A Fun Writing Trick: Using Strength as Weakness

Everybody in the world wants to improve themselves in some way. Whether it's so they can be more comfortable in their immediate situation, or so they can pass a better station on to the next generation. So people find the things they need to improve, work on them and turn those weaknesses into strengths.

But that's boring. Everyone does that.

The way I've always used this in my writing is to let (read: force) my characters to overcome obstacles. Because that's what you're supposed to do, right? That's what literally every plotting workshop ever tells you to do. Make your characters competent so they can overcome the obstacles you throw at them. But what if we made something happen to them?



What if we reverse the tables? In my current work-in-progress, I've tried flipping this on its head, and it has worked beautifully. And I mean beautifully. For example, my MC has developed supernaturally acute senses. What better way for enemies to take advantage of him and get the upper hand than to suddenly overwhelm those since he's grown to rely on them? Those are strengths he's developed, and the enemies are exploiting them to their own benefit.

Another classic example is the One Ring from Tolkien's work. Originally, we know it as a boon. It turns Frodo invisible when he needs a quick getaway from a bad situation. Only later do we find out that it draws the darkness to him and seeds corruption in him like it did to Smeagol/Gollum.

So, yeah. Everyone loves turning weaknesses into strengths. It's great in real life. But we also know that in real life, there's a lot of resistance to that. It's hard. It sucks. And we're better for it. When we're reading, we look at the book and know we only have a certain number of pages left—so there's a certain anxiety to see the character actually pull off the victory and self-actualization so everyone can do a happy dance. You might want to give this a try and see where it takes you. It's fun, and I've enjoyed using it.

Thanks for wreading!