Very happy you enjoyed it, Karen. Thanks for the kind words about our book, too!

Thanks Angela! These are all such wonderful ideas. And they woke up my Sleepy brain cells enough to brainstorm my own…

This is just what I needed! You are awesome. 🙂

Hi Rebekah,

I think you could show his vulnerability through what he does to be accepted. For example, maybe the first day he shows up in a suit, but everyone else is dressed more casually, a button down shirt type deal, sleeves rolled up, etc. Simply by showing him take note of this the first day and then the second day showing him getting ready by putting on a button up and roll his sleeves…you’ve just shown his desire to fit in without him needing to say it. If he didn’t care what people thought, he’d dress however he wanted. But he does care. he doesn’t need to say it.

Think of other little ways this would work. Someone really loves a certain type of food–Thai, Italian and often orders it in. He could offhand recommend a restaurant that he knows that is the same type, one that the co-worker doesn’t know about. On one hand it seems like such a small simple thing, recommending a restaurant, but on the other hand, he could have said nothing. No one knew he knew about this place, maybe no one even asked him directly for a recommendation. He simply offered the info. The fact that he did that again shows his desire to be involved in the conversation, to fit in, be accepted. You could do this through helping out with something at work, putting someone in touch with a good mechanic…lots of different things. Sometimes the small things are actually big things.

My question is, what are some ways to show vulnerability in the everyday? Many of the examples in the article sound like major plot points (death, feeling out of control for Reason), so what sort of ways can we show a tough character’s softer side in the in-between scenes?

I am struggling with this right now in my WIP. Tl;dr version: My protag is a detective who was betrayed by his former squad team when he blew the whistle on internal corruption, and he’s since moved to a new city to start fresh. He is feeling defensive and standoffish due to the harsh wound of betrayal from those he thought he could count on, and so is being a bit of a jerk to keep his new co-workers at bay, but at the same time he deep down really wants to fit in and be accepted.

My problem is how to balance his snarky tough-guy veneer with some softer moments that allow the readers to relate, but I’m coming up blank on how to do that without making him sound desperate for attention or whiny. Any idea would be appreciated. 🙂

Glad to hear this one was helpful. Vulnerability is a strange dichotomy–we avoid it because we fear weakness but at the same time, being able to embrace it is a sign of true strength.