One of my main characters is extremely different from me. (For example, with Myers-Briggs, I\u2019m an INFP, and he\u2019s an ESFP.) It\u2019s really sort of hard for me to write him sometimes because he\u2019s so\u2026not at all me, I guess. I guess my problem is that I have to write a person who\u2019s very much a people-person, while I\u2019m not (I definitely LIKE being around people, I\u2019m just sort of shy a lot.) Does anyone have any advice for that?<\/em><\/p>\nThe Myers-Briggs is fun to take for yourself and your characters! I couldn\u2019t resist doing it for myself and for my MC in the prequel I just finished. The test is free, and you find out the names of famous people who share your or your character\u2019s personality type. Also, suggestions are made about careers you may be well suited for, which I would take with a gallon of salt. None of my career options as an ENFJ is writer (Bug\u2019s is, by the way), and none of my famous people is a writer. Actually, I\u2019d take the whole thing with a gallon of salt, in that it isn\u2019t helpful to regard an online personality test as the final word on who we are. Still it\u2019s fun.<\/p>\n
Even if you don’t take the test, you may want to read about it, because I\u2019m going to use Myers-Briggs terms in the post, so a little knowledge will be helpful, but I will explain as I go along.<\/p>\n
Bug, it\u2019s great that you know all this about your character (and yourself). Now that I know I\u2019m an ENFJ, although just moderately or slightly on everything, and my MC Perry is definitively an ISTJ, I realize how different we are. In other words, she\u2019s an introvert, and I\u2019m outgoing. Feelings influence my decision-making more than they influence hers, because she\u2019s more of a step-by-step plodder. But I didn\u2019t have much trouble writing her, because I knew, and the reader will, too, how she came to be what she is. So that\u2019s one tip: our character\u2019s history, whether as backstory or as played out in the plot, will reveal clues to his behavior.<\/p>\n
For example, let\u2019s imagine Harper, a child who\u2019s adopted. She\u2019s wildly intuitive, but her adoptive parents are cautious and logical. If she wants to get her way about anything, she has to defend her choice in terms they\u2019ll understand. Gradually, necessity moves her into their camp, and her sixth sense goes to sleep. In our story she gets older and has to make a career decision. She lists pros and cons; she researches qualifications; she interviews people who are employed in the kinds of work she\u2019s considering. One of her friends asks, \u201cBut which one would you like better?\u201d And she answers, \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to figure out?\u201d Her friend presses her: \u201cWhich one lifts your heart just to think about.\u201d She frowns. \u201cI don\u2019t know what you mean.\u201d Because we know how she got there, we know how she\u2019ll take action and respond in lots of situations. If she feels attracted to someone, she won\u2019t let that feeling take over. She\u2019ll watch her crush and make judgments. Then, maybe, she\u2019ll move forward.<\/p>\n
Or, imagine that Bug\u2019s extrovert, Manny, grows up in a family of extroverts. If he doesn\u2019t push himself forward, he\u2019ll get lost, so he does. Or, let\u2019s imagine a more difficult childhood for him. When he\u2019s a baby, his parents flee their home kingdom because of persecution, but they don\u2019t speak the language. Manny, however, learns both languages. Even as a child, he has to represent his family in the new land. His parents give him responsibilities beyond his years, and he has to be effective with adults. Whether or not he starts with an extrovert bent, that part of him is pushed to develop. This knowledge helps us write him.<\/p>\n
Addie in The Two Princesses of Bamarre<\/em> is very shy, and there\u2019s nothing in her past to explain it. I did have trouble with her because, although I\u2019m only moderately extroverted, I still am. At the beginning I wrote Addie as so paralyzed by her shyness that she was almost catatonic. I went to my shy critique buddy, Joan, for advice, and she helped me dial back the paralysis. So outside help from someone who is more like your character than you are may be helpful.<\/p>\nAnd let me offer you shy ones (many writers are) some info about extroverts (moderate ones, anyway), as represented by me, which you are welcome to use in developing your characters. I like gatherings, even if I don\u2019t know many people. I may start off feeling shy and nervous, but I steel myself. I\u2019ll stand at the edge of a group and listen for a little while. I usually get a vibe. If they\u2019re willing to include a newcomer, the circle widens and people smile. If that doesn\u2019t happen, I move on. When I find a receptive group, I listen and chip in if I have something to say, but staying on topic, because I\u2019m the interloper. After five or ten minutes, I may introduce a new idea that particularly interests me. If others are fascinated, too, I feel even more comfortable, and the conversation develops. In big groups, social gatherings where networking is happening, groups fragment, because most people want to touch more than one base. When the group falls apart, I move on and repeat.<\/p>\n
