Tics and Tells: What tic/tell/weakness have you given a character that they'd rather foist on their worst enemy?
That's this week's subject matter. And I'm going to keep this one short and sweet, because I have serious deadlines.
Are you ready?
Jonathan Crowley is one of my recurring characters. How recurring? I have tales with him in Victorian England, the Old West, World War One and World War Two, the seventies, the eighties and all the way through to today.
He gets around. check out the illustrations at the bottom to see a FEW of the places where he ahs shown.
He has a MAJOR tic, and if he were real and had the chance, the odds are good he'd beat me to death for giving it to him
You ready? He is a completely normal person until he is invited to help someone. No special powers, no added perceptions, none of the things that keep him alive. But once he's asked to help and agrees, he is as powerful as the foe he is fighting.
You bet your butt he'd throw that flaw at his enemies if he could. I don't let him, though, because EVERY HERO SHOULD HAVE A FLAW. Without that, he has the potential to become a "Mary Sue."
It's his weakness and he's stuck with it.
He's survived despite his flaw, and that, too is a weakness. Jonathan Crowley is immortal. Should a supernatural threat be around, he will, inevitably, regenerate, whether he likes it or not. He has lost families, loved ones, friends, over the centuries and still he prevails.
He's a wee bit bitter about that, too, believe me.
Without a flaw, without a goal, a character is too powerful. That's why Superman needs the radiation of a yellow sun, and why Kryptonite will weaken or kill him. People always say "Superman is too powerful." He's supposed to be, but that doesn't make him limitless. That merely means he has more power than most, and he's tempered by his morals. He does not kill (Though one writer made him kill and I ignore that story) He does not break the rules. He has a strong moral compass, and believe me, Crowley would consider that another limitation.
