Authors of Queer Fiction: Take the Personality-Type Challenge!
**I posted this before the holidays and got some great responses. Am hoping to get even more in the new year. Add your characters’ personality types in the comments below, and please share with anyone who might be interested!
Five months ago at BEA, Roan Parrish and I got into a Myers-Briggs chat over mango sticky rice (because really, what else do you talk about in a Thai restaurant while your favorite no-guilt-just-pleasure pop songs percolate in the background?) We discovered that, in addition to our impeccable taste in ’90s bands, we also share a passion for personality-typing assessments. Yeah, yeah, they’re flawed and knowing you’re an INFP probably does nothing except make you feel more like a misunderstood artiste, but still—for writers, there’s something so alluring about these tests, right?
Being the cute and unapologetic nerds we are, Roan and I started toying with blog post ideas. I thought about doing a post on using personality typing as a character-development tool, but I looked it up and WHOA SO MANY posts about that topic. So then we thought: what if we asked authors of LGBTQ+ books to type their characters? And maybe even made a super-geeky chart showing where all the characters landed, like those Harry Potter and Game of Thrones charts except ours won’t be reblogged 8,000 times on tumblr?
It sounds fun (to us, at least) so consider this an official call to action. If you write LGBTQ+ fiction, here’s what to do if you wanna take part:
1) Take a Myers-Briggs-like test, answering questions as your MCs would answer them. You can access versions/adaptations of the test here, here, and here; if anyone knows of a better (free) version online, let me know. (You can also take the official version online for $49.95, but hello, we’re semi-starving writers.)
2) Post results in the comments below along with a link to your book, or email them to me (jclillisbooks at gmail dot com) or Roan (roanparrish at gmail dot com).
3) After we get a bunch, we’ll post a roundup (with links to your books) and maybe do a fun chart if there’s interest.
The challenge is open to all authors of LGBTQ+ lit, from YA to NA and beyond. If you want to write a special post on the experience of typing your characters and any surprises you uncovered in the process, just send us a link to it and we’ll include that in our roundup.
Here’s mine for How to Repair a Mechanical Heart:
Brandon is an INFJ.
“Strongly humanitarian in outlook, INFJs tend to be idealists, and because of their J preference for closure and completion, they are generally “doers” as well as dreamers. This rare combination of vision and practicality often results in INFJs taking a disproportionate amount of responsibility in the various causes to which so many of them seem to be drawn…While instinctively courting the personal and organizational demands continually made upon them by others, at intervals INFJs will suddenly withdraw into themselves, sometimes shutting out even their intimates….Inner conflicts are also not uncommon in INFJs…[They] are generally well-suited to the ‘inspirational’ professions such as teaching (especially in higher education) and religious leadership. [Oh, man.]” (excerpted from this site)
Abel is an ENFP.
“ENFPs are both idea-people and people-people…They want to both help and to be liked and admired by other people, on both an individual and a humanitarian level. This is rarely a problem for the ENFP, as they are outgoing and warm, and genuinely like people. Some ENFPs have a great deal of zany charm, which can ingratiate them to more stodgy types in spite of their unconventionality…They can be intellectual, serious, all business for a while, but whenever they get the chance, they flip that switch and become CAPTAIN WILDCHILD, the scourge of the swimming pool, ticklers par excellence.” (excerpted from this site)
So what are your characters? Go type them, and let us know what you find out! No deadline or anything; we’ll be collecting these as they come. Have fun, and please spread the word to anyone else who might want to participate. <3
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This was fun! Roan came up with INTJ, which is more or less true, and Holden got ESTP, which also seems more or less true. Here are the most true statements: For Roan, it’s “Perhaps the most fundamental problem, however, is that INTJs really want people to make sense” (oh yeah, even though he knows they don’t), and for Holden it’s “Almost unconsciously ESTPs look for nonverbal, nearly subliminal cues as to what makes their quarry “tick”. Once they know, they wait for just the right time to trump the unsuspecting victim’s ace and glory in their conquest.” Oh hell yeah.
And it’s a series, so I should pick the first book in the series. (Infected: Prey). But Holden doesn’t show up until Infected: Freefall, so I’ll link that one.
http://www.amazon.com/Infected-Freefall-Andrea-Speed-ebook/dp/B00NMSXEKA/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449620492&sr=8-1&keywords=infected+freefall
Hi, J.C. This is a fabulous idea, I can’t wait to read the results. Doing the Myers-Briggs test at a very young age had a huge influence on my life and career choices, so this is super exciting! Here are the results for the two leads of my book Like Stars (http://selinakray.net/like-stars/), Wesley and Nathaniel:
Wesley is INTJ. “Personal relationships, particularly romantic ones, can be the INTJ’s Achilles heel. While they are capable of caring deeply for others (usually a select few), and are willing to spend a great deal of time and effort on a relationship, the knowledge and self-confidence that make them so successful in other areas can suddenly abandon or mislead them in interpersonal situations.