At the buffet or bar (where I get seltzer with a splash of cranberry juice, which looks pretty and vaguely alcoholic and tastes good), there\u2019s a chance to meet people one-on-one. If people are waiting in a line, I may have time to get a little acquainted with the person ahead or behind me, which can be nice.<\/p>\n
Three things I never do:<\/p>\n
\u2219 Hold forth and deliver monologues about myself or pass myself off as an expert on anything. I\u2019m more likely to be asking questions than asserting anything.<\/p>\n
\u2219 Worry about making a fool out of myself. There\u2019s always that risk, and I\u2019ve swallowed my foot more than once, but I haven\u2019t died, and usually a funny story is the result.<\/p>\n
\u2219 Rehearse what I want to say before saying it or go over it for flaws. That road leads to silence and feeling alone, because even if I finally approve my contribution, the conversation has moved on. I plunge in.<\/p>\n
Internally, I\u2019m irrepressible, which fuels my extroversion. If I care about a topic and have ideas, I think I have an obligation to share, to spur conversation and even to create fun.<\/p>\n
My extroversion is fueled by enormous curiosity about people, which I bet I share with many shy folk. The difference, I think, is that I\u2019m not restrained from coming out with it. I mean well, but occasionally I cross into nosiness, which may be welcomed\u2013or not!<\/p>\n
What about the shy among you? Any tips about how to write shy characters?<\/p>\n
If our opposite character type has to act, we can list possibilities, starting with what we would do, what an opposite action might be, what our outgoing cousin Naomi would do, what Anne of Green Gables would do, and the possibilities that just pop to mind. If nothing seems right, we keep going with more possibilities.<\/p>\n
It will get easier as the story progresses, I believe. Once our MC performs like an extrovert, we\u2019ll see him at work and come up with more extroverty actions for him the next time. We\u2019ll also discover how he reacts to other characters, whose natures are established. How is he with a shy friend? How with his brother who\u2019s more out there even than he is?<\/p>\n
Here are three prompts:<\/p>\n
\u2219 The Match-Made-In-Heaven dating service puts people together by similar Myers-Briggs scores. Your MCs, Michael and Addison, are identical shy ISTJ\u2019s (Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging). Write their first date. Write the journal entry of one of them afterward. Decide if they ever want to see each other afterward. Keep going with the relationship if you like, which can go in any direction. They can fall in love or become opponents in a struggle that has galactic proportions.<\/p>\n
\u2219 The Opposites-Attract dating service takes the opposite approach. This time, Jordan (INFP-Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving) is matched with Peyton (ESTJ-Extroverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging). Write the date and the journal entry. Keep going if you like.<\/p>\n
\u2219 Let\u2019s work with Harper, our MC who\u2019s methodical, careful, and cautious. But, remember, her nature before she blended into her family was intuitive. Put her in a situation where being methodical and careful land her in trouble. Her intuition has to wake up. Write the situation and the story.<\/p>\n
Have fun, and save what you write!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Does this title mean anything to anyone but me? Before I go on to the post, I found out about this through poetry school: If you\u2019re sixteen and older, you\u2019re eligible, and there seems to be no fee to apply and a nice sum if you win. If you do win, be sure to let […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9,291],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":662,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658\/revisions\/662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}