Laura C asked Issabelle Perry:

Hi! How do you make characters flawed and yet likable?

Issabelle Perry Hi, Laura, thanks so much for the question! Personally, I think when readers like a character it's less because they are "perfect" and more because the reader is sympathetic to or relates to the character. Take Katniss from "The Hunger Games" as one example. She doesn't really have the most likeable personality (even admitting that she struggles to make friends), but yet readers root for her so strongly. Her love for her sister is one aspect that a reader will likely relate to; every one has at least one person in their life they'd do anything to protect. In addition, we can't help but feel sympathy for the terrible situation she's thrust into. Additionally, I was recently reading Shakespeare's "Hamlet" and started to ponder why I favored this story a lot more than some of Shakespeare's others, like "Macbeth" or "Richard III." All of these stories feature a protagonist that commits murder at some point, but I actually like Hamlet's story. Even though I definitely don't agree with Hamlet's drive to murder his uncle, he still drew more of my sympathies because we saw how much the grief over losing his father pained him and felt his anger when he found out that his uncle was the one who committed the murder. So my recommendation of making a flawed character one that readers will like reading about is to give them something readers can either feel sympathy for or something they can connect with the character on. I usually recommend to give the character something they care about and show WHY that something matters to them. It softens their character and makes them easier to feel for. I mean we all have something that is important to us, and readers can instantly connect to that.

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