A flawed idea

A flaw is considered essential to writing a character.  Justly so.  Everyone talks about how characters are flawed and thus it means they are well-written.

But how does one make a flawed character?  That’s the hard part. 

It is, right?

The problem with this logic, is that it treats a character as if existing in a vacuum.  An author wants to define everything important about a character before applying them to a setting or plot, similar to a child dressing a Barbie before acting out what she does.

The easy solution is to remember at all times that you are writing a story.  A story, very basically, is conflict and consequences.  Without conflict, there is no actual story—or character flaw.  Whatever makes the conflict is your character flaw. 

A flaw can be not being able to cross a room to get water.  A flaw can bee needing to travel, even a short distance, to get water.  A flaw can be not having immunity to poison in the water.  They all define the character; they all keep the character from being perfect; they all are essential to the story; and they are all something the reader can understand.  They are fine flaws.  They can be turned into complexities.

The fact that one can stress about a character flaw being best for them if a flaw itself, though one you can do without.  Over thinking keeps you from the most important part of writing: actually writing.