Master Guide: Imperfections

We all have things we wish we could change about ourselves. A bump on the nose or a barely there waist line. But those physical "imperfections" are what make people, and characters, interesting looking.

Here are some features I think could make interesting "flaws" on a character.

• Super bushy eyebrows. Character used to have a unibrow. People called them "Burt," like from Sesame Street, in elementary school.

• Perpetually smelly armpits. They apply deodorant five times a day.

• Ragged nails that they always bite when they're upset or nervous, which is often.

• A cornucopia-shaped birthmark on their right cheek.

• Fingertip callouses that they wear with pride because it means they practice guitar a lot.

• A beefy torso but small calf muscles that refuse to grow no matter how hard they work on leg day.

• Dark under-eye circles, even when they're not tired.

• Knock-kneed legs that they think make them look like an impala.

• A curve-hooked nose that is the result of breaking it three times.

• Weirdly stubby toes.

• A fast-growing beard that only grows in sparsely on their cheeks. So it's actually more like a bushy goatee.

• Incessantly chapped lips.

• Cross-eyes. Wears glasses to feel more confident.

• Premature balding and a receding hairline.

• A gap between their two front teeth.

• Eczema on the side of their left arm.

• Spider veins that run up and down their thighs.

• A choppy hair cut, the result of getting gum stuck in it a few days ago.

Check out my heavily curated Pintrest board to see even more character creation ideas!