Do your characters have insecurities?

It’s the first Wednesday of the month, which means it’s time to talk about insecurities. Before I do that, I’d like to thank Alex Cavanaugh for hosting this wonderful meme.
I decided to do something different with this month’s Insecure Writer’s post and talk about our character’s insecurities. Since people have insecurities, so should the characters in a book. Harry Potter doubts he’s powerful enough to defeat Lord Voldemort. Bella Swan doesn’t feel she has anything to offer Edward. These flaws help readers relate to them. I mean, would Harry be as likable if he felt he could charge in and kill the most feared wizard of their time? And Bella would have been a completely different person if she felt she was as beautiful as the vampires who are supposed to be flawless.
Insecurities help to add depth to our characters. Readers can find bits of themselves in a character that’s nervous about speaking in front of a crowd, worried that a decision they made ruined someone else’s life, or insecure about being liked at a new school.
In my young adult paranormal thriller/romance, EMBRACE, Madison hates change. She would prefer it if everything stayed the same, because for her change has never been good. Of course, change is inevitable and everything around her is changing. It’s just one trait that helps to bring her alive. In the middle grade novel my agent is shopping around Zach moves to a new school where he discovers he’s not as quick to jump into new situations without his best friend at his side. It’s just one layer of his personality and an obstacle he won’t be able to overcome until he faces the guilt he’s been harboring over something that happened between him and this same friend.
Some of the greatest characters in literature were insecure: Hester Prynne in the Scarlet Letter, Dorian from The Portrait of Dorian Gray, Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights.
So make your characters insecure about something. Give them fears and quirks. It’s these flaws that make them likable—sometimes hated—but always more human.

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