0:02 Flaws are the secret to making your
0:04 fantasy characters relatable and
0:06 interesting. Yet, most new fantasy
0:09 writers approach flaws the wrong way. I
0:10 know I did when I started out, but after
0:12 publishing four fantasy books and after
0:14 coaching over 200 writers in my
0:16 different programs, I've realized that
0:18 there's a much better approach to
0:20 designing meaningful flaws for your
0:21 characters. Once you see this, you're
0:23 never going to be able to unsee it again
0:24 because you're going to realize that
0:27 this approach has created some of the
0:29 absolute best characters that you have
0:31 ever read. Okay, so to start with, what
0:33 is the wrong way to build character
0:35 flaws? Well, the wrong way is to do it
0:37 randomly. Maybe you look at a list of
0:38 different character flaws and you go,
0:41 "Hm, I guess my character is impatient.
0:44 I guess maybe she's greedy and maybe
0:47 she's clumsy as I'll explain why this
0:49 approach is an issue in a moment. But
0:50 first of all, if you're feeling called
0:52 out here, don't stress. When I was a new
0:54 fantasy writer, I did this all the time.
0:56 And in some of my previous YouTube
0:58 videos, I've probably even shared lists
1:00 of different character flaws to get you
1:02 to use this approach. It is certainly
1:04 better than not having any flaws for
1:05 your characters at all. That's because
1:07 when you write characters without flaws,
1:09 they just don't feel that interesting
1:11 and they just don't feel that relatable.
1:12 and you're not really giving them any
1:15 room for growth or the capacity to go on
1:18 this adventure to overcome this internal
1:20 struggle within them. Because like it or
1:22 not, you and me, we both have plenty of
1:24 flaws in our life. I know I certainly
1:26 do. And when we see those reflected in
1:28 the characters we read about, it makes
1:30 it so much easier for you and me to
1:33 identify with them and to cheer when
1:35 they overcome those flaws. Okay. So,
1:37 what actually is the issue with the kind
1:38 of random flaws approach where you're
1:40 just grabbing flaws from anywhere and
1:41 you're just pasting them onto your
1:43 characters. Well, the big issue here is
1:45 that it lacks a sense of cohesion with
1:48 the character's true nature. So, let me
1:49 explain the better approach to designing
1:50 character flaws, and you're going to see
1:53 why this is far superior. The better
1:55 approach is to ask yourself, what is my
1:57 character's greatest strength? And then
2:00 you ask yourself, what weakness does
2:02 that strength create? I call this the
2:04 power paradox. And the reason why this
2:07 is so interesting is because in life,
2:09 whatever our greatest power is, when
2:12 it's taken to an extreme, it often
2:14 becomes a liability. So, for instance,
2:16 if you are extremely organized, that is
2:18 amazing. It probably means you stay on
2:19 top of things. But it might also mean
2:21 that you suffocate the fun out of some
2:23 experiences and you say no to things
2:25 just because they're spontaneous and
2:26 they don't fit into your organized
2:28 plans. If you are extremely confident,
2:30 that maybe allows you to inspire other
2:32 people and it maybe means that you are
2:35 quick to take action because you just
2:36 know that this is going to succeed. But
2:38 it probably also means that sometimes
2:40 you rush into poor decisions. Likewise,
2:42 if you are extremely kind to other
2:44 people, always doing things for other
2:46 people, that probably leads to you being
2:48 able to give a lot of love in your life,
2:50 but it might also mean that you are a
2:52 tremendous people pleaser or that some
2:54 people take advantage of your
2:56 generosity. So, that right there is the
2:58 power paradox. Your greatest strength
2:59 often forms your greatest weakness.
3:01 Let's run through five character case
3:03 studies to see this principle in action.
3:04 The first example I want you to look at
3:06 is Logan Ninefingers from the First Law
3:08 series by Joe Abocrombie. Logan's
3:09 greatest strength is that he is this
3:11 incredibly fearsome barbarian warrior
3:14 from the north. His name sparks terror.
3:16 He survives brutal battles. He outsmarts
3:18 his enemies and he wins from seemingly
3:20 impossible situations. But that same
3:22 strength also forms his greatest
3:24 weakness. Because throughout the series,
3:26 Logan is trying to get away from the
3:29 violence of his past. He is constantly
3:31 trying, or at least he says he wants to
3:33 become a better man. Yet, the very thing
3:35 that made him strong, his tremendous
3:38 skill with violence, keeps dragging him
3:40 back towards bloody situations. Another
3:42 example is Harry Potter from the Harry
3:44 Potter series. Harry's greatest strength
3:46 is his willingness to sacrifice himself
3:48 for others. In this sense, he's a polar
3:50 opposite from Voldemort, who tries to
3:52 get other people to sacrifice themselves
3:53 for him. So, this means that Harry
3:55 repeatedly puts himself in situations
3:57 where he is in danger in order to try
3:59 and protect the people he loves. But you
4:00 can probably see where this is going,
4:02 right? That same strength of being
4:04 willing to sacrifice himself for others
4:06 also creates his greatest weakness.
