from the beginning but suffers emotionally damaged or deception by someone or a situation in life. So, the character accepts/embraces a lie that reinforces their false belief, which shapes their negative outlook and choices.

Check this article by Abi Wurdeman on Dabble.com to learn about the 8 traits a negative character must have, such as a powerful lie, a believable journey into darkness, a plot driven by a negative character arc, plus five more.

Abby Emmons says, “The negative character arc stems from the lie the character believes. The disillusionment, fall, and corruption arc are all based on the lie the character embraces.” On YouTube.

Abby’s examples of negative character arcs.

How do I figure out my characters’ negative arc?

You need to map the beats of your negative character arc change. Keiffer’s article outlines this well.

Kristen Keiffer says, “the negative change arc is a tug-of-war between the ultimate truth and the ultimate lie.”

It starts with the character flaw framed in a limiting belief and then creates a specific story-related lie associated with a story-specific truth.

Example: Darth Vader

Anakin aka Darth Vader fears losing someone he loves because he could not save the most important person in his life — his mother.

The lie he believes is — if he becomes a powerful enough Force user, embracing specifically the Sith philosophy, he can save the woman he loves from death which he foresaw in a force dream-vision.

Vader’s flaw is his fear. It dictates all Anakin’s choices, as he struggles to walk the Jedi path.

Palpatine (a secret Sith Lord) convinces him that if he accepts the darkside and becomes his Padawan, he will teach him the secret of life and death, which the Jedi have kept hidden from him.

The lie associated with the truth is he could not save his mother as a Jedi, but as a Sith Padawan, Palpatine will reveal all the Sith secrets enabling him to save his beloved Padme from death.

This series of associations drives the story arc once Anakin and Padme are a couple until he crosses the line of no return. It’s a tragic domino effect of choices by Anakin, against all advice and warnings from those close to him, including Padme.

Anakin is so steeped in his own fear and misbelief that his internal conflict drives and motivates his choices almost on an instinctual level.

The inner duel between the quintessential truth and essential lie blinded him to his own actions, and brings about what he fears most — the loss of Padme and ultimately her death.

The lie believed, the fear, became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Understanding how the negative character arc works can help you craft antagonists and villains that will challenge your protagonist and strengthen them, making their story more dynamic.

And remember, watch out for that villain he’s on his own hero’s journey even if it is a tad skewed.

BONUS: Get Your Chart Your Antagonist/Villain Negative Character ARC Change Worksheet when you sign up for my newsletter.

April 19, 2023

How To Discover Your Character’s Flaw To Create Strong Story

Connect the dots, deepening the reader’s experience and engagement.

Why does your character need a flaw?

The more you can humanize your character, the better your reader can relate to them, which deepens your reader’s connection to the entire story.

When you can take this flaw and tie it into the core TRUTH of your story, it will grab them and keep them reading to find out what happens next.

The best part is that flaw your character has helps generate meaningful conflict for the story, and helps you push past bumps or moments of being stuck.

Flaws can be misbeliefs or lies the character holds about themselves or others. Maybe your character grew up in the foster system and believes themselves unlovable.

This makes them feel unlovable and unwanted.

They might spend their whole lives trying to prove themselves worthy or lovable. Every choice they make, even the simplest, can affect every action and motivation derived from the flaw to drive the story or create active conflict.
Maybe they pick the wrong people to involve themselves with and get in trouble proving that point to themselves over and over, and this leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy. When, in fact, it is their unwise choices or negative perspective of life that create these situations.
Or the opposite: they push away when other people get too close, which proves to the character they are unloved and unwanted.

This can create a nice growth ARC for your character throughout the story, and it helps generate conflict connected to the story core.

The flaw can also help you maintain character consistency and give them internal motivation to help you create a deeper reader experience.

A flaw might be that your character is stubborn, strong willed, and determined to do everything alone rather than ask for help.

Maybe they get angry easily and are quick to judge.
Or perhaps a deep need to control everything stemming from a childhood trauma, which puts their relationships, job, or mission in jeopardy.

