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A problem (or flaw that needs fixing) A want (or goal that the hero is pursuing) A need (or life lesson to be learned)
And that brings us to a great tip for writing flawed heroes: Don’t let the problem stay contained to just one area of your hero’s life. Let the problem(s) manifest and spread and infect! Your hero’s problem(s) should be affecting their entire world: their work, their home life, and their relationships.
The most effective character goals or wants are concrete and tangible.
Because in the end, the want is only half the story. Heroes aren’t complete until they also have a need.
We call that real problem the shard of glass. It’s a psychological wound that has been festering beneath the surface of your hero for a long time. The skin has grown over it, leaving behind an unsightly scar that causes your hero to act the way they act and make the mistakes that they do (flaws!). You, as the author and creator of this world, have to decide how that shard of glass got there. Why is your hero so flawed? What happened to them to make them the way they are? And most important, what will really fix your hero’s life? What does your hero actually need?
Your hero’s want or goal is an integral part of what’s called the A Story. The A Story is the external story. It’s the stuff that happens on the surface. Car chases; wars; fights in the school hallway; new jobs; casting magic spells; taking on an evil, dystopian government; poisoning the king. Essentially, it’s the exciting stuff. The “cool” stuff. Or what’s also referred to as the premise. On the other hand, the B Story is the internal story. It’s the story that’s intricately linked to what your hero needs to learn in order to change their life, complete their transformation, and enter the
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The life lesson is the inner journey that your hero didn’t even know they were on, that will eventually lead them to the answer they never expected.
If you’re writing a story with multiple main characters and/or multiple points of view and you’re still having problems figuring out who the hero is, or whose arc is the biggest, try asking yourself, Which of my main characters is most like my reader?
Somehow return them to their original status quo Act 1 life.
But here’s the clincher: it doesn’t feel familiar and safe anymore. And it certainly doesn’t feel the same.
Who the hero was in Act 1 + What they’ve learned in Act 2 = Who they will become in Act 3
Why would someone commit such atrocities? And what does that say about who we are as humans?
If you think your novel fits into the Whydunit category, you’ll need three key ingredients to ensure its success: (1) a detective, (2) a secret, and (3) a dark turn.
Also common in Golden Fleece stories is a road apple—something that stops the journey cold, usually right when victory is in sight. It’s a literal (or figurative) roadblock for the hero and their team to get around, forcing them to look more closely at their strategy, repair any bridges they’ve burned among themselves, and dig deep down to find their true skills and strengths.
On the verge of a stasis = death moment, a flawed hero Breaks Into 2; but when the Midpoint happens, they must learn the Theme Stated before the All Is Lost.
PARAGRAPH 1: Setup, flawed hero, and Catalyst (2–4 sentences) PARAGRAPH 2: Break Into 2 and/or Fun and Games (2–4 sentences) PARAGRAPH 3: Theme Stated, Midpoint hint and/or All Is Lost hint, ending in a cliffhanger (1 to 3 sentences)
And you might remember I gave the example of Aibileen from The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Although there are two other characters whose point of view we do see, I still consider her the primary hero of that novel, the one who changes the most.
