Flaws, Limitations & Handicaps
In earlier chapters, I described the idea of “audience interest”. A character only works if what they want is also interesting to the audience. You could have the greatest character that fits the plot perfectly, but if nobody actually cares about what they try to accomplish, you’re still at zero.
Such interest usually comes from flaws, limitations and handicaps. These are similar, all a “restriction” of some sort, but are not the same.
But why do restrictions interest people? Because humans are problem solvers! A character with restrictions placed upon them presents a problem. Now the audience is interested in (and perhaps actively thinking about) how the problem will be solved.
Oh no! A character with strong uncontrollable magic in a world that has outlawed magic! That surely leads to problems; how will they solve them?
Oh no! A character that is set to become the leader of a counter, but gets a sickness that means they lose their mind at random moments! What a problem. How will they solve it?
See how easy it is to create character this way?
Find the most important ideas of your setting or plot, then create characters that are severely limited by that exact idea.
Besides problem solving, there are two other strong reasons why restrictions work to create interest.
- This is familiar and recognizable. People also have to overcome restrictions regularly in their daily life.
- Restrictions breed creativity. Restricted characters simply lead to more creative stories by default.
Restrictions are interesting
In general, what you can’t do is more interesting (and immediate) to humans, than what you can do.
That’s why good magic systems are often defined by rules about what is not allowed or possible, as opposed to many rules about increasingly powerful things you can do.
That has always bugged me about Harry Potter. The only real limitation it places on most magic is “you do not know the right Latin words” or “you just don’t have the talent”. Which is vague, boring and does not make great stories. (You can solve this by simply memorizing a book of spells, or you literally can’t solve it because your magical talent isn’t big enough.)
The moments it does get interesting, is when there are clear limitations. Take horcruxes. You can only make them after killing another human being. A clear, simple restriction that enriches the story. It highlights Voldemorts cruelty and personality, while giving a good reason for preferring not to talk about or teach it.
Or take the fact that the Elderwand only belongs to you if you disarmed the previous owner. A silly rule? Yes. But it literally made the whole last book and resolution possible. I’d take a silly restriction over none at all.
That’s also why good characters are usually defined by the things they can’t do. By baking the restrictions into the character, you add endless opportunities for problem solving and conflict.
It also makes the characters more memorable. Negative experiences stick in our brain more than positive ones, which means a character failing to do something (or highlighting they’re not equipped to deal with something) is a great way for us to remember the character.
I’m writing a book series called Wildebyte Arcades. It’s about a character who is put into a computer to steal encrypted data, through an “innocent” mobile game. Every book they hop to a different game and play inside it.
At first, I gave them free reign. Whatever technology put them inside a computer allowed them to move around, interact, research however they wanted.
I rewrote the start of the first book several times and all the attempts were boring. The character could basically play god in this world! No limit to their power! So I switched it around. They were seen as a virus by the device. The technology was so primitive that they actually arrive at the wrong location at the start of the book.
By simply bounding Wildebyte to the same strict rules as the rest of the computer (about using memory, sending signals, installing new games, etcetera), the whole story becomes a hundred times better.
The most important question
As always, all the writing lessons are connected. The purpose of restrictions isn’t only to get audience interest, but it also creates the rest of the character (empathy, plot purpose, progression).
As such, whenever you want to add a restriction, ask yourself …
- How does this create motivation?
- And how does this create story?
You can do it both ways. Invent a fun restriction, then plot based on that—or invent a cool plot, then find a restriction that makes it possible.
But it’s important to connect the two. Otherwise, the restriction just turns into a frustration, a character being held back by something for no apparent reason.
What’s the difference?
Here’s the difference between the three words from the title.
- Flaws: the story portrays this as something wrong with the character, and they should have fixed it by now.
- Limitation: a restriction that does not or can not change.
- Handicap: something that must be overcome, but it’s not the character’s fault and they have no power over its change.
Our hero thinks he is better than everyone else. That is a flaw. The story probably portrays this as bad, showing event after event where their arrogance makes everything go wrong, giving them ample opportunity to fix it.
Take my Wildebyte example from before. The rules of the computer world are limitations. They decide what Wildebyte can or can’t do, and they do not change. (Well, apart from a few that Wildebyte does manage to change.)
Our hero was born with only one arm. That’s a handicap. It’s not their fault and they cannot change it, but it’s still something they must live with and learn to live around.
Some people add “gaps” as another restriction. This refers to a gap in knowledge; a restriction simply because you haven’t researched or tried something. I would simply add this under “flaws”, as it would mean your flaw was lack of effort of research.
Combining the different types
As expected, you want a healthy diversity. Build your cast of characters out of all three types (roughly equally), because most people consist of all three types. For your main characters, that will probably change and have a character arc, the flaw is most important. (For other characters, it’s less important.)
For example, take me!
- I have the tendency to eat when I need motivation to be productive. This causes me to consistently eat a little too much, which is a flaw. (Yes, I’ve been trying to conquer this for a while, but still haven’t fully succeeded.)
- I do not have a driver’s license (due to illness, see the next point). I simply cannot drive a car, end of story. That’s a limitation.
- I am chronically ill, which is obviously a handicap. Through no fault of my own, there are things my body just can’t do, I am often in pain, and if it ever changes I’d be surprised. I still need to overcome these issues to keep working every day.
Do note that these restrictions are bound to the timeframe of the story. The flaw is usually resolved by the end of the story. A limitation that’s true for the whole first installment of your book series, might not be true anymore in the final installment.
Initially, I wrote a different limitation for myself: my old and completely broken laptop. Typing and writing is basically the only thing it can do at this point, but even that is sketchy. I had to stop my work in game development because my hardware just couldn’t handle it anymore. That’s a limitation right now, as I do not have the money to buy a new computer. But I should be able to buy one in the future, resolving that limitation.
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