This character flaw carries the story arc for the character, teaching them the lesson they need to learn, which is to work as a team, and/or to trust others to succeed.

I just saw a good example of a story flaw (which is a disability) on a TV series, The Good Doctor, season six, episode 16: The Good Lawyer.

She has a disorder called OCD. She freezes up sometimes in crucial situations, for example, a sound or something else that doesn’t go in cycles of three. It totally debilitates her, causing her angst or hardship.

They linked this disability to a childhood trauma and fear, even though the character knows it is not totally rational. It affects her behaviors, choices, and shapes the life she is currently living.

How knowing this can help?

Knowing the flaw can create strong motivation and internal conflict for your character. This causes them to act out their choices by taking action, which can create external conflict and situations tied to the flaw or misbelief.

In the example above for the OCD lawyer, why did the character want to overcome her flaw? She wanted to be normal and a trial lawyer. She wanted to be a lawyer, not just a researcher for lawyers.

Another way to find the flaw is through the theme.

A novel can have many themes throughout the tale, but there is only one through-theme that drives the story to the end. That through-theme can be represented in your character’s growth arc.

Finding the character theme is simply the way the theme affects your character at the beginning of the story vs who they become by the end of the story.

What is the story theme?

Abby Emmons says, “The theme is universal, and the theme means truth.” Here is a great video about the theme.

Google and Oxford Languages: Theme noun

1. the subject of a talk, a piece of writing, a person’s thoughts, or an exhibition; a topic.
“the theme of the sermon was reverence,”

Theme examples from NFI.EDU:

Love
Death
Good vs Evil
Revenge
Survival
Prejudice

You will want to break these down into components. Figure out why they are meaningful to your character, how they shaped your character and motivate your character. (Check Abby Emmons’ video linked below in the next section to learn more.)

Connect your character’s deep need or desire to a theme, and then flip it on its head to show the polar opposite. You can use it to show drive and motivation through choices and false beliefs about their world or other people.

In the OCD example, the character’s deep need was to help people. She was a trial lawyer because a lawyer helped her as a child, but because she has OCD, she thought she could never do that, so settled for being a researcher for trial lawyers.

In the beginning, the choices she made were around avoiding people and she focused on research. However, this left her frustrated, until she acted despite her flaw, and it became a strength which made her a better trial lawyer with a unique perspective.

A tip for finding the flaw.

Abby Emmons says, “Flip the theme to find your character’s flaw. Look at your story’s truth via the main theme, flip it, and make it a LIE.” More in this video about why. (More study related video ref: Enneagram.)

We can sometimes use tropes and cliches in the same way as themes to find the flaw.

Example tropes:

The Chosen One: FLIPPED: The character is the chosen one, but doesn’t believe or know it, or just shows up as an unlikely hero/heroine. We often see this trope in fantasy.
The Girl Next Door: The girl next door does not believe the boy she is crushing on would look at someone like her. Because she sees herself as ugly, overweight, or wears glasses or something, she thinks, makes her not attractive enough. In reality, it is a confidence thing — her character flaw is low self-esteem. All this connects back to the theme and drive within a story often seen in romance or women’s fiction.

Example clichés:

Too Good To Be True–The Jaded One. Things are too good to be true, so they do not accept the love that is offered or friendship, or they create conflict via mistrust and being difficult to deal with. We might also consider this a trope or theme.
A Loose Cannon. The character might have anger issues that cause them problems and embarrassing situations. Or maybe they are too impulsive, which causes them to act without thinking, putting them into dangerous situations, or shows a lack of good judgment. These things can also be a character arc connected to the theme.

Conclusion:

Understanding your character’s flaw and how it connects to their fundamental truth or theme can help build stronger characters and stories. Knowing that connection helps you leverage conflict and story arc to drive the story through to the end and keep the reader engaged.

Bonus: Get Juneta’s Character Flaw Idea Sheet Exercise.

Originally Published on Insecure Writer’s Support Group Blog by Juneta.