RSS

Tag Archives: Myers-Briggs

What’s in Character – Core Personality

18 Feb

This is the first in a series of posts devoted to character creation. I will go deeper than just physical appearance and how a character speaks. During the series, I will tear apart the main character from my short story, “Good Night’s Sleep”.  I will show you how Yursi Sonal was developed.

I do not go through the entire process that follows, for every character in every story. However, all of my major characters are created using this process.

According to modern psychologists, which I am not, each of us has a core personality. It is part of our DNA and is the base line for who we are. Everything that we experience whether it is physical, mental, or emotional is processed by and layered to this core personality.

There are a multitude of tests to determine which core type we fit into. Each will provide slightly differing results. I started using one such famous test in particular, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test. The results of this test indicate four important areas that make up a character’s personality:

Introvert(I) vs. Extrovert(E)

Sensing(S) vs. Intuition(N)

Thinking(T) vs. Feeling(F)

Judgement(J) vs. Perception)P)

This yields sixteen potential combinations of letters. E.g. INTJ, ESFP, or ENTP. Each combination describes a basic temperament for the individual.

As an example, let’s take my character Yursi Sonal. When the chromosomes that created this character came together, the result was a ISTP. That means Introvert, Sensing, Thinking, Perception. The full description would take several pages to list. But, the full description is important to refer back to, so I keep it close to my computer at all times.  For now, we’ll shorten the description to: 

Impulsive and sometimes naive, generous, tactical, ignores rules and can be insubordinate to authority, takes risks and loves to play, subject to boredom outside of the job, requires a long leash.

So, this is the core personality that all of Yursi’s experiences will be processed by and layered onto. The way the character views their gender, birth order, physical appearance, their family status, geographic location, external environment, education, life experiences, employment, financial values, etc. will all be affected by this core set of traits. In upcoming posts, we will begin to add these “layers” to the core. Each layer will add to the character’s personality

If you are creating a main character, I recommend you consider this as your first step. An invaluable reference book for writer’s who want to use this method to create characters is, “Please Understand Me II” by David Keirsey. Even if you don’t go to this much effort to create your characters, it’s a good reference for character behavior.

As a side note, take an established character and ask them the Myers-Briggs questions to see what core type the character is. If they are honest with their answers, you might be very surprised at the results!

There are other, easier ways come up with a character. However, as you will see, when we build a character using this type of baseline and layering life experiences on top, we will end up with a living, breathing character that can and will respond to any challenge that comes their way in a real and believable way. Isn’t that what we want from or characters?

 
12 Comments

Posted by on February 18, 2013 in What's in Character

 

Tags: , , , ,

Writing Cross-gender

13 Aug

The other day, a friend asked me an interesting question. Noting that the main character in my short story is a woman, my friend asked, “Why did you use a woman? How can you know what a woman would do in the situations you put her in?”

Uh-oh! this is going to be a tightrope walk.

My response was the best I could come up with on the fly.

“That’s a good question. It was a conscious decision to use a female for a couple of reasons. First, I had never used a female as a main character and I thought it would be fun. Second, it would force me to look at things from a perspective that was outside my comfort zone. It was a challenge I hope I learned something from.”

My friend seemed to accept my answer for now.

Let me lay some ground rules for this discussion..

First, as a man, I know nothing about what goes on inside a woman’s head. Any man who says otherwise is a fool! I say this having spent 31 years living happily with the same woman. There is a sign that hangs in our family room that I try to live by. It says, “There are two theories to arguing with a woman…Neither one works!”

Second, as a man, I know that women don’t have a clue as to what goes on inside a man’s head. Say what you want ladies, but you don’t.

Third, and probably the most important, all men are not alike and all women are not alike. I have worked with women who could out swear, out fight, and out drink ninety percent of the male population, then turn around, put on an evening gown and dazzle that same group of men with charm, grace, and elegance. I have also worked with straight men who could quote every sport statistic, hunt and fish all day, put a tune on the Harley motorcycle and also have that almost magical ability to communicate with women to a point where they have more female bff’s than male.

So, based on this information a possible response to the question asked could be, “It does not matter, we are all basically the same.” Now I did not say it was the right answer, only a possible answer. I think it is way too simplistic and a cop-out.

When I build characters, I consider basic Myers-Briggs personality types. I layer on things like sociopolitical structure, geography, number and type of siblings, birth order, physical features, education, goals, lifetime achievements and traumas. Why on earth would I not consider gender and its effects on personality? How an individual responds to the above listed influences are greatly affected by gender. If my character comes across as a little manly at times, maybe it’s because she grew up in a matriarchal society that values skill at arms. Maybe, she is gender neutral in her sexual orientation. Maybe, I screwed up and had her behave out of character. Hey these things happen. That’s why I edit my drafts, repeatedly.

Like it or not, there are some basic psychological differences between the sexes. I am not an expert on the subject but, as a writer I have various reference materials to assist me when I need help on difficult subjects. Back in 1993 a book came out that seemed to get close to the reality of those differences, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus: A Practical Guide for Improving Communication and Getting What You Want in Your Relationships by John Gray. I found it very interesting how close to the mark he was on how men really are and what makes them tick. I asked my wife and she confirmed that he was close on the women’s side as well. Though nothing is perfect, I refer back to both this book and my wife when I am stuck as to how my character would respond. Between the two I can get a pretty good idea as to how the character should act.

The bottom line is that I want my characters to be real and true to themselves whether they happen to be male, female, or something else (remember, I write fantasy). If a test reader calls me out, that a character is acting out of character, I will look very hard at why I chose those actions. I think that is the best I can do.

Please weigh in on this one. I would love to hear your thoughts.

 
10 Comments

Posted by on August 13, 2012 in Other Strangeness

 

Tags: , , , ,