Character Development

 Let's talk about character development.

Each time you add a flaw to your character, you've done two things: first, you've asked the reader, "You still willing to root for this guy, even once you've seen this?" Second, you've given the character something to overcome.

There's a delicate balance: flaws must be significant enough to affect the story and worry the reader, but still overcomable so the character can be likable. There is also a problem to consider if you plan on having sequels: the character must overcome all his serious flaws by the end of book one, but if there's a book two, he must either develop new flaws, or the writer must focus on a different character.

If he develops new flaws, they can't just be random. They have to have sprung from the happenings of book one. Perhaps he was betrayed in book one, and now he sees trust as naivete. Perhaps she developed an attachment to an untrustworthy figure, and now she's unwilling to think ill of him.

By the end of any book, every main character has to have changed, for better or worse, or what was the point of their journey? One is now distrustful, another gullible. Some have new loyalties. One has become more serious, another more secretive. One has come to terms with a death in the past. Another recognizes her responsibility for those around her. Everyone has made new friends and new enemies. Broken relationships are restored, or an unstable truce is made, one that cannot survive for long. Everything must be put back together, but always devolve again, always threaten to fly apart, for the sake of the story.