Flawed Characters

As I have been writing lately I've had to stop to ask myself the question, "Are my characters flawed enough?"  That's a strange question to ask under normal conditions.  We don't ever say, "Is my spouse flawed enough?" or, "Are my children sufficiently flawed?"  So, why do we ask it of our fictional characters?

I think the answer is simply that our spouse and our children (and, oh no, ourselves!) are already "sufficiently" flawed, and we are well aware of that fact.  So, who wants to read about a character that makes us or those around us look worse by comparison?  If a hero or heroine is too perfect we might end up hating them for that fact rather than respecting and liking them as was the author's intent.  Or maybe they just won't seem real, and then we will view the book as more of a fairy tale.  Any message the author may then want to impart will be lost as not realistic or simply irrelevant.

But there is a danger here of going too far.  Many well respected books put forth such flawed characters that I, as a reader, struggle to like them at all.  I would not want to be friends with these fictional people.  So, if I wouldn't want them in my home, why would I want them in my mind?  If I get to a point in a book where I begin to ask the above question, that's usually about the same time I put the book down, and find a better use for my time.

That's not to say every character has to be likable, but there have to be enough characters that we view as friends.  That way we will care about what happens to them.

I suppose there is a message in all of this.  Yes, I know that I am a flawed "character," but am I too flawed?  Fortunately as an author, and as a human being, I can choose to change my character(s).