Character Development

Character development is an interesting process for the writer. And like so many other areas in writing craft, the new writer kind of has to work through several different methods to learn what works for them.

I'm taking an online writing course (well, lurking is probably the better description!) on writing the thriller. Before we introduced ourselves to the class, we were to take the Meier's-Briggs personality test in preparation to creating our own characters. The idea is that if you understand the complexities of your own personality it will be easier to create complex characters for our books. It's not new: Angie Hunt does this and recommends it in all her writing classes. Actually I first took the test after completing a Nangie clinic at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference a couple years back.

(I'll have more on CCWC and Nangie clinics on Thursday this week, so come back to visit then. in the meantime, check here to see a brochure and see the information for this year's excellent line-up.)

Both of the times I've taken the test, I've tested out as an ISTJ (Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging), very strong on the first and last elements, especially. Then I Googled ISTJ and found a description that totally blows me away with how accurate it is!

So I encourage you to check this out for yourself: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm

It doesn't take long. Then leave a comment telling us what your personality type is, according to the test, and how accurate the description is!

God is good to create each of us with unique personalities and character traits. This put me in awe of Him that much more when I finished the evaluation.

Daily Bible reading: Tuesday, March 4—Exodus 36–38; James 4