Making Nice Guys & Girls Realistically Flawed

We’ve talked a lot around here about why characters need flaws. Those negative traits make characters relatable to readers, they contribute to their arc, and, oh, a whole bunch of other things. Flaws are especially important for any character navigating a change arc, where their weaknesses are keeping them from success and growth is necessary for them to realize the need for change.

Most of the time, creating flawed characters isn’t too hard. But it’s more difficult for certain kinds of characters than others—particularly if you’re writing a character defined by kindness or niceness. This is the nice guy/girl trope, and while it can work for a protagonist, it’s most often reserved for secondary characters, such as a friend, ally, or love interest.

The nice guy or girl is defined as being a decent, kind, and morally upright character who tends to make good decisions. That makes the question of flaws more challenging because this person, by definition, is good. It’s their defining trait, what readers should associate with them. The key to making to make this kind of character realistically flawed while still maintaining their defining goodness is to be careful which negative traits you give them.

Pick Forgivable Flaws

Not all weaknesses are viewed as equal; some are more accepted than others and are easier for readers to ignore or write off. If your nice guy character is prejudiced, violent, or cruel—those flaws are strong and could easily override their positive qualities to the point that readers will no longer see the character as good. So consider weaknesses that are less extreme and more acceptable, as we see with the following nice guys and girls:

• The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Esmerelda’s kindheartedness and empathy are offset by her naïveté. This is often a sign of weakness, but it makes her vulnerable and often goes along with her positives, making it an easy one to overlook.
• Pride and Prejudice: Charles Bingley lacks assertiveness, letting his sisters and Mr. Darcy influence him and override his own desires.
• Birdbox: Olympia, by her own admission, is too soft, and you know straight off that she’s not going to make it. (Extra points for the backstory in this movie that lays the foundation for her flaw.)
• Frozen: Olaf is so friendly and eager to help, no one really notices that he’s not so bright.
• The Bear: Pete, the main character’s brother-in-law (whose niceness is a welcome change in this dysfunctional family) is a little too nice. His attempts to help make him look awkward and not very capable and show that he has no clue how to work within the family.

Show How the Flaw Creates Vulnerability

Vulnerability is the primary driver for reader empathy, because when you can show that a character is vulnerable, readers soften toward them. And when their flaw is the thing putting them at risk, readers tend to focus their antagonism more on the trait and less on the character.

Know (and Show) the Why

Why is your character disorganized or impulsive or a worrywart? Where does their flaw come from? There’s a reason people are the way they are. Many factors can play into flaw development, including

• Negative influencers, bad role models, and abusive caregivers.
• Emotional wounds and painful memories.
• Unjust/unfair experiences.
• Negative life lessons.
• Environmental exposures (such as growing up in a dangerous neighborhood and developing certain flaws that aid in survival).

PSST: The One Stop for Writers’ Character Builder helps you explore these and other factors that contribute to the development of authentic and well-rounded characters.

Delve into their backstory to see which flaws make sense and where they might have come from. Then you can give readers a plausible and heart-tugging reason for the character’s unattractive trait—something outside of their control that has made them the way they are. Readers will overlook even a really unpopular trait if they see it’s the result of the character being hurt, wounded, or influenced in some way.

One of my favorite examples of this is Melvin Udall from the movie As Good as It Gets. (Okay, so he’s not a nice guy; he’s a total jerk. But the vulnerability principal applies to flaws in all kinds of characters.) Abrasive, prejudiced, selfish—you dislike Melvin on sight. But then you see that his behavior is the result of an untreated mental health condition that has left him isolated and alone. He actually craves community, but his off-putting flaws make it impossible for him to connect with anyone. And suddenly, you’re rooting for him. You want him to be and do better.

Showing the “why” also ensures that the negative trait you’ve chosen makes sense for the character. It wasn’t picked off a list and just plugged into their story—which is good, since that’s not how traits form. It developed like real-life flaws do, from past experiences, wounding events, and influencers. So make sure you know where the flaw came from, and be sure to show that to readers.

This post is a response to a question from one of our readers, which I originally replied to via a quick video in one of our newsletters. If you have writing- or industry-related questions you’d like us to answer, we’d love to address them. And to receive our occasional newsletter that contains answers to these questions along with other helpful writing advice, sign up here.

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