Nostalgic for crafts

More on the nostalgic front, because we are what we were as children, are we not?

I've been feeling crafty lately - actually, ever since I was pregnant, when I started making a collage alphabet frieze for my daughter's bedroom. Each letter is a 6" square.

My retired school-teacher-mum made me change A for alien and O for owl because those words start with the letter name, not the letter sound, if that means anything to you. Far be it from me to corrupt my daughter's early education with improper alphabet lessons, so I've now redone them as apple and octopus. (My mum rates those baby alphabet books by whether they include giraffe and icecream (baaaaad) or goat and igloo (good).)

We kids were very crafty - we drew fanatically, and loved making models and stuffed animals - whether from kits or found parts. We made doll house furniture out of card, and peg dolls with pipecleaner arms. We knitted and crocheted. We traced pictures from books and meticulously painted them, and cut them out to make stickers for our bedroom walls. My sister had a kit to make a 1:12 scale plastic Airfix model of none other than Henry VIII. 

Image of vintage 1970s kit found on eBay

All three of us girls were given for Christmas one year a plastic doll in a kit where you glued together (ewww) a felt historical outfit. My doll's outfit was lime green, which was apparently all the rage in the year seventeen-hundred-and-something. Speaking of felt, I've been making felt food for my daughter. So far I've made a chocolate cake (below), some fondant fancies, and a slice of Battenberg cake (delicious marzipan/cake treats from my childhood).

What do your characters think of each other?

Another use for personality typing your characters is that it gives you clues on how they interact. With a large cast of main characters - 10 in my WIP - that's 45 different combinations of interactions! Now, of course some characters have little to do with each other - in fact, one of them has never met two of the others, which brings the combinations down to a measly 43.

Once you get to know your characters, you'll get an instinctive feeling for how they interact. But to really define those relationships and sharpen the personality of each individual in your story, it might help to tabulate what they have in common with each other and where possible conflict can arise.

I drew up a spreadsheet with the characters' names and types across the top and down the side. I blanked out the irrelevant cells to give something like this:

Next I compared the descriptions for each pair and made notes in the cells. For example, Characters B and C are direct opposites - what does this mean for their relationship? In this particular case the characters don't have a lot to do with each other, but when they do interact I have a handle on where the tension might stem from.

Here's the filled out sheet:

As you can see, in most cases there are things each pair has in common and things that might cause conflict, if I need to introduce personality conflict into a scene. 

Remember that characters don't have to interact for the reader to find out about relationships. Take Characters A (viewpoint character), B and D. Character D works for A and respects her efficiency and authority. But he might describe B to her as someone who shuts himself away, is impossible to get through to, and has no respect for authority. Character A, upon meeting B, won't necessarily see him in the same light because she has more in common with him than D does.

You may never use many of these interactions, of course. In a plot-driven story there isn't the time or the need to go into so much detail. But I find the information handy to have, just in case.

Personality types: What next?

Now that you know all about the 16 MBTI personality types, what next? These blog posts have really been a way for me to organize my thoughts, so I'll tell you what I did next.

There are 10 main characters in my current WIP. I typed each character according to their general (and sometimes more specific) traits. I already knew what role each played and some idea of how they related to the main character. This all came about through my plot outlines (I generally come up with plot before character, other than perhaps the main character).

To type a character you don't know too well yet, go back to the general descriptions of each trait. Is this character a people-person, or do they spend a lot of time alone? Do they live for the moment or have a vision of the future? Do they make decisions from the head or the heart? Are they spontaneous or do they like firm plans?

This gives you the four-letter type. Next, read the description of that type and see if it matches your character. If it does, great. For example, the hero (read "love interest" if this were a romance, but as you know I don't write romance, no siree) in my story is a scientist. That makes him an intuitive (N) thinker (T), and probably introverted (I) because he spends a lot of time in his own head. The last letter - P or J - was easy, too. This guy doesn't think much of titles, authority, or pointless things like social customs. That makes him P. INTP is the "architect" or "engineer" type, and the description fits him perfectly. He's curious about how the world works. He trusts logic over opinion. He may appear aloof or oblivious, but he's just busy listening, concentration, and taking in information. He's a little disconnected from people but can be charming and witty too.