4:08 Because Harry's instinct and his
4:10 eagerness for self-sacrifice often makes
4:13 him extremely reckless and extremely
4:15 prone to guilt-driven decision-making.
4:17 He carries around this kind of crushing
4:20 weight of responsibility from trying to
4:22 protect and save other people around
4:23 him. And he often struggles with feeling
4:25 like he could have done more. He could
4:26 have been a better protector. At times,
4:28 this leads him to isolate himself from
4:31 his friends or to make really dangerous
4:32 decisions or go off on really dangerous
4:34 solo missions by himself because he
4:36 doesn't want other people to get hurt,
4:37 but then it kind of leads to other
4:39 people getting hurt because of that. Our
4:41 third case study here is Shalon from the
4:42 Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson.
4:44 Chalan's greatest strength is her
4:46 ability to create alternate identities
4:48 using a combination of her lightweaving
4:50 powers where she can kind of craft
4:52 illusions and also the skills she slowly
4:54 develops as a spy over the course of the
4:56 series. She learns how to adopt
4:58 different personalities like Veil or
5:00 Radiance to help her adapt to different
5:02 situations. But this same chameleonic
5:04 skill is also her greatest weakness
5:06 because her ability to kind of create
5:08 new versions of herself to have these
5:10 alternate personalities, she sort of
5:12 uses it to escape from traumatic events
5:15 in the past. She fragments her identity
5:17 and this means that sometimes she
5:19 struggles to know who is the real
5:21 Shalan, who is the real true version of
5:23 me, which holds her back in her
5:25 relationships with others and really
5:27 affects her own mental well-being. Our
5:29 fourth character case study is Paul at
5:30 Trades from June. What do you think
5:32 Paul's greatest strength is? I would say
5:34 it's his ability to have these precient
5:36 visions of the future. He can perceive
5:38 the branching paths of possibility,
5:40 allowing him to navigate war and
5:43 politics and relationships with this
5:45 supernatural insight. But as we follow
5:47 the power paradox theory, you can see
5:49 how this greatest strength of his also
5:51 becomes his greatest weakness. Because
5:53 Paul's precience, his ability to see
5:55 into the future, it often traps him in
5:57 the present. And it often leads him into
6:00 situations where he feels like he has no
6:02 free will. He feels like he's just a
6:04 train running down this track with no
6:06 ability to deviate. We see this a little
6:07 bit in June, but it becomes
6:09 significantly more pronounced in June
6:11 Messiah, which is the second book in the
6:13 series. The more clearly that Paul sees
6:15 this holy war that's going to be waged
6:18 in his name, the more he realizes that
6:20 he is kind of like trapped and unable to
6:23 stop this horrible thing from happening.
6:25 even though he is a being of tremendous
6:27 power and political influence. So his
6:29 gift of foresight becomes a prison of
6:31 destiny, forcing him to make decisions
6:33 that he knows is going to lead to the
6:35 deaths of billions of people, but he
6:37 knows he kind of has to do it because
6:39 there are even worse possibilities out
6:40 there in the future. And then our fifth
6:41 and final character case study is
6:44 Kazreer from Six of Crows by Lee Bugo. I
6:46 would say that Kaz's greatest strength
6:48 is his meticulous planning. He's a thief
6:50 and a criminal and he comes up with
6:52 these incredibly complex, really
6:54 wellthoughtout schemes in order to con
6:55 people and steal money. And he's really,
6:57 really good at thinking through every
6:58 little detail and every little
7:00 contingency. Yet, this same obsession
7:02 with planning also creates his biggest
7:04 flaw, which is that his need to control
7:07 every variable of a situation often
7:09 makes him unable to handle the
7:12 unpredictability of human relationships
7:14 and genuine human connection. He often
7:16 keeps his friends, his crew members, and
7:18 even the love interests he develops in
7:21 the story at arms length because people
7:22 can't always be planned for or
7:24 controlled in the way that he likes. And
7:26 that, of course, is an internal struggle
7:28 that he learns to work on and improve as
7:30 the story progresses. So, I could go on
7:32 with this and you are more than welcome
7:33 to leave some other character examples
7:35 down in the comments below, but with all
7:37 these characters, I hope you can see
7:39 that their flaws make them interesting
7:41 because they're not just pasted onto
7:44 them randomly. They are using the power
7:46 paradox to look at this character's
7:48 biggest strength and then identify what
7:50 weakness that strength creates. And when
7:52 you can do this, it creates a much
7:54 better sense of cohesion in your own
7:56 story. So with your own fantasy
7:57 characters, I want you to think about
8:00 this right now. Ask yourself, what is
8:01 this character's greatest strength? And
8:03 then what weakness will that create?
8:05 That is how you write compelling flaws
8:07 that drive your plot forward in an
8:09 interesting way. Of course, flaws are
8:12 just one aspect of a great fantasy
8:13 character. Watch this video over here to
8:15 learn about the 10 most common
8:16 protagonist mistakes that I see new
8:18 fantasy writers make all the time. If
8:20 you can learn how to avoid these
8:21 mistakes, you're going to stand a much
8:23 better chance of writing a character
8:25 that readers love. Keep riding and keep
