We already have a thread about Mary sues and how to avoid them. We also have a thread about the Mary Sue tropes we hate which is Here.
This is a thread with my advice on how to give your MC an actual flaw which isn’t cliché.
First of all I’m going to say that having dead parents isn’t a personality trait. The MC can develop personality traits from it, for example they could still be grieving which leads them to have anger issues or attachment issues. Also if you are going to blame all the bad things the MC does on her dead parents then you should also show the MC to be working on those negative traits so they don’t get a free pass at being a terrible person just because they are an MC with dead parents. That isn’t a good message to give to the readers.
Try to stay away from abuse unless you are actually knowledgable on the topic because being abused isn’t a personality trait. If your MC was abused in the past then everything they do can’t be blamed on that, being abused in itself isn’t a flaw the MC has as they can’t control that, the flaw would be the mindset and tendencies that the MC picks up from it which again the MC should be shown to work on. Which is why I advise staying away from abuse as it can be difficult to accurately portray a survivor of abuse or a victim of abuse.
Now giving your MC a flaw should be based from the way they act and their personality. Not their “damaged past”. For example your MC could be a very lovely person most of the time but they can have a b*tcy side to them which makes them come across as unpleasent at times. Which causes them to be quite isolated. As opposed to the typical Mary Sue who gets bullied for being no actual reason.
The flaw also works well if it is counter productive, think about Harry Potter, he was often so hot headed he couldn’t see things from a reasonable perspective and never questioned anything. He just took things at face value, acted on impulse as opposed to thinking things through and that flaw made him seem more human and it was also counter productive.
So let’s help each other out with this and give good flaws.
You know, the MC doesn’t have to be likeable you can have the MC be the villain, perhaps someone seeking redemption?
You could place the MC as a right snob, someone who looks down on everyone else. This gives them this flaw, and also brings with it a lot of other problems for the MC.
Another thing is dont let the MC get away with everything. They should have to follow the same rules as every other character.
I also read this one story where the MC was really snobby because she was good looking, popular and smart. Then she ended up in an alternate reality where she was the stupid one.
I read another one about a character called Charlie I think, she had to keep swapping bodies until she stopped being an a**.
Also advice on how to not make the MC invincible. Fair enough if you want to make your MC the chosen one, the most powerful and the one destined to save the day. But they can’t be indestructable, having magical powers at all is unrealistic outside of the context of a fantasy story so you need to make sure that within the fantasy story you aren’t overdoing it in terms of the power you give to your MC.
If you give your MC godlike powers then it will just make them boring. They win every fight, except maybe one and there is no risk. Your reader is never scared for the MC, there’s no excitement because you just know the MC will win.
So try to reduce the amount of power the MC has, give them a weakness. Maybe if they use full strength they pass out? Or lose their power for a small amount of time, like when you pull a muscle and need to rest it. Maybe using their powers is painful to them?
Maybe they are a hippy pacifist and don’t like killing I mean who does? In too many stories you get an MC that just kills people with their powers no questions asked.
The MC in my story is pretty snobbish, but once she has to live in a new reality where she doesn’t always get what she wants… she realizes that she can’t always have it her way. Not that she gladly accepts it, though. I hate when in stories, the MC accepts hardships without even complaining. That’s not realistic.
In all seriousness, if you wanna make a nice MC then that is completely fine but you need to understand that nobody is nice 100% of the time. They need to have moments where they do something which isn’t a nice thing, show them doing something selfish or morally questionable because it will make them seem more human.
If the character you are writing for is a little similar to yourself. You can also try to embed some of your own flaws in them and maybe enhance or adjust them a little.
My main character - Kito - actually started as a bit of a derivative mess who was completely stolen from an anime MC I liked a lot. Then in the first re-write he was an author insert but way better looking so no real flaws there amirite
Then on the second re-write he was starting to fall into some serious Mary Sue trappings. This rewrite is actually available on Amazon funnily enough. It was a dumb fantasy chosen one story where even by Chosen One standards he was special
No, the most recent rewrite I sometimes get scared I made him too flawed to combat all that. While he’s exceptionally gifted in combat, he deliberately hamstrings his swordplay ability by using sword types he isn’t familiar with because of his arrogant and self-righteous swordsman’s past, he frequently gets in over his head and loses fights against opponents he really isn’t ready to fight solo and he can be super reckless and foolhardy which gets him in a ton of trouble.
He also has horrible anxiety, massive self-confidence issues and really doesn’t talk to anyone but his wife about how he feels or what’s getting him down. Which is very unhealthy . Not to mention, he doesn’t handle his PTSD in the best ways and it can send him into depressive streaks where he isn’t fun to be around and he just wants to kill something
I don’t think you overdid it but you definitely made a very troubled character, it all makes sense too. I only class “overdoing” it in terms of flaws if they start to contradict each other and none of those flaws do so I’d say you’ve definitely made a very interesting character with a lot of depth.
I’m thinking of writing another side story for Kito and the main character is only half-formed in my head right now but I know I’m going to be designing his arc around his biggest flaw. Recklessness.
I absolutely love characters who are brash, reckless and hot-headed. Especially when it’s for good reason. I feel it’s one of the most relatable flaws a character can have. And it can crush you when a character gets into serious trouble because of it, and boy, can they.
you can have the MC be the villain, perhaps someone seeking redemption?
sorry about that 
