powerful character flaws tend to be the ones that have hindered your character their entire lives. So in Rocky, Rocky has never believed in himself. But flaws can occasionally be a more recent problem, typically the result of a recent traumatic experience. So if a character was recently dumped by someone they loved, maybe their flaw is that they don’ t trust love anymore.
When done right, the character flaw is the most effective way to add depth to your character. This is because once a reader identifies a character’ s flaw, there’ s an intrinsic need to see that flaw overcome. Being able to change is one of the most universally relatable experiences there is. So seeing someone else do it makes us believe we can do it. It’ s almost like we’ re living THROUGH the character, and that’ s what creates that deep emotional connection.
Inner Conflict – The term“ Inner conflict” is often mixed up with“ character flaw” because they both infer struggle within our character. But inner conflict is less about overcoming one’ s big weakness and more about a battle being waged inside the character. To execute a great inner conflict, you want to give your character two opposing forces that are pulling at him. Luke Skywalker( as well as Darth Vader) is being pulled by both good and evil in Return of the Jedi. Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver is trying to decide between being good or bad. A newly announced Andrew Garfield film is about a real estate agent who starts illegally kicking people out of their homes. He becomes rich doing so, but his conscience starts to eat at him. He’ s conflicted with whether earning a living this way is the right thing( inner conflict).
Again, the advantage of adding an inner conflict is that you’ re tackling a universal experience. We’ re constantly dealing with our own conscience, with what’ s right and wrong, being pulled in opposite directions. The most unsettled we tend to be in our lives is when
we’ re fighting these inner battles. It’ s a very intense experience, and therefore we relate to and engage when we see a character going through the same.
Vices – Vices are often used incorrectly in screenplays, as many beginning writers believe that simply adding a drinking or drug addiction will give their character that elusive“ depth” all these producers and agents talk about. 99 times out of 100, however, the characters unfortunate enough to be created this way feel cliché. Why? Because unless you’ re exploring the vice in all its depth and complexity, it feels sprayed on, a false veneer hiding the fact that you don’ t know how to build depth. A vice is the physical manifestation of an inner conflict. It’ s drugs, food, alcohol, sex, gambling – any physical addiction your character can’ t control.
In my experience, the only time vices truly add depth to characters is when the writer commits to them 100 % – when they explore all the complexities and faults and issues and pitfalls and devastations that come with them. We saw it in Flight, we saw it in Leaving Las Vegas, we saw it in Half-Nelson, we even see it in The Dark Knight( The Joker’ s vice is chaos). The screenplay almost has to be ABOUT the vice for it to truly resonate. Otherwise,
The Dark Knight
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