Hey, there! Judging by the fact that you're reading this, you'd like to know my secret. The secret to cheating at creating depth within characters! I am here to tell you that I have found it.
You ready? Here it is.
https://www.16personalities.com/
Now it may not look like much. In fact, it looks like every other personality test out there.
But you must take it. Take the test and answer as you believe your character would. You'll find out the general personality of your character, strengths, weaknesses and it will open the door for exploring the deep, complex inner workings of that protagonist that's been floating around in your head for 6 1/2 months.
And with the result you get (Say, ENFJ.) You can look up how ENFJ's react to stress, how they deal with loss, how they build relationships. All that and find resources on those sorts of things. But just in case you just want the answers, there's also this website. https://www.psychologyjunkie.com
They have a TON of useful articles on each personality type. (Even the really rare ones, go figure!) And once you have the basic personality of your character, you can change it and alter it as you please, or just leave it the way it is! And the best part? All these resources are 100% free and open to the public.
You're welcome!
Its the Myers briggs personality test! I take that test for each of my characters.
I started using 16Personalities a while ago when I really got into creating characters. But I also use the Enneagram.
(Free test) https://similarminds.com/test.html
(Type descriptions) https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-descriptions/
I actually have been using this for quite a while! It's incredibly useful, but I still enjoy going into specifics with my character's personalities. One problem I've run into is that I've come up with a few characters who's personality I have predetermined, but none of them match any of the 16 personalities. I know a few characters from TV shows that I've learned share the same personality, and have even tried to see if they're in the results for any of the characters with similar personalities. No luck so far, but it's reassuring that I've created a somewhat uncommon personality for my character!
Yall I love thinking about personalities for my characters! Mine is an INFP, so I guess that makes sense lol
I have a question
what if your character is like a mix of everything?
@Fox_Lover32
While it is possible to have a lot of conflicting character traits, it is also very difficult to write about and starts to enter the dangerous territory of becoming a Mary Sue. Some of these personalities conflict with each other so it's important to make sure your character isn't an independent clingy character, though it is possible to make conflicting traits work, it takes knowing all about those two traits to be able to work with such a character. It's important to make sure your character's values, motivations, prejudices, and first reaction to events are stable, otherwise they might change without explanation, and that makes for an unstable personality.
However, an alternative explanation could be Multiple Personality Disorder, which separates all the personalities but still attempts to clash them all into one person.
Then again I might have no idea what I'm talking about. I'm just in The Mood, ya know?
Oof, that is what I'm afraid of.
My main character is supposed to be this really broken down person who is mentally unstable, but she tries to not show it most of the time by being this carefree person who likes to pull pranks with her bro and make jokes. She's also "suppose" to be understanding, and she is mostly a realist. She doesn't like to "dream big." However, she is incredibly observant and is a fast thinker with Intuition Aptitude. Which helps on missions.
Is this too Mary Sue and if so, how can I fix this?
Basically Natasha and Clint mixed together.
It might be leaning pretty close to Mary Sue. Even Mary Sues can have characteristic "flaws" for convenience. It could be effective to turn those positive traits into negative traits while still keeping them positive.
Carefree- Careless
Understanding-"Everything must be understood, and if I can't understand it, panic.
Realist- Pessimist
Doesn't dream big- Is not ambitious
Observant- Reading into things that have nothing to read into
Fast thinker- Can't focus
Intuition Aptitude- Makes decisions on her gut feeling without the facts (Which might conflict with observant, but it still works)
I started using 16Personalities a while ago when I really got into creating characters. But I also use the Enneagram.
(Free test) https://similarminds.com/test.html
(Type descriptions) https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-descriptions/
I looked into this and it's pretty helpful; thanks!
THANK YOU, YOU AMAZING GOAT
