Brutally honest time: I HATE character development. My least favorite part of writing is developing characters (which I semi-mentioned in this post). So much so, in fact, that I am struggling like crazy to get started writing The Tudor Tool (or whatever I'm going to call it) because I just can't get my characters' development off the ground. Usually I dive right in to the story and go back to fix the development later, but this book focuses so much on development that I can't get started until everything is in a neat little developmental row.
But I think I've found something that helps. So I thought I'd share my little discovery, should it help anyone else.
I took my first personality test about two years ago, and it completely freaked me out. Just by answering "yes" or "no" to a few questions, this little computer program was able to tell me EXACTLY who I was. Exactly. That was weird to me. I mean, in what possible situation would I want to know EXACTLY what details make up certain personalities?
Then it hit me: when I'm trying to develop my characters.
So yesterday I put on my character-cap and took a personality test as Crystal Thorne, my MC in The Tudor Tool. What did I get? A detailed explanation of why Crystal acts the way she does (she's an INTJ personality type), what motivates her, and what her preferred occupations would be. With the exception of the last bit of info, it was exactly what I needed. Basically, this little personality test did all the hard work for me. Sha-zam: instant character development/explanation/description.
I used this personality test, which gives you a choice of two different descriptions as well as a free trial of what personality types would be the best mate-matches. Even if you don't use it for character development research, it provides hours of entertainment. Hours.
10 comments:
That is genius. What a cool way to develop/research characters!!!!!
How fun! I took it for myself first, vain mortal that I am, and I totally agree with you that it described me SPOT ON. :)
I'm off to take it for my characters! What a great idea, Sara!
That is a very smart idea. I'm glad it could help you with those pesky characters.
I've taken that before, and it was pretty accurate. I'm definitely going to use that for my characters now!
I'm so going to do that for my characters! Holy kewlness.
Fabulous idea smarty pants! It really does pay to have friends who are smarter than you...
Congrats! Congrats on the HM on Miss Snark!!!! I loved that snippy translation!! Great job!
Brilliant!! Thanks for sharin' Sara. Think I'll put some of my characters to the test. Muwahahahah!
I took the test, but I did it quickly, and possibly lied. I know. Why? I'll take it again.
Good idea!
Thank you for this tip! I've thought of doing character development (which I struggle with, too) using the many many email questionnaires, but having something give you "results" like the one you present would be fantastic.
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