Hi fellow travelers,
What do you think when you hear the claim, "It's characters' flaws that make them interesting?"
Maybe your mind jumps to characters who are supposed to be a "good example"--in other words, they're a mouthpiece for the author's own moralizing. No character development necessary, evidently.
Or maybe your mind jumps to characters who are supposed to be exciting because they're the "bad boy" or the "bad girl," but they're really just immature and annoying.
Or maybe, like me, your mind gives you some examples of both. Because, of course, many characters of both types exist.
But here's the thing: I'd push back on the idea that a character is ever interesting because of their flaws.
Are flawed characters often interesting? Um, yes. I did not show up in your inbox today to claim that Gollum, Han Solo, or Snape is a boring character.
However, when I think of my personal favorite fictional characters, the list is always topped by the likes of Aragorn, Ender Wiggin, the Last Unicorn, Raoden from Elantris, King Arthur--in other words, good characters.
Not that any of those characters were perfect. Several of them failed in significant ways. But their overall bent and pattern of life was always toward doing the right and heroic thing.
Which leads me to question...is there really such a thing as a "flawless" but boring character?
Think of the "too good" characters you didn't like. Why didn't you like them?
Probably because they came across as arrogant, uncaring, ingenuine, unself-aware, hypocritical, bigoted, or the like.
Which are all flaws.
The characters weren't boring because they possessed moral strength. They were boring because they lacked moral strength and the writer didn't address it.
On the other hand, is there anything inherently interesting about flaws?
If I want to read about someone who's immature, selfish, greedy, unfaithful, or unwise, I don't need to pay for a novel. I can just open my browser and click the first news headline that pops up. Or read the diary I kept when I was 10.
On the other hand, if I want to read about someone who's mature, sacrificial, generous, trustworthy, and wise...I might have to work a little harder to find that.
To put it in the terms of the aggressively catchy 80s song by Bonnie Tyler, when I'm looking for a new favorite book...I need a hero!
Why go into all this?
As most of you know, I'm working on a novel with the working title The Henchgirl and the Hero.
It's a young adult fantasy adventure where a girl who works for the villain needs to stop the hero's quest in order to save her family's lives...but in the process, she starts falling for the hero and maybe even believing in what he stands for.
In a previous email, I shared about why I believe it's important to keep telling stories where heroes really are good guys. And then you guys contributed to an awesome follow-up discussion that I really appreciated, enjoyed, and learned from!
Now I'd love to discuss heroic characters more specifically.
If I'm being honest, I'm nervous about writing a truly heroic character.
The reason why many authors haven't succeeded in pulling it off is that it's not easy.
Not only is it hard to be a heroic person...sometimes it's even hard to imagine what that would practically look like!
There's no reason I couldn't make the same mistakes other authors have.
That's why I'm doing my best to study and get feedback and pray for wisdom and revise my story's weak areas.
And it's why I'm asking for your help.
I would love to hear from you:
What makes a character the kind of hero you want to read about and root for?
What makes characters feel relatable and genuine even when they don't have massive, glaring flaws?
What are your favorite examples of "good" characters who are more interesting, not less interesting, because of their moral strength?
I'd also love to hear any concerns or counterexamples that come to mind when you consider reading about this type of character. What are some pitfalls I haven't mentioned but need to avoid?
If you contribute to my thinking process on this, you'll be...my hero.
By the way, if you really like your flawed characters, don't worry--this story has plenty of those, too. Maybe something to discuss in a future email?
So, what's actually going on with the book?
I promise I'm actually working on the book, not just thinking about its philosophical implications.
I spent the first five weeks of 2025 taking H&H through its very first edit round!
Here's a bit of what my process looked like:
- Reread the whole book. I did NOT allow myself to make any edits in this stage as the purpose was to get a big-picture view. But I did comment on the document, which helped me remember and brainstorm issues for later.
- Go back to the basics. Before writing the book, I crafted a premise, character arc, synopsis, and outline. (If you don't know what any of that writer lingo means, just let me know and I'd be happy to explain it to you!) After reviewing the draft, I revisited these foundational story pieces and made adjustments as necessary.
- Brainstorm the big changes. This included getting input from other writers, and also some just plain problem-solving. It doesn't always feel like you're making tons of "writing progress" when you spend a morning staring at a blinking cursor in a Google document, but sometimes that's when the biggest breakthroughs happen!
- Implement the changes--backward. Only at this point did go through the book chapter by chapter to update the scenes, paragraphs, sentences, and words.The non-traditional part was that I started with the final chapter and worked my way backward! Ironically, this helped the editing process flow better. It saved me from constantly stopping for "oh yeah I should've added that five chapters ago" moments.
- Repeat bits and pieces of steps 1-4 in various disorganized ways. I wish my editing process were as clean-cut as this bullet point list, but in reality there was a lot of jumping back and forth between different stages as necessary. It's still by far the most organized first edit I've ever executed, though!
On Friday, I made back it to Chapter One--which, for me in this case, was the ending.
That, by the way, is why this email is coming on a Monday afternoon instead of the usual Saturday morning: I used up all my Friday time completing that edit. If you were highly distressed due to the absence of an email from me on Saturday, I apologize, but not really, because I know you weren't.
Ok, so what's next for this book?
I'm hoping to go through the manuscript one more time this month. (Forwards instead of backwards!)
And then I'll be seeking help from a professional editor. I can't give you any details about that yet, but I'm really excited for outside feedback on this story!
And yes I'm terrified too, that's par for the course.
Beyond that, I continue to pursue my goal of getting this book ready to pitch to agents and publishers by this summer(ish).
Shockingly, I'm still on track with that ambitious goal! (We'll see if professional feedback changes that...)
As always, you can help me attend a conference when you buy a copy of Voices of the Future Vol. 1 from me!
I hope to have further exciting conference details for you soon as well!
In the meantime, send me all your thoughts on heroic characters, interestingly flawed characters, weird editing methods, and possible upcoming adventures.
Adventurously yours,
Jenny Gossell (Jandalf the Green)
