So you've imagined your character. You think you know them well. You hope your readers love them and come to know them like you do. We all want to write great characters. What writer doesn't want a character that is quoted, loved, and remembered? As readers, the characters we remember are genuine if nothing else. They are not predictable but we understand their choices and those choices deepen our understanding of them while still being consistent with what we already know. It's like wow they did that; but, we don't doubt they did it.
As character lovers, we writers must become students of human nature. One way I stumbled upon was personality tests. Originally I took them to better understand myself. The reason most people take them by the way. Then the idea struck me. What if my characters started taking these personality tests? I could answer the questions not as myself but as my character. Then I read the pages of analysis that these online tests produce and often I see insights into my character that I originally did not know. This extra knowledge won't help you write that climatic scene. It will though help you put in those little details that lend authenticity to your characters.
So anyway. I'm going to tell you today about two tests that I think are interesting. Don't limit yourself to these two tests. I intend, and I hope you do as well, to seek out every variety of test I can find. These two though are pretty rich examples. They will provide you with lots of fodder for characters.
The Firo-B test has four types. The Choleric, the Melancholy, the Sanguine, and the Phlegmatic. One thing for sure though is that people will not be 100% a particular type. There are interesting combinations. If you do a search online you'll see tons of stuff relating to the Firo-B.
The Meyers Briggs is another popular and a bit older test. It produces a 4 letter code that represents your personality. You can get a lot of info here http://www.personalitypathways.com about this test.
There are more tests than just these. Try them all. Why not?
Here is a link to a page with lots of links to tests. Many of the tests are free. Some of course are not. I make no money from any of them.
http://www.librarysupportstaff.com/4personaltest.html
So what do you do now? You take the tests for your characters. You can also read the results without taking the tests as a means of jumpstarting your imagination. Maybe one of the types will give you ideas for a particularly interesting character. Good luck and good writing!