On the other hand, if the description doesn't match your perception of the character, or what you want/need that character to be, look closely at which trait you're having difficulty with. Reverse it and read that type instead to try it on for size. For example, I typed a second male character in my story as ESFP. I knew he was a people-person (E) who's more interested in the here and now (S) than in theories and possibilities. I knew he was a bit of a rebel (P). I picked Feeling (F), to be honest, because I wanted him to be different in that regard to the first guy above, who's (T). But the ESFP description just didn't feel right. ESFP is concerned purely with having fun, living life to the fullest and having lots of friends to share new experiences with. ESTP, on the other hand, while seeking the best in life and wanting to share it, is also interested in ideas and problem solving. And ESTP is the persuader - the best of all the types at influencing others. This is important in terms of his relationship with my heroine. So this is the template by which I'm writing him. Meanwhile, the ESFP type is perfect for the heroine's fun-loving but irresponsible brother.

As a final example, a key character in the story is the heroine's grandmother. She has a small, off-screen role that has a huge impact on the story. I found myself typing her as a stereotypical wise grandmother type - ENFJ, the teacher/mentor. ENFJ is all about helping people be the best they can be, being warm and supportive, and strengthening social connections. That's lovely, but this woman is also a highly respected starship captain. I just wasn't sure this type would work in the story, even though each individual letter seemed to apply: she's outgoing, intuitive, cares about people, and likes structure and tradition. The solution, unfortunately, was to tone down her caring side. After all, a captain can't be too concerned with the feelings of her crew when she's making life-and-death decisions based on the cold hard data. But that doesn't mean this grandmother extraordinaire isn't ENFJ. It just means that she has a tough time making the necessarily brutal, rational decisions a captain must make.

MBTI: Visionaries

This last group in the MBTI comprises 16% of the population.

NF - VISIONARIES (16%)

Here are the four Visionary personality types (with fictional examples), including the 7th character from Song of Scarabaeus.

ENFJ – The Mentor (3%)

The Mentor (also called the Envisioner-Mentor) is the compassionate supporter, teacher or leader, the most charismatic of the 16 types, who encourages people to be their best. She’s diplomatic and inspiring with excellent communication skills, and stands up for what she believes in. She desires meaningful interactions and wants to enrich the world. Paperwork and other details bore her. She’s creative and responsible, and able to organize. She’s the most likely type to believe in a higher power.

Warm, empathetic, loyal and deeply caring of others, she’s highly attuned to their needs and feelings, and loves to help them learn and grow. She finds the potential in everyone. She dislikes conflict and tends to blame herself when things go wrong. Relationships are at the center of her life and she’s very protective of the people she loves. She’s easily offended and may harbor hurt feelings. She may idealize her partner and probably believes she has a soulmate.

This type isn’t really prone to personality disorders, but if you want to make a villain out of her, she’s the cult leader with a tendency to manipulate or smother.

This is a personality type that we're so used to seeing in a supporting role, I'm not sure she'd make a feasible main character in genre fiction.

Example of Mentor: Morpheus from The Matrix

ENFP – The Advocate (8%)

The colorful, charming Advocate (or Discover-Advocate) perceives life as a special gift. He’s fun, dramatic and optimistic, and can be an inspiring leader who brings vision and meaning to the workplace. He’s imaginative, spontaneous and resourceful, but not good with routine tasks and may miss or ignore important details. He does not go by the book, dislikes structure, and often relies on his ability to improvise. He’s very right-brained and verbally fluent, able to communicate his ideas with great passion. He champions the causes he believes in.

Socially, he establishes connections with ease and gives his all, expecting to be supported in return. He’s empathetic and appreciates the goodness in people. He’s friendly, forgiving, funny and a bit of a goofball. He likes to discuss deep issues and share ideas. He tends to romanticize and idealize intimate relationships, and this expectation of magic may leave him feeling unsatisfied. 

He may be afflicted with ADD, causing him to be outwardly unfocused and go off on tangents.

I can see this personality type as a haphazard, comedic sidekick. He just seems too optimistic and naive to write as a main character - unless I needed a thoughtful yet rebellious hobbit.

