You know what bugs me in a story?

Mr. fucking Perfect. If I were ever to meet this person, I'd probably kick his ass on general principles.

Granted: with some authors, there is some level of wish fulfillment going on but please!

I'm not going to dump on any author- lot's of us do it.

See if you've met this asshole:

Mr. Perfect as a kid is brilliant and gets all A's. He's the perfect size, with perfect hair, with perfect bod and a perfect schlong. Of course- he get's the perfect boyfriend. He already knows more about sex than the karma sutra.

Mr. Perfect as an adult has the looks, the perfect car, the perfect job, is rich as fuck and gives money to feed starving orphans and nuns in Bogustan.

Ever meet Mr. Perfect? Of course not. He doesn't exist. If he did he would be an insufferable ass hole.

Real people have problems. Real people live in the real world. Real people struggle, they have problems and issues. And sometimes they rise above themselves and overcome.

THAT's WHERE DRAMA COMES FROM.

Think about how many stories you read where you encountered Mr. Perfect. Remember any? I doubt it. Mr. Perfect has nothing to teach you. You live in different worlds. Mr. Perfect doesn't worry about money or rejection or abandonment. If someone is dumb enough to leave him, they'll line up to jump in his bed! He's Mr. Perfect!

Let's talk about some imperfect characters you did remember.

Rory from Dom's Desert Dropping. Wasn't he an annoying little bastard? Dumb as a post to boot. You remember him because he was real and he grew up during the story.

Remember Arron from the same story. You remember him because he was flawed.

Or Prez from the Eggman's a New Life- you remember him because he was REAL.For a kid from Sherman, TX, moving to Malibu, CA was a New Life!

Or Dewey's Bryan and Pete because you wanted them to be as real and couragious as they were.

Or Scott and Joey from Driver's Falling Off a Log- they were real because they were who they were. You loved them because they were awkward little kids figuring out life.

The moral of this blog is that our characters don't have to be perfect for people to love them. In fact, the charm of many characters lies in their flaws.The ones that we remember are the ones who grow and overcome as we watch.