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The beta reader who told me my protagonist was 'too perfect' and I needed to make her mess up more
They said give her at least three specific failures before the midpoint so I cut the scene where she saves the day and replaced it with her accidentally ruining a wedding dress rental in chapter 2 and the story finally felt real instead of like a checklist of hero moments has anyone else had to gut a favorite scene because it made their character look invincible?
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hart.cora21d ago
Keeping her perfect just means you're writing a power fantasy instead of a person.
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masonbell21d ago
A buddy of mine wrote a novel where the main character was perfect at everything. No flaws, no doubts, always said the right thing, always won the fight. He gave me a draft to read. I got about fifty pages in and realized I just didn't care what happened to her. She was like a marble statue. Nothing at stake because she never messed up. I told him straight up, your character is boring because she never fails or struggles. He got mad at first but later rewrote her with real problems. The new version was way more interesting. My point is, perfect people don't exist in real life so they sure don't work in stories either.
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elliotadams21d ago
That "marble statue" line hit me hard because I've been there myself, trying to read a character who never stumbled. It's like watching a video game where the player has god mode on, you just turn off after a while because nothing matters. I remember this one series I picked up where the hero never missed a shot, never lost an argument, and everyone liked her instantly. I dropped it after two chapters because there was no reason to keep going. Perfect people are just boring, plain and simple. Have you ever tried to write a story with a character who had too many flaws?
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