My novel: Sorcery and character flaw time

I have a book I am writing. No, not another in the Haven series, but that will be soon, once this one gets out of my system. I know my fans of it want another and there is meant to be another. So write it I will. But this plot came to me fully formed after a night of insomnia and demands my time and attention. I call it Sorcery right now, as my holder title.

Unfortunately, as I got about 70 pages in I had this really dissatisfied sensation. Not the plot. The plot is solid. But the protagonist was blah, bland, and her personality wasn’t shining through. Irked me a great deal. This is the character for this plot. But she was really so flat.

You know, this isn’t usually a problem for me. I usually have a well-developed character first and then the plot is developed from them. But this time, that beautiful plot came to me and I needed a character to fit into it.

What do you do with a flat boring-ass character?

I could have dropped her and re-formed her. Developed her in any number of ways.

But instead I paid attention to her… and how she fits with the plot… and her magic style. She is a sorcerer after all. In a world where that isn’t common at all. There is a lot of potential for a really solid character.

But

She needed a flaw.

First, she needed a price and consequence for her magic. And then she also needed a personal flaw.

And so, I gave her an addiction. A few really. More like regular overconsumption to hide from reality. And I gave her a history where the addiction impacted her life directly and someone died as a result. I haven’t fully formed that history but it is alluded to in the work now.

And she still has a secret past that I gave her to develop later. Pantser than I am, that will come later. Her secret past impacts her present life because there are a lot of secrets she has to keep about the world and the people in it.

And now, she has some depth. And I am refining her personality in how she typically interacts with people.