How Flawed Should Your Hero Be?
When writing my novel, I re-read it after the first draft and realized that I didn't actually like my main character for the first three chapters. She came across as selfish, insensitive, and egotistical, which is fine - if there are also redeeming qualities or you have expressed a possibility of change. I realized that she didn't have any and I really hadn't. So, I rewrote the beginning, softening her a bit (but not too much - she's still a go-getter, wants more from her career, bucks limitations), and I was satisfied.
So, how flawed should your hero be? When I say "hero" I mean main character - so if that's a tiger, then the tiger should need to grow, to find something out about itself. None of us are perfect (well, maybe you are, but I'm not), and a story about a perfect person would be pretty boring - how do they evolve in the novel if they don't have to work on anything?
Make your hero imperfect, but someone that the reader can get behind and care about. Look at any novel, and see if you can find the flaw in the hero in the beginning and how the hero remedies that flaw by the end. Also, look for what connects you to the hero in the beginning, and keeps you rooting for him/her throughout the book. Maybe she's unlucky in love, but it's because she's self-sabotaging. You want that character to find love, and also to learn to not do the latter. Her journey may revolve around that, it may revolve around something else, but that self-sabotaging will be her initial (or one of her initial) flaws, and her not finding a good relationship - as of the start of the novel - is how you get behind her. You can do it, hero! is what you want your readers to think. And, I want to read about you doing it!
But, maybe, in this case, she finds that she doesn't need outside love to be satisfied. She finds self-love. Your reader was still behind her at the start to find some sort of love, even though she was flawed. She had a journey to go on, and your reader liked her enough to go on it with her.
Make you hero flawed, but keep your hero relatable. Again, none of us are perfect, and we're not going to root for a completely unlikeable character to the end of the novel. Be generous with your flaws - they are what make the novel interesting. But, have your character do at least something close to the beginning that keeps your reader thinking, "Even if I don't like this hero, I can see that they might be able to change. I'll keep reading to see if they do."
