Flat characters aren’t engaging, for readers and writers. The fastest way to identify a flat character is to pay attention to how you feel when writing her. Do You Enjoy Writing the Character’s Scenes? Her scenes will blend into the surrounding POVs-or fade into the background if the others are more compelling.Ģ. Although some voices will flow out effortlessly while others will require extensive research, a character with little-to-no noticeable speech patterns will seem more like a detached narrator relating a list of events than a person responding to a situation as it plays out. The more recognizable and likable a character’s voice is, the more it sets her apart, giving her perspective a memorable flavor that also reveals who she is. So what can you do if you suspect that a core member of your cast is not three-dimensional? Ask yourself these three questions:ġ. Readers want stories that inspire them to care, and the cover of yours won’t stay open for long unless your main characters are as relatable and complex as real human beings. However, when a main character is uninteresting even to you, the author, that’s the biggest red flag you can encounter. When a side character needs more development (or replaced), the edits will be annoying but easy.
And figuring out how to reverse the damage was daunting. When you’re knee-deep in a project, being objective is difficult, so a flat character, especially a central one, can often hide in plain sight.
How did I manage to screw up one of the most important parts? I’d spent over a year on the story and written almost 100,000 words. A month ago, I had a shocking revelation about my current work-in-progress: my main character lacked a distinguishable personality and clear motives.
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