Everything Has a Weakness
From Superman’s Kryptonite to vampires and sunlight, everything and everyone has a weakness. It is often that vulnerability that becomes the touchstone for a character’s development, and in some cases it is ultimately their greatest strength. In the realm of the paranormal, mortals, for example are often the weakest. Take Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunters Series although some mortals have small powers, they are really no match for angles or vampires. It is their humanity and capacity for love and compassion that can bring even the most powerful and tortured paranormal back from the brink.
Some of these characters embrace the raw, primal power within as a way to combat any vulnerability, while others live in fear that one day their weakness will be the thing that brings them down. We mere mortals struggle with this at times as well and that struggle can help us relate to these mystical creatures. On some level we get that we are afraid of our demons and our perceived weaknesses, yet they are facets of our personality and sometimes products of the situations we find ourselves in that define the next steps we take.
As a writer, being able to draw on those vulnerabilities and weaknesses is a wellspring rich in character and plot development. I of dream of capturing a world through my writing, yet it can be tricky to navigate a road fraught with pitfalls and potholes. Putting a story out in the world is scary. Will those deeper, darker parts of ourselves be revealed? Probably, on some level, but the greater weakness is to never sit down to write, to never show our creative efforts the light of day or the scrutiny of the larger world.
While we invest valuable time in trying to avoid being weak, or showing the world our vulnerability, we lose site of the opportunities they present. We stumble. It’s part of being human, or of any character – no matter how powerful – in any story I’ve ever read. What really blinds us is not understanding our weaknesses and vulnerabilities and not being able to live with them. There are certainly some things we can change in life, but many traits we are born into this world with are there to stay. And as for the fantastical creatures of the paranormal world, there is no changing how the moonlight affects a werewolf or the sunlight turns a vampire to dust. I’ve read stories where those traits are some how “fixed” if even for a short time to allow them a little taste of humanity, and I find that ultimately unsatisfying.
Everything has a weakness – and it is in the expression of that, living through it and working with it that we can discover true strength of character.
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