Example of Advocate: Michael Scott from The Office

  

INFJ – The Confidant (1%)

The Confidant (or Forseer-Developer) yearns for meaningful, varied, goal-oriented work that makes use of her abilities. She is highly ethical with a unique and solid moral code, and strives for peace. She is suited to becoming clergy, counselor, teacher or alternative health practitioner. In a fictional sense, these are your messiahs, wise sages, visionaries and psychics, musicians and artists. She has excellent communication skills yet doesn’t like attention, so spreads her values quietly but forcefully, influencing and inspiring others. She lives with a sense of purpose and fights against unjust systems. She has extremely high expectations of herself, and sometimes of others, and has difficulty with criticism and conflict. She’s able to identify others’ strengths and motivations, and wants to develop and guide them.

Her insight makes her the friend to turn to with your personal problems. She enjoys quiet activities that help her discover who she is. She’s complex, deep, and intensely private – the hardest type to get to know. She defines love in terms of emotional intimacy and shared values. She has a great need for one-on-one connection and longs to be understood.

At the extreme end of the spectrum, she may have an avoidant personality disorder – extremely shy, timid and sensitive, causing social isolation and feelings of inadequacy.

Edie is this type. In Song of Scarabaeus and Children of Scarabaeus she has definite ideas about what's right and wrong with her universe, and feels driven to fix the system from outside the spotlight. Edie is also analytical because her work demands it, but when push comes to shove she decides from the heart.

Example of Confidant: Lisa from The Simpsons

INFP – The Dreamer (4%)

The lovable romantic Dreamer (or Harmonizer-Clarifier) is creative, adaptable and self-sacrificing. He’s the most idealistic of the types, and his life’s work must fulfill his idealism. He’s likely to be a writer, teacher, psychologist, musician, or clergy. He works well with others and is generous with praise, but prefers solitude. He can be too sensitive over criticism and reacts emotionally to conflict. He’s curious and quick to see possibilities, and never loses his sense of wonder. He strives for perfection and values integrity.

His friends see him as gentle, caring and loyal, as well as playful with a unique sense of humor. He seeks to understand people and help them reach their potential, and he seeks to understand himself. Overly sensitive, he guards his feelings to keep them safe from ridicule. He’s loving and romantic in relationships.

This type is the most prone to suicidal thoughts, and may suffer from depression and anxiety. He may have an avoidant personality disorder.

Perhaps a good candidate for emo YA romance, but not that interesting to write about for me, personally. But if you want to give it a shot... The only direction in which this character can grow puts the poor thing in a really bad place, and that's fine because you're supposed to be mean to your characters.

Example of Dreamer: Frodo from Lord of the Rings

MBTI: Intellectuals

The third personality group according to MBTI comprises a mere 10% of the population...

NT - INTELLECTUALS (10%)

Here are the four Intellectual personality types (with fictional examples). Song of Scarabaeus has just the one intellectual and she's not happy.

ENTJ - The Chief (2%)
The Chief (also called the Strategist-Mobilizer), is the most ambitious of the types, a disciplined, independent workaholic who's great in business and makes the most money. He's direct, eloquent, and loves to debate. His self-confidence, vision, love of strategizing, and ability to direct people toward shared goals make him the best leader. He's decisive, analytical, efficient, and quickly sees illogical or inefficient procedures, developing and implementing systems to solve problems. He enjoys expanding his knowledge and lives in a world of ideas. He has little patience for laziness or incompetence. He's likely to be atheistic, and copes well with stress.

Socially, he's not the warm and fuzzy type. He's interested in others' knowledge and expounds his own ideas - forcefully! He's determined to provide comfortably for his family. He seeks autonomous, productive relationships and although career-oriented, he puts a lot of effort into a relationship, once committed to it.

He may become narcissistic, meaning that he feels superior, exaggerates his abilities, expects constant praise, and ignores other people's feelings.

This type makes for a great villain - in fact, from Voldemort to Eric Cartman, it's hard to find fictional examples who are not villains. Natesa from Song of Scarabaeus is a Chief. She has a vision that she'll stop at nothing to achieve, and she expects everyone else to appreciate her brilliance.

Example of Chief: Geordi from Star Trek The Next Generation

ENTP - The Originator (3%)
On the face of it, the Originator (or Explorer-Inventor) with the most positive traits - the most creative, most spontaneously clever type. He's innovative, flexible, enthusiastic and resourceful in solving challenging problems. He generates endless possibilities and analyzes them strategically. He seldom does the same thing the same way and turns to one interest after another. He values fairness and consistency, and makes a great coach. He may take risks with money, and he can be argumentative. These are the inventors and entrepreneurs of the world, as well as the lawyers, systems analysts, and engineers.

