Do You Give Angel Characters Flaws or Not?

Question: Hi. I'd first just like to say that your website has helped me out a lot. I'm currently writing a book that has characters that are angels. I would like to know, do you give them flaws or not?

Answer: Thanks for your kind comments.

I would say you should probably give an angel flaws, especially if they are the main character or have relationships with other characters. Perfect characters are a tad dull. They only become interesting, if at all, when other characters react to them in interesting ways.

As a main character, perfect characters seldom work because no one can relate to a character who is perfect. We can empathize with characters who have faults and problems because those things make them like us. Besides, if a character is perfect, every problem becomes too easy for them to solve, which makes for a dull story.

Even if you want to make your angels morally perfect (however you choose to define that), they could have limitations or weaknesses in other areas, so the reader can at least sympathize with their situation. For instance, Marley's ghost in "A Christmas Carol" has moral wisdom, but is limited in that he cannot directly intervene to help people in need (he needs Scrooge to do it for him).

You might get away with a perfect angel who appears briefly in the story as a guardian figure -- like the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella or the Blue Fairy in Pinocchio. But it's best if such characters send the main character on their journey and then bow out of the story. Main characters must wrestle with problems and make their own choices. They can't have a perfect being to turn to every time the going gets tough. And they can't be perfect themselves, because then every problem is easy to solve. When a story has no real problems and there's no risk of failure, it becomes dull and predictable.

Incidentally, the same is true for any character with superior traits, such as superheroes or geniuses. If your character has extraordinary abilities, it's usually better to humanize them by giving them flaws in other areas. Maybe you give your super-genius difficulty with relationships or a phobia. Maybe they are a brilliant painter but bad at math.

For example, in the Illiad, Achilles was an unbeatable fighter, but had one spot where he was vulnerable (Achilles' heel). Another example is Cassandra, who had the superior gift of prophesy, but was also cursed in that no one ever believed her prophesies until after they came to pass. Superman has his kryptonite. Sherlock Holmes has his fondness for cocaine. Spock's staggering intellect is balanced with his lack of emotional intelligence

Basic rule of thumb: make your characters seem human even if they are not. A character who is perfect is less human and less relatable, because every human reading the story knows they have their own flaws. (Anyone who thinks they are perfect is suffering from flaws such as pride or hubris.) Balance your character's extraordinary strengths with weaknesses, especially a character you want your reader to feel empathy with.

Angel character ID to stay a mystery till the end?

by Mary Magnusson
(Des moines, Iowa, USA)

Question: My secondary character is a male angel sent to aid main character throughout her life. How do I maintain his angel identification through out the story?

Answer: Well, you haven't really given me much to go on here, so I'm just going to go out on a limb.

For instance, there are a lot of possible types of angel characters, from aloof and non-interfering, to fatherly, all the way down to romantic partner.

I'll assume it's not the latter type of relationship.

I'll also assume the angel is the impact character and, for simplicity, that he is attempting to manipulate the main character into becoming something or making the right choice.

One approach that can work to create a mystery is to omit or hide one of the throughlines until late in the book.

For instance, you might tell the these 3 throughlines...

1. Overall Throughline- the main plot that revolves around the Story Goal.
2. Main Character Throughline or the main character's arc.
3. Relationship Throughline - the story of her relationship to this angel character.

However, you would hide the Impact character throughline. The angel might be doing things throughout the story that have an impact or influence on the main character, but she doesn't perceive what's going on, nor is the reader privy to what's happening. The absence of this throughline would be felt. Things might happen that were not explained, which would create that sense of a growing mystery.

Towards the end of the story you can reveal to the reader and main character what's been happening all along. The revelations would then make sense of everything.

Of course, you have to decide whether the main character needs to know the truth in order to make the right decision at the climax, or whether not knowing is critical to her making the right choice.

This also assumes that neither the reader nor the main character knows the guy is an angel until near the end. If she is supposed to know, then disregard what I've said. My going out on a limb has led to the limb breaking under me.

How do I get people to care for my characters in the first chapter?

by Natalie Danyus
(Waukegan, Illinois)

Question: Hi, this is Natalie Danyus again.

I'm going to write a story where an angel is a narrator of the story. He is narrating about the little girl he guards who is bullied, and his own life struggles (how he's trying to graduate from Guardian angel school) he's sixteen years old.

How, in the first chapter do I make my readers care for him? And the girl?

Answer: Making the readers care about the little girl being bullied should be a no brainer, if you paint the scene honestly. I can't think of a more sympathetic character. Make her a good person and provide an event where she loses to the bullies and everyone will be on her side.

As for the angel, you've already given him a noble motive (saving the innocent). If you want to make him sympathetic, show him with problems everyone can relate to.

Okay, maybe none of us know what Guardian Angel School is like, but your YA readers, or anyone who has been 16, know what it is to fear failure. We know what high school is like. We've had tough teachers and mentors. We've had difficult assignments. We've had self-doubts and insecurity. We've had friends look down on us. We've made mistakes. We've felt embarrassed, helpless, and hopeless. All these emotions make a character seem like an underdog.

So you might have the angel share something about himself and his predicament that lets the readers know he's human, just like them. Maybe you could even include another scene illustrating this.

Of course, you don't have to make your characters uniformly good. You could give one of them a selfish streak (also a human trait we can relate to) or some other fault that makes them seem more realistic.

Truth is, even an immoral character can elicit some sympathy from the reader if he is also charming. (Look at the popularity of Stephen Colbert or Black Adder.) For instance, you have the angel talking to the readers directly, taking them into his confidence. Perfect opportunity to charm the pants off them (so to speak).

So there you have four techniques for eliciting sympathy:

- goodness (so they deserve to win, even if they lose)
- underdog status
- emotions the reader can relate to
- charm

One other thing that may help... People instinctively dislike characters who have ego problems. Characters who are selfish, who think they are better or more important than other people, who see themselves as the centre of the universe, who like to boast about virtuous or talented they are, etc. tend to be disliked. So make sure your characters lean in the other direction. Humility, or at least a realistic estimation of oneself, is a much more appealing trait in any character.

Best of luck.

Do characters need flaws?

Question: In the book I'm currently planning I have some angel characters. I would like to know if I have to create minor or major flaws or any at all.

Answer: I think it would be pretty difficult to create a main character who is flawless. It's hard for readers to relate to flawless characters. They seem so unlike us.

Flawless people also seem so unlike the people we encounter in the world.

You sometimes come across Guardian characters who seem nearly perfect, but even they have tiny flaws. Obi wan Kenobi has a mild dislike of technology. Dumbledore has certain ambitions he isn't always able to hold in check. Gandalf... well he knows so much he sometimes forgets what he knows.

Your challenge, I suspect, with angelic characters is that people expect them to be morally perfect. But do they have to be perfect in every other way? Do they have to be all-powerful?

It's actually an old philosophical dilemma: if the universe contains a race of perfect, all-powerful entities (or even one), why does everything seem so imperfect?

Or, to put it another way, if there were a source of perfection in the universe, there would be no problems. Yet, stories are about problems. They are about situations that are less than perfect, and about less-than-perfect people trying to figure out how to cope. If there's no problem, there's no story.

So I think your angelic characters must at least have some limitations. If they are all-wise, all-knowing, and entirely benevolent, then perhaps their power is limited. If they are all-powerful, then there must be flaws in their characters. And that means they have challenges, frustrations, and the capacity for failure.

Angels or gods in literature and mythology always seem to be possessed of human-like faults, no matter how powerful they are. Otherwise, their stories would make for dull reading.

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