ZThemes

Sliding Scale of Good to Bad Traits (rebloggable by request)

To the flood of askers: As Evvy said, whether a flaw “counts” is based heavily on its impact on the story. Under the right circumstances, even a positive quality can be a flaw. One of my own characters is loving and forgiving to a fault. Being loving, understanding, and compassionate do not strike many people as being flaws, for certain. But depending on the tone of the story, such a trait can cause major issues, including our intrepid hero getting blindsided by an enemy already once defeated.
 rain-down-love

Yes, thank you, my dear, you got me. 
Um, how can I describe this.

[   0   ]   1      2      3      4      5      6      7      8      9      10

^This is a scale.
0= Does not have this trait
1= Trait is not advantageous 
10= Trait is very advantageous

Make one for all of your characters’ traits (or at least the plot relevant ones). Mark it up. 
Example, ‘forgiving’. Forgiving: 10 means a compassionate person, who will let other people’s trespasses go. The trait is totally beneficial to them. Positive trait. Forgiving: 1 means they are a doormat. Negative trait. Forgiving: 0 means they don’t have that quality. Gotcha? These can change throughout the story as well- perhaps your character grows, moving up the scale, or goes down the scale when they are exhausted, or when they’re in a good mood. You can use these charts to track changes related to morale, growth, and situation in the story. 

Now make one to show when certain traits would be positive or negative based on how they serve the characters in different situations.
Ex., Bossy. Bossy 1: When faced with a large, independent dragon, their bossiness pisses the dragon off, and they are eaten. Bossy 10: When given a squadron to handle, <character> handles everyone and dispenses orders beautifully, keeping everything in working, efficient order. Bossy 0: This trait has no effect on this situation.

Ta da! It’s a sliding scale! Give it a shot and tell me how it works, I made it for you all just now. 
-Evvy
FYCD