Socially he's charming, funny, popular and laid back. He appreciates beauty and honesty and is good at reading other people. He loves to share ideas. As a partner, he's helpful and supportive, harboring intense feelings he's unable to communicate.

On the negative side, he's prone to rebelliousness and ADD, which makes him go off on tangents and become outwardly unfocused. Like his more decisive and disciplined counterpart above, he may also become narcissistic.

I think this personality type makes for a great hero or villain, epitomized in both cases by Dr Gregory House.

Example of Originator: House

INTJ - The Strategist (2%)
The Strategist (or Conceptualizer-Director) is the scientist, business manager or military leader who sees life as a giant chessboard. The most academic, she has great drive for implementing ideas. She's a perfectionist who also expects high standards from others, and needs creativity, independence and variety in her work. Everything has room for improvement - she quickly sees patterns and figures out the reasons behind events. She's liable to disregard rules and proper procedures. She's skeptical, analytical and objective.

Socially, she's thick-skinned and her serious intensity may be mistaken for aloofness. She's private, independent, self-confident and atheistic. She's on a constant quest for self-improvement and a voracious reader. She shuns small talk, preferring deep conversations, and she honors commitments in relationships. She's not affectionate unless she feels safe, and may not know how she affects others. At the extreme, she can be schizotypical, which is a personality disorder involving magical thinking and finding hidden symbolic messages. She may also become paranoid or schizoid (the latter makes her indifferent and unable to pick up social cues, similar to Asperger's).

Someone who's questing for self-improvement isn't necessarily a good genre hero because they're supposed to grow as a result of their adventures, not because they sought to grow. Ellen Ripley digs deep into her nerd-self to pull off the reluctant action hero. This type actually makes a badass villain, too – the secretive superscientist who wants to put right the wrongs of the world but goes too far.

Example of Strategist: Ripley from Alien/Aliens

INTP - The Engineer (3%)
The Engineer (or Designer-Theorizer) is the detached philosopher, the most logical of the types, and probably works as a scientist, mathematician, strategic planner, systems analyst, technical writer or engineer. He loves problem solving and is an ingenious thinker, focusing with intense concentration on the issue that interests him. He appears thoughtful and detached, imaginative and adaptable. He's skeptical and quite atheistic, and prizes intellectual honesty.

On the social scene he's quiet and easygoing, observing others to understand abstract principles about behavior. Relationships are not a priority because of his intellectual pursuits and acute autonomy. He is supportive and willing to sacrifice in a relationship with someone who respects his independence. If his partner is dissatisfied with the relationship, he's the least likely type to be aware of it.

He's impatient with sloppy thinking and may develop a paranoid personality disorder, leading to distrust of others. He's also prone to being schizoid (indifference and unable to pick up social cues).

Probably best as a sidekick, not a main character. It's hard to sympathize with someone who doesn't sympathize with anyone.

Example of Engineer: Spock from Star Trek

MBTI: Creators

The second group of MBTI personality types we'll look at make up about a quarter of the population...

SP - CREATORS (27%)

Here are the four types in this group (with fictional examples). There are three Creators in Song of Scarabaeus.

ESTP - The Persuader (4%)

Entertaining, spontaneous and enthusiastic with a live-for-the-moment lifestyle, the Persuader (also called the Promoter-Executor) is the most common movie character you'll find because of his natural charisma and because he's a doer. He's athletic and competitive and gets a rush from risk-taking activities. He thinks on his feet and loves the challenge of selling and negotiating - you'll find him in sales and marketing and entrepreneurial ventures, as well as in detective police work and even tech support. He's straightforward, the ultimate realist, and gets things done - focusing on immediate results while theories and conceptual explanations bore him. He has an appetite for the finer things in life. 

This is the guy who always says the right thing in social situations, although he can be a little insensitive with his humor. And he's generous to boot. He wins over everyone and dominates the scene. Everyone loves him - or loves to hate him. He's drawn to people he can have fun with, and has a knack for reading nonverbal cues and anticipating what others will do and say - yet he's not great at expressing his own feelings and finds it hard to commit. 

