temperaments – Almost An Author

Discovering Personalities of Historical Characters with the Enneagram

My recent novels are about two women who lived four thousand years ago, Hagar and Sarah. Their stories are told in the Bible, and I believe I will meet them in heaven someday. Looking at it like that, you realize the responsibility you incur, as a historical novelist, to portray your characters as close to right as possible.

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I use a personality profile called the Enneagram, a set of nine distinct personality types, with each number on the Enneagram denoting one type. Each type has exceptional talents and foreseeable difficulties in being who they are. Nine different ways to approach your character arc. I use the Enneagram as a map to the internal journey and transformation of my characters. It shows me what motivates them, what their basic fear is, their desire (what they want), and how they respond to conflict.

Type One: The Reformer. Leads with integrity but hindered by demanding perfectionism.
Type Two: The Helper. Generous and positive but can be people-pleasing and possessive.
Type Three: The Achiever. Inspiring and successful but status conscious and materialistic.
Type Four: The Individualist. Creative and intuitive but moody and self-conscious.
Type Five: The Investigator. Visionary and intellectual but isolated and distant.
Type Six: The Loyalist. Courageous and committed but defensive and anxious.
Type Seven: The Enthusiast. Adventurous and spirited but impulsive and unfocused.
Type Eight: The Challenger. Self-reliant and strong but controlling and intimidating.
Type Nine: The Peacemaker. They bring people together but can be stubborn or passive.

Look for clues in your research.

Before I began writing about Sarah, I searched the Bible for clues regarding her personality. Sarah was loyal to God, her husband, and known for hospitality. But also doubting and lashed out at Hagar when she perceived her as an enemy.

Sarah fit Type Six, the Loyalist. Ironically, and what made her arc interesting, the biggest fear of a Type Six is abandonment. As a writer, that gave me inner conflict for Sarah when her husband abandoned her to two kings.

Healthy sixes are warm and friendly, traits needed for hospitality. But the unhealthy side of their personality make them hysterical, suspicious, and paranoid. Acting out from anxiety, they blame others and complain to third parties about people they are frustrated with. Exactly what Sarah did when she complained to Abraham about Hagar. Given Abraham’s permission to do whatever she wanted with the haughty handmaid, Sarai mistreated Hagar, so Hagar ran away.

Perfect for a writer’s toolbox.

The Enneagram is a helpful tool for identifying the personalities of real-life historical people. Because you make them deep and real. It also works when you want to craft memorable characters from scratch that readers relate to. How they react in the world, grow, learn, and change, gives a writer genuine conflict to keep booklovers turning pages.

For more information visit my Facebook page: @authorkdholmberg.

KD Holmberg is an author, blogger, and freelance writer. She is a member of ACFW, Word Weavers International, and a founding member of the Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild. She is represented by Hartline Literary Agency. A retired flight attendant, she has traveled and lived all over the globe. She and her husband, Keith, love to golf and live in South Carolina. You can find more about her: Facebook @authorkdholmberg, twitter @kdeniseholmberg, and kdeniseholmberg.blogspot.com

Different Temperaments, Different Fears

The heroine of the mystery novel I am working on needs certain qualities to be a good sleuth. Things like nosiness, an outgoing personality, the ability to talk people into helping her, and the willingness to risk dangerous situations in order to get the information she needs.

In other words, her temperament needs to be very different than mine. I am a reserved, logical, non-assertive person who doesn’t like taking risks and stays out of other people’s business. (Most of the time, anyway.)

Therefore, I cannot rely solely on my own instincts to predict how my character will react. No writer can, because we all need a variety of characters who think and act in different ways. That’s where utilizing temperament classifications can be useful. (See below for information on three different temperament classification systems. You can also search for free assessment tools online.)

Temperaments as a writing tool

Understanding temperaments is especially important when writers are considering the deep inner issues that their characters must face, because one person’s worst fear is something another personality type might take in stride. For example, some people hate being in the spotlight while others thrive in it. Some people find their purpose upholding rules, while others consider rules stifling.

Identifying a character’s temperament type can guide us to the issues that would most challenge their personality. (And it might be something very different from what would most challenge you or me.) Alternately, if you know the kind of trauma and embarrassment you have planned for your hero, you might find that a particular temperament’s worst nightmare or most significant fear fits your concept. Voila, you have identified the perfect temperament.

Browsing through some of the other posts on best/worst ___ for each temperament type can give you additional useful insights. For example, I stumbled across the advice that a pet would be the worst kind of gift for my heroine, because her personality doesn’t do well at long-term relationship maintenance, so a pet would end up either being ignored or becoming a hindrance. (Hmm, strike the pet cat.)

WWJD – What Would Jane Do?

If you are like me, all this temperament info is fascinating, but difficult to put into practice when writing. What are we poor writers who never took a Psych class to do?

You might try assigning a person you know as a temperament model for your character. This does not mean you are basing your whole character on this person, only that your model’s temperament fits nicely into one of the standard types, which helps you understand what that kind of personality would do in a given situation. A temperament model can help you avoid inadvertently overlaying your own personality on your character.

How else have you found temperament classifications to be helpful? I’d love to hear your advice.

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Information on three common temperament classification systems:

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator divides temperaments into sixteen types with four-letter designations like INFP or ESTJ.

The Kiersey Temperament Sorter, which basically uses the same sixteen types as the Myers- Briggs but approaches them in a different way that might make more sense to some writers.

The Enneagram System, which takes a different approach to understanding temperaments and divides people into nine personality types. If you feel like you never fit into any of the Myers-Briggs types, the Enneagram system might make more sense.