[Zombie]

Writing good characters is not about writing flaws. A character should develop naturally, if they have flaws then they should come to light as those flaws conflict with other characters and with the plot. Flaws in a character shouldn't be added simply to 'define' a persons ability to write, nor should they be given to a character - in fact a characters flaws should have a valid reason for being.

Flaws don't balance out our, or a characters personality. Real life simply isn't like that. We don't all have a great skill that is offset by some flaw. Some people have lots of flaws, some have almost none (aren't they really annoying?) and some are nothing but flawed.

However I wouldn't think that David Eddings hates women by the way he writes them. My opinion leans more towards the, he just doesn't get us camp. I think he had a female figure (mother, grandmother, wife) who loomed large in his memories that he found important and very dear to him who fit this personality type, to some degree. As such he assigned to his female characters traits of that woman.