Taken to the extreme, he may have an antisocial personality disorder, becoming violent, disregarding safety, lying, stealing, and violating the rights of others.

This type makes a great "get up and go" hero in fiction. He's James Bond and Bender rolled into one! Zeke from Song of Scarabaeus is a Persuader. He's entertaining, straight-forward, and will try to lure you into his risk-taking ventures.

Example of Persuader: Captain Jack from Torchwood

ESFP - The Entertainer (9%)

The Entertainer (or Motivator-Presenter) is artistic and creative, but with a practical and realistic approach. She craves the spotlight and has a constant need for new experiences. She's people-oriented and loves to create positive experiences for everyone around her. She needs freedom and flexibility, not rules, and she strives to do her best, expecting the same from others. She learns new skills by doing, not by reading theory, and she's not the best critical thinker. In fact she can be irresponsible and unproductive, living only for the moment, more concerned with enjoying herself than accomplishing a task. 

Exuberant by nature, others find charming and warm and caring, if a bit vain and attention-seeking at times. She loves life, people, and material comforts, and can lighten the mood with a joke. This is the happiest type - she doesn't worry and she knows how to have fun. The opposite sex find her very attractive and she's likely to develop satisfying intimate relationships.

On the extreme negative side, she's prone to unstable moods, volatile relationships and risky or impulsive behavior. She doesn't take criticism well, becoming overly sensitive to what others say.

The entertainer could be an interesting fictional hero, perhaps too flighty, in fact the typical “dumb blonde” – unproductive probably isn't a word you want assigned to your main character – but she’s great if you’re looking for a wild child. Maybe the hero's best friend?

She is, of course, Cat Lancer from Song of Scarabaeus. Cat lives only to fly, likes to be the center of attention, ignores the rules, and attracts men like a magnet. She's also a bit unstable and impulsive, switching allegiances when it suits her.

Example of Entertainer: Buffy

ISTP - The Craftsman (5%)

The Craftsman (or Analyzer-Operator) is the guy you want around after the apocalypse. With his survival skills and mastery of tools, he can fix anything with his mechanically-inclined mind and practical skills. Although he's fearless and will try anything once, in general he's a quiet observer of life until a problem arises - then he analyzes the situation and acts quickly to make everything work again. He oozes common sense, tolerance and efficiency. He does have trouble with abstract concepts, is disrespectful of authority, and tends to suppress his anger in times of stress rather than finding a better coping mechanism.

He has a positive outlook, balancing home and work life well. He enjoys uncomplicated people, says what he means, and handles conflict well. Give him personal space in a relationship because he feels trapped easily. He's not very affectionate or emotional and shies away from emotionally charged situations.

The extreme type can be antisocial, leading to violence and crime, or paranoid, leading to emotional detachment.

This is the most common literary character and for obvious reasons. Bad things happen in stories, and this is the guy who lives to tell the tale. In Song of Scarabaeus it's Finn - he's competence on a stick. And a bit slow with the romance angle.

Example of Craftsman: Han Solo

ISFP - The Artist (9%)

The Artist (or Composer-Producer) seeks beauty and peace, and is driven by her inner values. She's cooperative and agreeable, and likes her own space. She's happiest when she's expressing herself through creativity, and enjoys helping others and making a contribution. She lives in the present, dislikes long-term planning, and isn't great with logic. She copes with stress by avoiding it, or by suppressing her emotions.

Friends find her warm, kind and loyal. She sees much but shares little and is quite hard to get to know. She dislikes conflict and is offended by domineering or insensitive people. In relationships she seeks a balance between closeness and independence. She's affectionate once she feels comfortable, and shows she cares by being helpful rather than talking about it.

At the extreme end of the spectrum, she shows avoidant behavior - becoming painfully shy, timid and sensitive, with feelings of inadequacy.

She's a gooey sort of character, perhaps best suited to the dithery sister. I'm not sure how you could make her into the villain.

Example of Artist: Jane from Pride & Prejudice

MBTI: Protectors

The first, and largest, of the four main personality groups of the MBTI is...

