The Prompt
Vulnerability is a powerful port of connection between people, and it’s how your reader connects to a character. Show a character’s vulnerability, but express it only in hints, never stating it directly. Lay down vulnerability markers with what your character refuses to talk about.
Lani Diane Rich
Lani Diane Rich is a story expert and NYT bestselling author with twelve novels published by the Big 5. She leads the Year of Writing Magically, a transformational year-long writing program that guides writers from inspiration to completion in a supportive, community-driven space. The Drafting module—running from June 21 to September 6, 2025—is a 12-week immersion designed to help writers build momentum, get words on the page, and bring their stories to life with accountability and joy.
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Wow, this brought me back further in time than I expected! It got me revisiting a character from an old RP group I used to play in, allowing me to explore and expand him in ways I’d barely considered before. Also, finally gave him an actual name! Fun times! ^_^
Vacation, wine, death, living in the moment. Arts, the beach. Such delight! I can see myself working this piece into a much longer work. Great prompt.
Hmm, this got me thinking about all the different ways a character can be vulnerable.
External forces: literal danger (predators, storms, not subtle!, but can also include threats to their role in a family/organization/team.)
Internal forces: subdivided into how they see themselves living up to their own expectations, and other people’s expectations for them.
So many choices…
I ended up trying not to write a novel or revise a bunch of other stories with this in mind (today) and took my short-short story of vulnerability and shaved it down to a six-word story. A fascinating exercise.
Thanks, Lani, for this prompt!
I used it to dive back into my Day 7 story, which I’ve drafted four times now thanks to Peyton’s Day 6 prompt! I was tuckered out so I got an elaborate outline at 526 words, but adding a layer of vulnerability to my cantankerous elder character gave him more dimensionality and helped me figure out what the story’s really about.
One thing that would never be so hard to write for me was the vulnerability of one character. At a moment, it felt like I was living that experience. So I try another one in another story to do something different. My result was, if you experienced something similar in the past, it is easy to write. If not, then you can find references on the internet.
My favorite line from what I have so far, “Life has taught me that living in the light will only get you burned.”
Love this. It’s inviting your character to make all kinds of wrong choices for you to have fun with!
This one kind of got out of hand for me. It changed direction several times. At first it was going to be about a workplace bully who avoids certain topics to mask his vulnerability, but after writing the first paragraph and starting the second, I decided to make the bully’s target the focus. Instead of avoiding topics, the target is almost completely silent. The silence ultimately indicates not vulnerability, but strength.
In other words, I started out following the prompt, I really did, but then veered completely away from it.
About 670 words about solidarity and empowerment.
Another great prompt. Thank you. Applied prompt to a scene I wrote for a longer piece. Definitely an improvement. I made a list of other scenes where I can show more vulnerability.
I skipped yesterday’s prompt because I figured it would take longer than the 30 minutes I give myself for these on weekdays, but when I read today’s prompt, I was like, ‘Yes! This is right up my alley.’ I poured out 491 words on Leigh trying to find his place on his new team and figuring out just how much of himself he can show to them.
I thought of you immediately when I read this.
~ohmmmmm, channeling my inner Fallon, ohmmmmmm~