Without a weakness or a need your story ends before it has the chance to begin. Mary-Sue (male or female), that is a person with no perceivable weaknesses or flaws, makes for a boring character. It is possible to place this character in interesting situations but that is the literary equivalent of boiling steak and adding light salt and pepper afterwards.
The real depth of character begins with flaws that are debilitating or actively harmful to other characters. This is the start of the arc where the character realizes the harm he/she is causing and makes moves to change through struggles.
A good example of this is the hero’s journey in which the character has a call to action and an impulsing force pushes the character out of the comfort zone. You can choose to make the action entirely external as you make the struggle an imposing force, and/or make the struggle internal whilst you fight your own emotions/demons. How much more interesting of a story do you have on you hands as you battle for balance in the universe?
The memorable character is the one who carries flaws and either chooses to overcome them through great struggle or succumbs to them after everything is said and done. Sure you can have memorable events but what does it all mean if the character learns nothing from them?
When you write your character, you should write from your own experiences of weakness and of your own flaws and struggles. How else to better connect yourself to your readership if you already understand what makes a human human?
I would love to know your thoughts! Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.
Author J.M. Topp 