Biggest Struggle in Writing?

When I think upon this question, there are several struggles that immediately flood my mind. Time, noise, discipline, and many others pop up in an instant, but the biggest struggle I have, the one that bothers me the most, is writing characters who say and do things that I would never say or do, but it is a necessary part of writing. Stories and characters would not be realistic if every character has the values of the writer creating them.

When I wrote Pretty Boy, I wanted to tackle racial issues, so I created a scenario where my main character's step-dad is prejudice. It was difficult to write scenes where he uses the "N" word because I hate that word, but I had to make the scenes realistic, and let's face it...people still in this day and time use that word. To me it's a curse word, and that is what I teach my children about it. As I was writing it, I was praying that people would not think that I feel anything like that character about those issues, but I had to push those thoughts aside and continue writing for the sake of realism. I also worried that some may be offended by the use of the word, but I wouldn't have been able to relay the message I was giving had I not used the word. I mean, seriously, how well would it have gone over if I created a prejudice character, but never allowed the reader to see how he shows his prejudice.

I still hope in the back of my mind, almost a year after its release, that readers will not presume that the writer was relaying her personal feelings through that character, but I have learned along the way, that realism in a story is vital, and that means that there will be times when I have to create characters who do not see things the way I do. I have to trust that readers can see that as well.