Biggest Insecurity As a Teen ... Save Me from This Question! (Mary Strand)
This month at YA Outside the Lines, we're talking about our biggest insecurity as a teen ... which is supposed to get us to discuss writing about flawed characters in our novels. I would argue that insecurities are not flaws. You may or may not outgrow them, but they're no more flaws than being left-handed or OCD or green-eyed or having a vertical leap of approximately one inch. Okay, that low vertical leap may indeed be a flaw on a basketball court. I was shy in high school. I got over it in college, and REALLY got over it in law school, but I would also argue that being shy is not even remotely a character flaw. (As a lawyer, I would happily argue pretty much anything, at least if someone's paying me the big bucks to do so, but that's a topic for another day. Or another blog.) It's odd being shy when you're playing basketball and tennis in front of large crowds. Believe it or not, the toughest thing I did at tennis meets held at my own school (Eau ...
