Thursday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

CREATING UNFORGETTABLE CHARACTERS

By: Kathleen McCleary

I’m fascinated by personality tests, you know, the kind you run across all the time online or in magazines. I’ve taken the Myers-Briggs test twice (I’m an INFJ), the Keirsey Temperament Test (also an INFJ) and studied the Enneagram (I’m a 2). And while all of this is fodder for good cocktail party conversation and self-analysis, one of the biggest benefits of thinking about personality types is the way it’s helped me create characters in fiction.

My fiction is character driven. If I can get a handle on my characters and truly understand who they are—what they like and dislike, what loves and terrors drive them, what strengths and weaknesses define them—then the plot often flows naturally from the choices these characters make. But one of the biggest challenges in creating believable characters is making sure they are themselves, not me. And this is where personality typing can be very useful.

There’s plenty of science to back up the idea that we are born with certain temperaments. For example, the New York Longitudinal Study (Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess) followed infants from age six months into their early forties, identifying 9 temperament characteristics that remained constant throughout the decades.

Our characters, too, are born with certain temperaments. The story lies in how those inborn personality traits lead characters to make choices that shape the events of their lives and, in turn, how events work with temperament to shape character. It’s an intricate dance, and when executed well in fiction it creates characters that linger in our minds (and readers’ minds) long after a book ends.

A few tips on creating characters:

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Read the full article HERE!

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If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

1. Divas on Writing: Wikipedia Is Not the Bible - Write Divas http://ow.ly/GTOqw
2. Seven Deadly Sins of Book Promotion - BookBaby Blog http://ow.ly/GTOIs
3. Writing and Marketing: Social Media Marketing Tips - Twitter Dos and Don'ts http://ow.ly/GVMh3
4. Seriously Write: I’d Rather Research than Write – Musings of a History Nerd By Susan F. Craft http://ow.ly/GVMs7
5. How Do You Stay Organized? | Jami Gold, Paranormal Author http://ow.ly/GVNE5
6. 16 Rules of Blog Writing and Layout. Which Ones Are You Breaking? | Successful Blogging http://ow.ly/GVPJv
7. All Writers Doubt Themselves – How YOU Can Overcome Doubt | Positive Writer http://ow.ly/GVQjq
8. How to Plan, Write, and Develop a Book: Unexpected Therapy: Need to Get Over It? Write about It! http://ow.ly/GVQww
9. The Ultimate 2015 Marketing Checklist To Guarantee Success - Heidi Cohen http://ow.ly/GVQHy
10. 12 Ways to Use Your Blog to Achieve Expert Status by Nina Amir — The Book Designer http://ow.ly/GVQO2
11. Writer Unboxed » Creating Unforgettable Characters http://ow.ly/GVRbs
12. What's the Difference Between Your Story's Theme and Its Message? - Helping Writers Become Authors http://ow.ly/GVRqe
13. 7 Strategies and 110 Tools to Help Indie Authors Find Readers and Reviewers http://ow.ly/GVRKG
14. How to Use Your iPhone to Record Video with an External Microphone - Training Authors for Success http://ow.ly/GVRSh
15. What's the Correct Length for an Ebook? http://ow.ly/GVS3V
16. All Those Confusing Words! - Books & Such Literary Management : Books & Such Literary Management http://ow.ly/GVSeB
17. Get Your Message Shared with This Simple Tactic http://ow.ly/GVSos
18. How to Create an Effective, Engaging Video - Marketing Tips For Authors http://ow.ly/GVSxl
19. Essential Strategies to Boost Your Visibility in 2015 http://ow.ly/GVSFn
20. Most Common Writing Mistakes, Pt. 37: Unnecessary Filler - Helping Writers Become Authors http://ow.ly/GVSRK

Happy writing and running, Kathy