Writer’s Kryptonite

I’m part of a group of awesome authors and bloggers on the street team for Gabriela Pereira’s upcoming book, DIY MFA. Gabriela’s podcast and website are both insanely inspiring and fun to browse through (if writing and creative interest you).

Creative weaknesses. We all have them right? Who wants to really talk about their weaknesses though? In order to grow as a writer, one eventually must talk about their weaknesses—the first step in the right direction is admitting you’re weak. So . . . here we go.

Last week I addressed my writer superpower (mine was the superhero character). From my superpower, also comes my weakness. I have a really hard time writing a non-superhero character. Example. Mallory, my main hunk in All the Lies You Cannot Know, is very very much a superhero character—always swooping in to save the day. Anna, the protag, is . . . not. She’s young and naive and totally and completely sheltered (why I would have a hard time writing her, is beyond me. . . She’s basically me growing up.) All the Lies You Cannot Know is written both from Anna’s and Mallory’s POV. My Mallory (superhero) chapters are generally spot on. He can get in my head and completely take over. Anna’s chapters—these are the chapters I have written and re-written and then re-written again and then my crit partners make them bleed and I fix them . . . again. Anna is so very hard for me to tap in to. It was only after I took the superpower quiz that the lightbulb clicked on for me on why these chapters didn’t come easy—Anna is my kryptonite.

What is your writer’s kryptonite?