Recap:

Last week you learned about Micheal Cicerrelli-Walsh’s new book Project Vortex. This coming of age/superhero tale takes you on a continued adventure with the Zoboros. Long ridiculed and hidden, the Zoboros are trying to rise from the shadows, as many of them struggle with the awkward stages of being a teenager/young adult.

In the last writing post, you were first introduced to the different aspects of character. As a quick reminder, these are: Personality, Experience(Backstory), Actions, and Motive. Today, we’ll dive into the first aspect, personality.

What is Personality?

According to the Oxford online dictionary, a personality is “the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual’s distinctive character.”

I want you to think about someone you know that has a powerful personality. Who’s that first person to come to mind? And why them? Knowing what stands out to you will help you understand what people are looking for in the personalities of your characters. Personality is both what the character defines within themself and what the other characters see them as.

Why is Personality Important?

Personality is important because it changes your book from a fun adventure tale to a memorable quest. More than that, personality creates the reason your readers come back to your book for a re-read, sequels, and other novels.

Your character’s personality also defines the internal and external conflict of your story. For example, Falcio Val Mond in Traitor’s Blade is an embodiment of valor through and through. The conflicts he often finds himself in often stem from his heroic actions and his struggle to see past his sense of justice. If the character acts outside of their personality, there’s usually a reason for it. Where the Greatcoats series is from Falcio’s perspective, he often explains why he breaks his personality mold. Then he always finds some way out of the deadly situation his genuine personality got him into.

How to Use Personality in your Story?

Personalities are like tropes in a genre, they can hinder or help your novel along. Remember that personality isn’t just the endearing traits of your character. Everyone is disliked by someone else for at least one personality trait key to who they are. No one is liked by everyone, no matter how charismatic they are. Your characters are no different. No matter how hard you try, one or many of the characters you create will be disliked by your readers. You may have masterfully planned out that character, but sometimes personalities just don’t mesh. So look for both possibilities to know where your character’s weaknesses and strengths are.

So, how do you use it to build the strongest story possible?

One way to use the personality of your characters is to choose a character’s personality that would naturally create the most conflict. Because, honestly, sometimes the best personalities make you cringe, as you know it’s only going to make the character’s situation worse.

How do you develop personalities?

Well, there’s the long way, you work through various short backstory blurbs and writing a 10,000 word prologue may work for you. I’ll admit that I’ve been doing the long way where I discover my character’s personality as I go. This makes the re-writes super-duper fun, so I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re just starting out. If it works for you, then keep chugging along.

There are so many options pre-built for you to work off of and adjust to fit your story and character needs.

The Astrological Signs:

Okay, okay, you can roll your eyes, but hear me out. While many who believe deeply in using astrology to understand their and other personalities. Using Astrological signs and personality tests gives you plenty of material. Find yourself a diehard. I honestly don’t know if there’s a correct term, but find someone who is passionate about the signs. They may end up giving you a skeleton of traits for the characters you need in your story. Why bring this one up? Because my wife’s coworkers started talking about it, and then when she got home, we began talking about our signs. Sometimes it’s strange how accurate some of the information is. Look it up for yourself and let me know what you find? Did it match 100% or not at all?

Try using the astrological signs as a dynamic of your character creation. Look up what signs are compatible and incompatible, and why. This could help you find some inner and outer conflict really fast!

Interesting Fact: The oldest personality test still used today is the Woodworth Personal Data Sheet, which was first used in 1919. It helped the United States Army screen out recruits who might be susceptible to shell shock. The test comprises 116 questions about the individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. They scored the answers to assess the individual’s level of neuroticism, anxiety, and other personality traits.

The Myers-Briggs Personality Test

There are 16 possible outcomes for this test. The Myers-Briggs test was created by a mother-daughter duo that hoped the test would assist others in determining their best career path and other life choices. The Myers-Briggs test is one of the most widely recognized personality tests, and may make it the easiest for you to find reference material for. This was my favorite site to do some research, click here.

Enneagram:

The Enneagram offers nine dominant personalities with two possible “wings” to show variations from any of the true 1-9 Enneagram types. With 18 outcomes, this is another great resource to use in character development. This was the most helpful site for me to learn more about the Enneagram Personality test, click here.

Archetypes:

Archetypes are types of characters that are used for a certain purpose of the story. One of my favorite proponents of using archetypes is K.M. Weiland. You can find her site here. She brings up how using the archetypes of well-known character types can help you form the basis of your character before you make them your own.

Conclusion:

As is true with all the above examples and any attempt at defining a character’s personality, cliches are inevitable. But the most important part of creating a character’s personality is that even if they begin as a cliche, their character arc will take them out of the cliche and into who they need to be. Here’s a fact that might terrify or free you, but no character is going to be truly unique. There will always be something that somehow matches up with another character that your reader met in the countless books they’ve read. Comparing is natural, so create characters with personalities that fit them and their story.

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