SJ - PROTECTORS (47%)

Here are the four Protector personality types (with somewhat random assignation of male/female pronouns, along with fictional examples):

ESTJ - The Overseer (9%)
The Overseer (also called the Implementer-Supervisor) lives in a world of facts and concrete needs. At work he is the stereotypical administrator, military leader or law-enforcer, providing structure and routine with a commitment to excellence, and expecting high standards from others. He is happiest in a leader position, motivating a team. He can be somewhat domineering and unimaginative, preferring that everyone toe the line. He has a clear vision of the way things should be.

Socially, he belongs to lots of clubs, plays and watches sport, and is concerned with image and popularity. He is gregarious, talkative and frank (but not always tactful), and enjoys the simple pleasures of life. He is loyal, committed to family life, and appreciates long-lasting friendships.

In the extreme, he's obsessive-compulsive - inflexible, needing to be in charge, and a perfectionist.

It's easy to make the Overseer an annoying by-the-book character in genre fiction, always butting heads with our independent-minded or seditious hero.

Sound like Haller from Song of Scarabaeus to you? (Despite this group's high frequency in the population, Haller is the only one of the 7 main characters in my first book who's a Protector.)


Example of Overseer: Dwight Schultz from The Office

ESFJ - The Supporter (12%)
The Supporter (or Facilitator-Caretaker) is the super-organized "hostess" of the world. Extremely sociable, she needs an altruistic career to be happy - nursing, teaching, medicine, clergy. Her organizational skills also make her an excellent bookkeeper or administrator. She creates a warm and friendly team work environment, always does the right thing, and honors commitments. She even takes the blame for others. She wants to be appreciated and dislikes conflict.

Socially, she's generous, popular, passionate, and has genuine concern for others. She has impeccable manners and never gets into trouble. Like the Overseer, she is concerned with social standing, needs to belong and wants to be liked. She makes decisions with her heart. Her focus is on family and friends, and she's gifted at reading people and bringing them together.

On the bad side, she's prone to being vain and histrionic, becoming overly emotional and sensitive to what others say.

This personality can come across as annoyingly goody-goody and conformist in novels. If she's the heroine be sure to give her some not-too-fatal flaws - for example, she's very subjective and lacks analytical skills because her feelings always get in the way. Taking the blame for others is another forgivable flaw that she can learn to overcome.

Example of Supporter: Mrs Weasley from Harry Potter

ISTJ - The Examiner (12%)
The most persevering and dependable type is the Examiner (or Planner-Inspector). He does everything by the book, taking his responsibilities very seriously. He's thorough, practical, always has a plan. Duty before pleasure is his motto. Careers in finance, law enforcement, medicine, the military, and small business owner suit him. He uses logic to decide what to do, then works steadily in an organized way, paying attention to every detail. He prefers to work alone, values integrity, works hard and makes sacrifices when necessary. But he can become too rigid and uncreative and miss the big picture.

Among friends he values tradition and loyalty, lives in the present, and thinks before speaking. He can come across as controlled, impersonal and firm. In relationships he's dependable, but isn't in touch with his feelings.

He may have a paranoid personality disorder.

This personality type has rather boring weaknesses and I imagine makes for quite a boring main character in fiction unless he has as many roguish flaws as this gentleman...

Example of Examiner: Don Draper from Mad Men

ISFJ - The Defender (14%)

The Defender (Protector-Supporter) is a loyal servant with a great need to serve others without recognition for her work, and often in low-paying jobs - the nurses, educators, child care workers, clergy, paralegals, even interior decorators of the world. She likes routine and wants a stable job and secure future. She follows the rules but is more forgiving than the Examiner of others who don't. She's responsible, meets her obligations, and works hard with painstaking accuracy. 

This is the least hedonistic type - she's unlikely to enjoy video games, art, sport or a lot of TV. She's quiet, loyal, friendly, considerate of others' feelings, and can easily identify their needs - and meet them selflessly. She can't abide conflict, is always striving for harmony, and has a great sense of humor. For her, love means caring and support. She's utterly dedicated to her relationships, and seeks deep connections and lifelong friendships.

Unfortunately she may display dependency traits or be excessively shy, leading to social isolation and feelings of inadequacy. And she worries too much!

A sympathetic main character, although probably not your alpha male. She's just plain nice and even her weaknesses aren't that bad. Marge is a foil for Homer, and that's why we love her. By herself, I'm not sure she can carry a show.

