When it comes to assigning personality types to characters there are a lot of methods to choose from. There’s Briggs Myers 16 personality types. There are the character archetypes that are found across all genre’s of literature. This is about a different scale. It’s less about assigning a name or role to the characters personality and more about developing the characters personality based on a handful of traits in varying degrees.
Robert McCrae and Paul Costa later developed the Five factor mode for personality study. They summarized that there are 5 basic aspects of personality. The aspects fall on a sliding scale rather than a binary, and the character’s reaction to events and other characters can change their scale when dealing with that specific character.
Each character in a story will have its own personality made of the same traits in differing amounts. You can create the same “Character” and utterly change their personality by adjusting where they fall on each scale.
Extroversion
The more extroverted a character is the more focused they are on the world outside of themselves. Most main characters are extroverted because they must be to move the story forward. That doesn’t mean your character can’t be an introvert. It just means the stakes of the catalyst event will have to personally affect them to pull them into the story.
Agreeableness
An agreeable character will get along with others easily. They are more willing to do things to help others and have a sunnier disposition. The more likely a character is to do someone a favor just because they ask the more agreeable that character may be.
Openness
How many secrets is your character keeping? Who do they let into their inner life? Who do they trust? An open character has few secrets. A secretive character doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s keeping a lot of secrets. Secretive characters can be perceived as mysterious, when they may have no secrets other than they don’t talk about themselves much.
Conscientiousness
How careful is your character? How much attention do they pay to what they are doing? How impulsive are they? Conscientiousness is a trait that is broad, there’s a lot about the trait that still needs to be studied, but for the sake of writing characters the more conscientious a character is the more they are aware of how their actions affect other. A conscientious character is unlikely to do something illegal simply because it would benefit them.
Neuroticism
The more neurotic a character is the more emotionally unstable they are. Highly Neurotic characters are more likely to be anxious and afraid, to have unpredictable mood swings and to react off emotion driven impulses.
If your character has a trait you consider one of their key features and it is never challenged in anyway, that trait will probably have about as much impact as their “tiny mole on their left buttcheek” trait.
For that trait NOT to fall totally flat, one or more of these things need to happen:
The trait exacerbates a situation in a bad way. (An extremely honest and trusting character reveals an important secret to the Big Bad’s lackey)
The character is given a choice to either act according to their traits or to subvert them. Often the subversion has the better outcome. They either maintain their trait and take a risk, or character development ensues. (A greedy character must escape. Leaving behind their riches goes against their very being, but it would allow them to escape easier. If they try to take some of their treasure with them, they do so at massive risk.)
The character is put in an environment or must work with a person that opposes their trait. (An extremely tidy person must live in their slob cousin’s filthy apartment for a week. / The character has a debilitating fear of being alone and they are stranded on their own on an island.)
The character is put in a situation that requires them to suppress their trait (A hotheaded character needs to have polite discourse with someone they hate)
“… we cannot take it, in the case of insane persons, that their actions do in fact manifest settled dispositions, character traits, in any real sense, or at least anything like the sense we take non-insane persons’ actions to do so. The link between disposition and action seems to be severed by insanity, not because it alters the capacities of the insane person, but because it involves disordered thought and behaviour which is not patterned by the structure of thought (both in terms of reason and emotion) by which we normally communicate and interpret each other’s actions.”
The song of the White Wolf or Geralt is that you?!
So it took me a while. And tumblr didn’t make it any easier. Like 10 pics by post is deffinitly not enough for me! So I had to improvise. But here you go. Enjoy, like, rebblog, ask questions. Let’s talk!
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear about main character that is male, adult, have lots of women and is also a great fighter. That silent, emotionless type is somewhere in your mind, right?
And I just assume that was also in Netflix writes’ minds when they wrote their version of Geralt of Rivia. Also that character was created by polish middle-aged man! Well… let’s talk about Sapkowski’s Geralt.
Of course it’s not all but for that you need to read books. But here, some pieces about our witcher.
He actually treats himself like he’s an outcast. I mean, it makes sense. People are the worse and he’s a mutant. But when someone wants to spend time with him he thinks that they don’t know he’s a witcher and they may not want to talk to him if they did.
You know how Netflix makes it a thing that Geralt don’t talk much? We must be talking about different Geralt. And sometime he have just too many feels. Also not many people are actually scared of him.
And he feels so much for so many reasons.
And here’s very important thing. People from the back! Hear me out! Andrzej Sapkowski while writing his character. That strong man. Actually wrote this.
Yes, he wrote that Geralt could’t get erection when he was tried and took a lot of elixirs. Like, when you think about it, it’s obvious. But in books/movies/tv shows you actually don’t see men that may have some proplems with erections when it’s not for the plot or for jokes. So my dear men, remember, if once in a while you can’t get it up - Geralt of Rivia also couldn’t. And he wasn’t ashamed of that. He knew it was normal.
Okay so we now have an idea about what Geralt talks and thinks. But how he talks?
He knows how to act. He can be bring to a ball. And he will know what do do. I mean, that’s reactions he gets
The guy was offered to join other sorcerers and become one. He didn’t really question if he could become one. He propably knew he could. After all the was “special” even within other witchers because his mother was sorceress. He never forgot about her. He looked who his father was. He cared about his life.
Here you can hear more about Geralt’s existential thoughts. And how he actually acts as a friend.
And if the last piece didn’t broke your heart. Look at this
He was scared little kid in Kaer Morhen. And he remembers that. He wanted a different life for himself. And it’s the most important thing that writers usually forgets. When they write the warrior they write them as a warrior. But they forgets that this warrior is also a person.
The Rescue Rangers Detective Agency is still going strong. Chip has taken a more laid back approach to things, and let Monty Jack oversee all the cases as Captain. However, Chip still plays a strong role in managing cases, showcasing his deductive reasoning. Monty’s addiction to cheese became bad over the years, and the only way that he can cull it if he smokes cigars. Dale is the hands-on Trace Analyst & Crime Scene Examiner, doing all the dirty work. He also helps out on forensics with the Medical Examiner Gadget Hackwrench (even though his erratic behavior makes one question if he’s the right dude for the job… but he gets the job done, nonetheless). Gadget also handles all case data and is in charge of IT as well. And Zipper is their Informant.
What makes a distinctive Rescue Ranger are the gumshoes they wear. It’s some kind of code they follow.
