Zetta, you're on to something about the flaws and the quirks. I like your leading ladies. This is precisely what readers want. They may not be able to articulate, but they'll know if it's missing. Great characters drive fiction, and I'm judging the book based on several levels, but characters are right up there. LOL

I think characters are a microcosm of the world. People aren't perfect so characters cannot be either. I was taught that the full range of qualities -- well rounded -- make them more interesting and believal. For instance, an evil character must have some redeeming qualities and as well for a good character. It's up to the writer to examine her characters with a microscope while writing and while rewriting.

I like flawed characters. I always think they are more interesting to read about. It doesn't have to be a major flaw--it could be something as simple as a touch of indecision. That is enough to bring an edge of conflict to a story. If you have a character who usually has no problems making major decisions, but can't make a minor decision and finds herself stuck, then it's interesting to see how that moment of indecision affects her. A few years ago, I read a book in which the main character's indecision about what she should wear on the night she was supposed to meet someone meant that she was nearly an hour late for their date. Her indecision essentially put him in the path of meeting someone else and her unwillingness to see that she could have prevented this if she'd just been on time becomes a bone of contention between her and her friends.

In my current wip, my mc meddles in her husband's work cases. She simply cannot help herself. She gets herself into some serious trouble with the law doing so. She's sassy, a smart-ass, and she reacts before she thinks. These flaws cause her husband serious issues at work, and she puts her own life in danger. 

I'm hoping at the end of the story, she learns from her mistakes, but she's taken on a life of her own. I'm not sure what she'll do or how she'll change in the end. We'll see!

But, heck no, she's not perfect.

I think flaws are relative. What may seem to be a flaw to one person is a quirk for another. Some of the "flaws" my characters have include sexual exhibitionism, the inability to say "No," greed, murder...and these are are my leading ladies! LOL

No, but a few characters share the same ones.  

 

Real people are often just as complicated, so why not fictional ones?  :)

Is all of those the flaws of one character?

-- Lust for Power

-- Regrettable past

-- Anger management issues

-- General naivete

 

I'll list more if I can.