Example of Defender: Marge from The Simpsons

Why type your characters' personalities?

Yesterday I listed the 4 pairs of traits that generate 16 personality types according to the MBTI. Tomorrow I'll start to go through the results.

But first, why is it useful to type your characters? It helps you figure out how they'll react in a given situation (remembering that each trait is on a sliding scale, so they don't have to act in the extreme). Not just stressful situations and big decisions, but everyday stuff too. After a hard day's work, do they relax with a book (I) or go for a drink with friends (E)? In casual conversation, do they talk about sports and current affairs (S) or the future of humanity (N)? Do they think small talk is a waste of time (T) or that the social niceties are important for maintaining harmony (F)? Do they make quick decisions and live with the consequences (J), or avoid decisions to keep their options open (P)?

Typing also helps to ensure you have a variety of characters in your story. It's tempting, of course, to write characters who are like yourself. No surprise that the first major fictional character I wrote, Edie, is the same type as me, although more extreme because of her loveless childhood and then being kidnapped and all. But the most fun character I've written was Cat Lancer, who is almost the total opposite of me.

You can also match up personalities to create interesting relationships when it comes to personality conflicts and sexual attraction. Some traits go together well and others are create friction.

I'll note the types of my Scarabaeus characters when I describe each type, but as I mentioned yesterday  I didn't create characters to fit these types - I'm figuring out their types afterwards. However, for my WIP, I am creating characters based on specific personality types - for the reasons above. If you're the kind of writer, like me, who first develops a plot or idea and then populates the story with characters, then this approach might work for you.

If, on the other hand, you naturally create a variety of characters before coming up with a story - then, well, you probably don't need help in this department. It's still a fascinating exercise to discover the general characteristics of each type, and you might find patterns such as too many Chiefs or Dreamers or thinkers in your cast of characters.

As an intro to tomorrow's post: We can divide the 16 types into 4 general groups. Their official designations are:

SJ - Protectors
SP - Creators
NT - Intellectuals
NF - Visionaries

These groups are not of equal size in the general population, and you'll find more of certain types in certain professions. Tomorrow we'll look at the first and by far the largest group, the Protectors.

Intro to personality types in fiction

By now you've probably heard of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) as a tool for personality typing. Years ago, my school teacher mum was interested in it to help her understand the different behavior and needs of the children in her class. These days you'll often hear about it in relation to fictional characters. I've decided to use it in the development of the characters in my WIP.

As well as generating plausible and rounded characters, I think it's useful to spark ideas for conflict, plot and background stories. I'm going to run through the main ideas over the next few days, for those who might want to use this method. I didn't use it when writing the Scarabaeus series, whose evolution was a lot more (I hate this word...) organic, but I'll retrofit the MBTI for those characters as I go.

The MBTI is based on the Jungian approach and describes 4 pairs of traits. Everyone sits somewhere along a sliding scale of each pair, to generate unlimited subtleties in overall personality. Note that the official designations (e.g. "extrovert", "judging") for some of these traits may generate the wrong impression of what they actually mean - the words have special meanings here. You can type yourself fairly accurately just by choosing one option from each pair, Choose based on your preferences, not on whatever your job or lifestyle may impose on you.

Regarding your outer/inner world:
E - get energy from active involvement, excited around people, like to make things happen, a people person (Extrovert)
I - get energy from ideas, prefer doing things alone, reflect before acting, appear reflective and reserved (Introvert)

Regarding information:
S - pay attention to information gathered through the senses, concerned with reality and facts, see the practical use of things, learn by hands-on experience (Sensing)
N - pay attention to the patterns and possibilities in information, learn by thinking through a problem, think on the future and possibilities, enjoy symbols and abstract theories (Intuition)

Regarding decision making:
T - analyze pros and cons then make logical decision, try to be impersonal, enjoy technical and scientific fields, want to be fair (Thinking)
F - weigh people's feelings and points of view before making a decision, try to maintain harmony, tact more important than cold truth, caring and tactful in relationships (Feeling)

Regarding your lifestyle structure:
J - like to have things decided, life appears planned and orderly, task-oriented (Judging)
P - like to leave options open, appear flexible and spontaneous, more playful (Perceiving)

Your type is described with four letters, e.g. ENTP, and there are 16 possible types. Here are descriptions of the 16 types from the Myers-Briggs Foundation. Tomorrow I'll start looking at the 16 types in relation to what kind of fictional characters they are useful for, and where my own characters fit in.

