You could call it the back story. It’s what happened in the past that affects
your protagonist today, sometimes told via a flashback.
I am told by editors/experts that our heroes need to
be flawed in some way, not perfect. No one roots for the perfect hero. They
must have flaws, challenges, problems. They shouldn’t be boring. So, a
flashback of sorts brings awareness to your character’s past and how that flaw
shapes your protagonist today and how that explains why and how he reacts in
the present.
That’s easier said than done and I struggle with the
concept. It may be a bit of laziness on my part or inexperience in my writing. On
first draft my heroes are always too perfect. They are all tall and handsome or
slim and beautiful. I guess boring because most people are not like that. We are imperfect.
I’m reading J.K. Rowling’s books – writing as Robert
Galbraith – in which her main character, C.B. Strike, hobbles about the detective/mystery
series on a prosthetic leg, having lost his real leg while serving with the British
army as part of coalition forces in Afghanistan. She tells his backstory in
bits and pieces throughout the first part of the book, not all in a big dump
(another subject).
The outwardly apparent disability makes Strike an
imperfect hero. The disability pops up regularly in scenes as he is unable to “dash”
after would be suspects and capture them, thus leading to much anger and
continued dismay at his condition, only assuaged by large amounts of alcoholic
beverages, taken in a variety of pubs.
The physical disability is the visible flaw that defines
Strike, but he is also flawed in his social interactions, which makes his interactions
with people in general quite interesting. His character has trouble with
interpersonal relationships, especially with his attraction to his pretty partner,
and much of the book involves this on again-off again attraction between them. So
there is a psychological flaw as well. I’m not sure where that ultimately leads
since I haven’t read all the books, but in the meantime it adds a second level
of texture to the man.
C.B. Strike is flawed on two levels and this makes
him a complex character. His partner has her own flaws as well. In fact the whole
book is full of flawed, suspect, unreliable characters. Maybe this is what
makes good mystery books. Maybe that’s as it should be, since we are all flawed
on some level. Maybe it’s these imperfections that make our lives so
interesting. I think J.K. Rowling gets that.
In the first draft of my new book, Murder on Black
Mountain, my characters were all perfect with little flaws. It took me several
drafts to beat them up and add physical and emotional flaws to their back
stories. I think it made the characters and the story richer for it since we can all identify with human frailty. If you
already knew this then congratulations, but if you came to this late like me, we’ve
got work to do.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GK9KRDJ
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