Ok, so let's say you have your plot, your cover, your description...well, most of it, anyway. 

You still don't have a (good) main character.

Everyone knows about Mary-Sues, and how you don't want your character to be like them. That's very true.

But you DON'T want the opposite to happen either.

These characters are practically composed only OF flaws. Let's call them... Sob Characters.

Both of these cases can be VERY annoying and take you away from the story. And, in my case, want to fling my computer/phone against the wall. Or just write a short chapter where I slam the character against the wall repeatedly.

I'm sorry. They're really annoying.

What you need is a BALANCED character. Not too flawed, not too perfect. You can gave more flaws than good traits and vice versa, but not too much of a difference!

Let's use some examples, then. To show you what NOT to do.

Raven NOTE: this character is apparently human

Strengths: Invincible (gets hit by bullets but magically survives), can kick anyone's but (be they immortal, undead, or just "amazing", nice, caring, etc. etc.

*cough perfect perfect perfect*

Flaws: She's a jerk to literally one person.....the villain. Is that even a flaw? I don't think so xD

So, that's a classic example of a Mary-Sue. Let's see another example--

Steve

Strengths: His sobs of terror have been known to occasionally make an enemy trip and fall

Flaws: Weak, scrawny, ugly, scared of practically everything you can think of, attention-seeking

That's my example of a Sob Character. Do you see what I mean?

Yet some people, so scared of making Mary-Sues, do create these.

Try this-- for MCs, make a list of positives and negatives about them. If they're balanced (one off) then CONGRATS *confetti* YOU WIN

Example of a balanced character:

Helen

Strengths: Good fighter, loyal to friends, secretly nice

Flaws: Sharp tongue can get them in trouble, afraid of the dark or something random

See? 3 strengths, 2 weaknesses. Not bad for 60 seconds, eh?

Now, onward, friends! BALANCE YOUR CHARACTERS!

~Ember

Coming up next: Part Two: Appearances