Life on other planets

This is the stuff of every sci-fi writer's dreams, except that it's true...

Astronomers have discovered over 700 exoplanets (extrasolar planets), of which 120+ are in the habitable zone - not too far or too near their sun for life. Of these, most are gas planets the size of Jupiter or bigger, and won't support life ("as we know it"). One reason for this is that bigger planets are easier to detect, so there's no reason not to think smaller Earth-like planets also exist in those solar systems.

Last month NASA announced the discovery of the first Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star. The planet is 2.4 times the radius of Earth and similar in temperature, with a 290-day year, while the star (Kepler-22) is G-class, the same as our Sun, and 600 light-years away.


Little is yet known about the composition of this exoplanet, so we can only speculate that it might be similar to Earth's - mostly ocean with a rocky core - in which case, it might harbor life.

There are probably tens of billions of exoplanets in our galaxy alone. Multiply that by the 100 billion galaxies in the universe and you have - well, squillions of planets! It's nice to imagine (hope) a few of them have life that we may one day explore, and even nicer if that life is sentient. Preferably friendly.

And even if the planets themselves don't support life, their moons might. Our moon might be a big ol' dusty pock-marked rock but they're not all like that.

Review: Battle: Los Angeles

I repeat myself from yesterday, with a minor twist: Battle: Los Angeles is more enjoyable if you watch it as a war movie than as science fiction. It borrows relentlessly from ID4 and Aliens, the former in plot and the latter in that it focuses exclusively on one platoon of US Marines as they go into evacuated Santa Monica to rescue civilians, then blow up a lot of alien stuff.

There are only two personal stories, really - the staff sergeant got the lieutenant's brother killed in Afghanistan (ooh, tension!); and a kid's dad dies - an incident that provides some out-of-place sentimentality and a chance for Aaron Eckhart as the staff sergeant to go all Marines Never Quit!! on us. They could've left that out.

We barely get to know the aliens. There is some hideous nonsense about them wanting our water (ocean levels have decreased several inches because they're using our water for fuel - what??!) but I'll just ignore that. The military stuff is handled believably to my completely untrained eye and - be thankful for the crumbs - there are two quite nice roles for women in this testosterone monsoon.

The movie is fun, in exactly the same way Cowboys and Aliens was fun. I think I would have hated this on the big screen, but the $5 blu-ray was just fine.

Review: Cowboys and Aliens

We quite enjoyed this one as a popcorn movie. In fact we watched it on our wedding anniversary, so let's call it a great date movie.

I think you have to watch it as a Western, not an SF movie, in order to appreciate it. There's really not much to it. There are some cowboys (and indians) and some aliens, and they duke it out. End of story. It's pretty to look at, fun and forgettable.

Review: Far North

Two films I've seen recently - one to recommend and one... not so much.

The bad news first. Tomorrow, the good. I rented Far North because it has Sean Bean and it was MCP's idea to trek through his movies, he of LOTR and Game of Thrones. (The former we are rewatching on the Extended Blu-Ray I got MCP for Xmas, the latter we both enjoyed - incidentally, he has read both the LOTR and GoT series, I have read neither.)

Far North is based on a 4-page short story by Sara Maitland. The setting is the Arctic tundra at an unspecified point in time, where two women survive the hostile environment totally alone because the older one believes she's cursed. She raised the younger one from a baby, after rescuing her from her slaughtered village. They find Sean Bean on the ice and nurse him back to health, and he falls for one of them, making the other jealous. We get a lot of fairly interesting anthropological stuff while waiting for something Big to happen. Then Far North goes south, or pear-shaped as the Brits would say, and we get a sort of magic-realism slasher ending. (Which justifies me filing this under SF movies.)

It didn't work for me. Maybe the (very) short story worked, because you have so little time to establish character that the reader can fill in the blanks appropriately. But in a movie, we get to see the characters in detail. The ending comes from left field, making no sense in light of what we've seen before.

Which goes to show that just because you have a picturesque location and some great actors, doesn't mean you can translate a thousand words of prose into anything meaningful even when you make it a hundred times longer.

Tomorrow: Cowboys and Aliens.