It is indeed my pleasure today to have as my guest Douglas Corleone. Not only is he a mystery author, but he is (like me) a lawyer. Unlike me, who only practiced a teeny tiny bit of criminal law, Douglas was a (and I quote) “former New York City criminal defense attorney,” so he ate that stuff for breakfast, lunch and dinner! (Yeah, that’s a metaphor. Okay? 
)
Anyhow, I highly recommend you check out this post he’s written about the flawed protagonist. I know I like flaws in my protagonists. My own protagonist, Sam McRae, sure as hell isn’t perfect. Anyhow, I think Douglas and I could totally agree upon the awesomeness of imperfection on the whole. Could be a lawyer thing. But I digress …
Oh, yeah. One other thing. Douglas lives in Hawaii. And sets his mysteries there …
*crickets* *crickets* *crickets* *crickets* *crickets* *crickets*
Tough luck for Douglas, huh?
Creating the Flawed Protagonist
As both a reader and writer of crime fiction, I have developed some strong opinions about what I like and dislike. One aspect of crime fiction I’ve found I can’t do without is a flawed protagonist. He or she doesn’t necessarily need to be an anti-hero, of course. But when I sit back and open a book, I don’t hope to find a sparkling, stout-hearted day-saver who can do no wrong. I like my protagonists a bit dark, somewhat world-weary. I want to see the cracks in the plaster, the seams in the wallpaper. To put it another way, I want to read about someone human.
We all have our flaws, writers and readers alike. So why shouldn’t our heroes be flawed, too? I admit, it’s sometimes difficult to walk the fine line between creating a flawed protagonist and someone readers will dislike. The hero, no matter how flawed, must still elicit sympathy in the reader. The reader must still want to get behind his cause. But that can be accomplished by a writer, even if his or her hero doesn’t always do the right thing, even if the hero is sometimes unsure about what is right and wrong.
For me, creating a flawed protagonist was easy, because my hero Kevin Corvelli is a lawyer – a criminal defense lawyer, in fact. So right from the get-go readers wonder whether he’s a true believer, a seeker of truth and justice, or just another stuffed shirt who will do anything, represent anyone, for a buck. In my debut novel ONE MAN’S PARADISE, Kevin Corvelli takes on the cause of a young man accused of killing his girlfriend on Waikiki Beach. Kevin is seeking redemption for a case he lost back in New York, a mistake that ultimately cost his innocent client Brandon Glenn his life. Right away, we know Kevin is flawed because he admits he screwed up back in Manhattan, that he was too busy playing to the cameras to overturn every stone in order to get to the truth.
Along with his past disgrace in the Big Apple, Kevin exhibits other flaws, some obvious, some not. He drinks too much, has deep-seated commitment issues. He’s somewhat neurotic, and of course, he’s paranoid. Clients have been lying to him his entire career and the result is that he trusts no one, not even his closest friends. As the story progresses, Kevin realizes and works on his flaws, but even at the end it’s clear that Kevin Corvelli is only human.
In my opinion, to gain a reader’s empathy, a flawed protagonist is essential. In NIGHT ON FIRE, the second book in my Hawaii-based mystery series, Kevin Corvelli deals with an entirely new set of issues – some concerning life, some concerning his role in the law – but he remains flawed. Because as a reader I enjoy witnessing a character’s internal struggles just as much as his external struggles. I like to see his imperfections. Only then can I truly empathize, because as much as we may hate to admit it, we’re all flawed in some way or another.
*****
Bio:
DOUGLAS CORLEONE is the author of the Kevin Corvelli crime series set in Hawaii. His debut novel ONE MAN’S PARADISE won the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award. A former New York City criminal defense attorney, Corleone now resides in the Hawaiian Islands, where he writes full-time. NIGHT ON FIRE is his second novel. You can visit him at http://www.douglascorleone.com
May 4, 2011 at 12:42 pm
I love the whole idea of flawed! Kevin does it well!
I can’t wait to see what he does with himself in this book! Loved the post — thanks Debbi and Doug! 
May 4, 2011 at 1:54 pm
For my own part, it was my pleasure!
And I’d also like to thank Doug. Because he did all the work!
May 4, 2011 at 12:58 pm
“I like my protagonists a bit dark, somewhat world-weary. I want to see the cracks in the plaster, the seams in the wallpaper. To put it another way, I want to read about someone human.” Agreed! Great post.
May 5, 2011 at 8:15 pm
I actually prefer a flawed protagonist, but I have friends who have been rejected because their protag wasn’t “likeable” enough. It seems there can be a fine line between flawed and likeable and flawed and not. Good post, Doug–an interesting perspective.
May 8, 2011 at 8:30 pm
Wow. Thanks for sharing that, Jenny!
May 9, 2011 at 10:46 am
For my own part, if there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s a protagonist that’s too good. I’ve set books aside because the main characters were way too perfect to be real. I won’t read books with characters like that nor will I write them. Period. But that’s just me.
June 15, 2011 at 4:16 pm
[...] storyline. In fact, Douglas (our author) wrote a guest blog post about flawed characters on Debbi Mack: My Life on the Mid-List where he writes: We all have our flaws, writers and readers alike. So why shouldn’t our heroes [...]
June 18, 2011 at 6:20 pm
[...] NIGHT ON FIRE by The Writing Sprite (whose name I love, BTW!). You may recall, Douglas did a guest post on this here blog, right? Well, that post got quoted by The Writing Sprite in her review. So … there’s [...]