Strength

What makes a character strong? Is it the lack of weakness or the ability to acknowledge what they struggle with? Grabon seeks advice from his friend Heron, does that make him weak? Gordon asks Grabon for advice and listens to Heron. Hanna of course has some issues, is vulnerable in different ways, but she has some astounding skills.

Is strength a character trait or merely a muscle used enough times that it bulks up? It bravery beyond necessity and not attached to survival? Is there an answer that will satisfy everyone? I doubt it, but when writing for a story like the NewEarth Series where a new kind of world is emerging in the combined territories, it makes a person ponder these things.

In my mind, all my characters have strengths, all of them have weaknesses. Even Hanna’s mother had her skill with gold, her ability to motivate and control others, and of course her ability to conceal the facts from the people closest to her.

Every character that becomes a focus needs to have a combination of traits or they become paper thin and leave no mark. If they are going to interact with my main characters, they need some flesh, some muscle and some appeal. That means that I have a huge cast of characters for my readers to juggle, so I make charts. Because every character has strength and every character deserves to be noticed.