When Strengths Become Weaknesses How to Improve Your Writing and Character Creation

Today I read Fear Your Strengths by Robert B. Kaiser, Robert D. Kaplan, and Derek Shetterly. It was a short and perfectly fine book focused on leadership and I considered writing a review, but that was just about all I had to say about the book. If you’re in a leaderships position, it’s probably worth reading. That said, I strongly believe that an expert reader can get value out of a book beyond the intended purpose of the writer(s). In this case, it got me thinking about how I might use this advice as a writer.

The basic thesis of the book is that we often rely too much on those things we are good at and because of that can go overboard and turn that advantage into a disadvantage. I think that’s something that any writer can recognize as an important point if they stop to think about it. Both in our writing lives and in our writing style.

Starting with our writing lives, it’s easy for me as a writer to push myself too hard. It is not uncommon for me to be at a computer for twelve or more hours a day, and while not all of that time is actually spent writing it is largely connected to that, whether it is reading and listening to audio-books, marketing, involving myself on social media or checking my email they can all easily be connected to my focus on writing. And I think that is an advantage, but I can recognize it as a disadvantage too. Obviously it’s not great for my health, but even beyond that some of the best ideas I’ve got and my most interesting characters are discovered when I’m doing things that don’t involve working at a computer and being a more well-rounded person can lead to interesting things that can go into your work. That said, giving advice on this is difficult beyond suggesting that you consider how focusing too much on your strengths may create weaknesses.

It’s a little easier to understand in writing. Writing is a balance. Even in a book that can technically be any length you want, you have a limited amount of space. You have to keep the reader’s attention; you have to move the story forward. In that limited amount of space you have to fit, character, plot, setting, tone, style, world-building and more. And every writer is different. I love world-building and plot. And in some of my early books especially, I let that draw too much time away from the characters. There are other writers who love to create a setting, and they are great at it, but they also sometimes write six pages of descriptions about the food at a wedding or allow themselves to get bogged down and take years to finish a book.

It is important to know what you’re good at, and it’s important to use that. If you’re good at world-building, use it, and create a world so deep and interesting that people might not notice that your dialog isn’t great. But that doesn’t mean you can ignore dialog. It’s a necessary part of the story and by learning to give your characters a better voice you will probably improve your writing more than you will by creating yet another kingdom with another set off add cultural beliefs.

My final thought is in character creation. Going back to Fear your Strengths, they have several interesting examples of a person which could make an interesting character in a book. And I think by using a fear your strength method you could create interesting and complex characters. One of their examples was a CEO who was smart, and everyone who worked for him put his intelligence off the chart. A clear strength. But because of that he often intimidated people, and beyond that he was often short with people who didn’t figure out things as fast as he did. The book gave some suggestions on how he fixed that, but I’ll suggest that this could make a great character. Imagine the brilliant star-ship captain who is often angry at his crew for not solving things as fast as him, or a mad scientist who wants to destroy the world because it’s full of dullards. In both cases, this person has turned their strength into a major flaw.

That is only one example. Another in the book was of a CEO who was exceptionally articulate. She could often convince people to do things they otherwise wouldn’t and everyone liked her. But by now hopefully you’re able to consider the flip side of that. Perhaps you have a king or queen who is fantastic at inspiring their people, but that gift of gab means that they rarely listen to their advisers and they would even talk over them. This means that while they can often convince people to do what they want, they can also fail to know what the right thing to do is.

The uses of fear your strengths is endless. A courageous hero may also be reckless. A kindhearted teacher may be unwilling to be strict enough, a person who things come easy to may not learn to continue to fight when things are difficult and a humble person may cannot recognize their own strengths.

In the book Fear your Strengths, the authors point out the importance of balance. In many ways it’s more important for a leader to be balance than to be brilliant in any one area. As a writer, I feel the need to point out the importance of balance in your own life and imbalance in the lives of your characters. A balanced character is often boring and doesn’t have anywhere to go. So the next time you sit down to write, consider for a moment the greatest strength of your character and try to figure out how you can turn that into their greatest weakness.