This happens in part because many INTJs do not readily grasp the social rituals; for instance, they tend to have little patience and less understanding of such things as small talk and flirtation (which most types consider half the fun of a relationship). To complicate matters, INTJs are usually extremely private people, and can often be naturally impassive as well, which makes them easy to misread and misunderstand. Perhaps the most fundamental problem, however, is that INTJs really want people to make sense. 🙂 This sometimes results in a peculiar naivete’, paralleling that of many Fs — only instead of expecting inexhaustible affection and empathy from a romantic relationship, the INTJ will expect inexhaustible reasonability and directness.”
Nathaniel is ESFP. “‘Where’s the party?’ ESFPs love people, excitement, telling stories and having fun. The spontaneous, impulsive nature of this type is almost always entertaining. And ESFPs love to entertain — on stage, at work, and/or at home. Social gatherings are an energy boost to these “people” people.
SPs sometimes think and talk in more of a spider-web approach. Several of my ESFP friends jump from thought to thought in mid-sentence, touching here or there in a manner that’s almost incoherent to the listener, but will eventually cover the waterfront by skipping on impulse from one piece of information to another. It’s really quite fascinating”
Thanks for doing this, ladies!
This is such a fun idea! Here are the results for the characters in The Prince’s Consort:
Amory got INFJ. “INFJs are creative nurturers with a strong sense of personal integrity and a drive to help others realize their potential. Creative and dedicated, they have a talent for helping others with original solutions to their personal challenges.
The Counselor has a unique ability to intuit others’ emotions and motivations, and will often know how someone else is feeling before that person knows it himself. They trust their insights about others and have strong faith in their ability to read people. Although they are sensitive, they are also reserved; the INFJ is a private sort, and is selective about sharing intimate thoughts and feelings.”
Philip got ENTJ, though he was borderline in a couple of areas. “ENTJs are strategic leaders, motivated to organize change. They are quick to see inefficiency and conceptualize new solutions, and enjoy developing long-range plans to accomplish their vision. They excel at logical reasoning and are usually articulate and quick-witted.
ENTJs are analytical and objective, and like bringing order to the world around them. When there are flaws in a system, the ENTJ sees them, and enjoys the process of discovering and implementing a better way. ENTJs are assertive and enjoy taking charge; they see their role as that of leader and manager, organizing people and processes to achieve their goals.”
Here’s the link to The Prince’s Consort: http://www.amazon.com/Princes-Consort-Chronicles-Tournai-Book-ebook/dp/B016ATZM9I/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449633610&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Prince%27s+Consort+by+antonia+aquilante
This is funny – I took it with my two current heroes, whom I would have said were pretty different personality types, but they both came up as split between ENFP and ENFJ. It shows up in different ways, I suppose!
LOVED doing this.
Simon is (totally not surprisingly) an ENFP. Blue is on the line between INFJ and ISFJ.
THEY ARE SO LIKE BRANDON AND ABEL!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, my book’s not published yet, but you’ve read it! 🙂
Teru is INFP and Rei is INTJ… my poor introverts, they’ll never have fun going out in a crowd. 😛
I’m not surprised by either and both results are totally perfect! <3
Oh, this is fun! Results for the LGBTQ characters in SEVEN WAYS WE LIE (not out yet, but soon):
My pan character Lucas is an ENFJ, which makes a lot of sense. This is picture-perfect: “The interest ENFJs have in others is genuine, almost to a fault – when they believe in someone, they can become too involved in the other person’s problems, place too much trust in them.” And so is this: “if they get too caught up in another person’s plight, they can develop a sort of emotional hypochondria, seeing other people’s problems in themselves, trying to fix something in themselves that isn’t wrong.”
My ace character Val is INTJ. This is spot-on–this quote could literally be something in his inner narration: “INTJ types tend to believe that with effort, intelligence and consideration, nothing is impossible, while at the same time they believe that people are too lazy, short-sighted or self-serving to actually achieve those fantastic results.”
Here’s a link to SEVEN WAYS: abramsbooks.com/product/seven-ways-we-lie_9781613128954/