Writers in the Storm

A blog about writing

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February 3, 2025

Ways to Fix Writing Mistakes: Oversimplified Characters

by Ellen Buikema

Everyone makes mistakes, which is okay because making errors is a quick way to learn.

You receive a message from one of your beta readers that reads, “I loved your surprise ending!” Then you see these words. “But your main character . . .  There wasn’t much to like or dislike. I just couldn’t relate.”

This is not possible. How could someone not love my spunky protagonist?! She is awesome!

So, you re-read your manuscript only to discover that your protagonist is three dimensional in your mind, not on the page. Not complex enough.

No worries! Here are some fixes.

These four elements can help avoid oversimplifying characters:

Figure out what your character Wants and Needs

Don’t assume that your character’s Wants and Needs are the same things. Most characters think that what they want is what they need. Often, characters don’t know what they need.

Want vs need creates conflict in the story—the character might think, “If I do this, then I’ll get that.” What the character intends doesn’t always happen, which created tension. That’s the story. An easy way to plot this out is to ponder several questions:

  • What is your character's state of mind at the story’s start?
  • Where are they going?
  • Where will they land?
  • Will they get what they need at the final destination?

For example, in Star Wars: A New Hope, Luke Skywalker’s Wants are healthy. He wants to become a Jedi, join the Rebellion, and fight the evil Empire.

Luke Skywalker’s Needs are to let go of his anger, fear, and hatred. By failing to do this, he puts his own life as well as those of his family, friends, and Rebellion forces in danger.

If you’re stuck for your character’s wants and needs, think about your own life experiences. Or, you can practice by inserting information from other stories. Maybe your character Wants to run away from home, but Needs to deal with their feelings of abandonment from being ignored growing up.

Give them inconsistencies

Contradictions are a great way to keep your characters interesting. Make them a bit unpredictable.

  • What if the hero isn’t brave?
  • How about a Matchmaker who can’t find a good match for themselves?

Frodo from Lord of the Rings: the most unqualified, harmless person who is the only one able to take the One Ring, of evilest magic, through the dark land of Mordor to be destroyed.

The Ronan Lynch character of Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Cycle series is rude and rough with most people, but can be thoughtful and tries to help his friends when he notices something is wrong. This makes him likeable, giving the readers something to emphasize.

A way to play with a character’s contradictions is to describe their wonderful and terrible sides: to fall for them, yet really want to give them a piece of your mind.

Example:

A character is a delightfully talented actor. But that actor agrees to give a performance on the same day of a good friend’s wedding knowing full well he’ll be late to the ceremony at which he is the Best Man.

Gift them with flaws—keep them relatable

We all have flaws. Your character needs them too. Your readers relate to sympathetic and dynamic characters. Not all characters need to, or should be, loved, but we do want the readers to feel for them—thereby keeping the readers engaged in the story.

Gift the character with positive and negative qualities. Serious, with a quirky sense of humor. Fearful, but willing to stand up for their friends in a pinch. The balance of positive and negative bestows the character a realness, while giving the reader someone with whom to sympathize.

A way to keep track of your character’s flaws and strengths is to make two columns, with flaws on one side and strengths on the other. This will help with your character’s backstory. It also helps you to keep track of these traits.

Example:

A heroine that is courageous but over-thinks everything can work to get her cohorts in and out of trouble. Or a sidekick who is faithful but envious can cause interesting issues with the other characters.

Let them be vulnerable

Vulnerable characters have depth. Allow your characters the chance to be emotionally open to the reader. This lets them be sympathetic and irresistible. We see their internal battles and empathize.

Example:

In the novel The Sightless City, the character Sylvaine is a Ferral, a species of furry, clawed beings who are looked down on and treated poorly by the human majority. Sylvaine has been called a beast all her life. Instead of directly fighting against prejudice, she tries to prove herself the exception by becoming an engineer, which Ferrals aren’t allowed to be.

She fails, making her susceptible to the corruptive influence of one who promises to give her the powers of an engineer, and an identity free from the discrimination and self-loathing that comes with being a Ferral.

Using a character’s fear to show their vulnerability is a tool writers can use to make their characters dynamic.

  • What are your character’s fears?
  • Is it loss or lack of control, rejection?
  • What would happen if they had to face their fears head-on?

Creating space in your story for your characters to face these fears, and deal with them as they may, will allow your reader to see them as sympathetic.

When writing your characters, what do you do to keep them from being oversimplified? Who is your favorite, complex character? What is it about that character that you find relatable?

* * * * * *

About Ellen

Author, speaker, and former teacher, Ellen L. Buikema has written non-fiction for parents, and The Adventures of Charlie Chameleon chapter book series with stories encouraging the development of empathy—sprinkling humor wherever possible. Her Works in Progress are The Hobo Code, YA historical fiction and The Crystal Key, MG Magical Realism/ Sci-Fi, a glaze of time travel.

Find her at https://ellenbuikema.com or on Amazon.

Top Image by İbrahim Özkadir from Pixabay

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6 comments on “Ways to Fix Writing Mistakes: Oversimplified Characters”

  1. Great tips, Ellen. I needed this reminder. I find fear to be the emotion I tend to gloss over the most but it is also one of the strongest.

    1. Hi Lynette,

      I find that fear is difficult to write in that you have to dig deep into memories which are not fun to view, even from the distance of time.

      I'm glad that the tips are helpful!

  2. You'll like this, Ellen...I
    used your post to to help me with my story this last week. I had access to it on the dashboard and felt like I was going in circles with the NYC Midnight story prompts.

    This section is what really made the difference. --> Figure out what your character Wants and Needs

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