Writing is a journey of exploration, and understanding your characters is crucial to bringing your story to life. Conducting interviews are one amazing approach to unraveling the depths of your fictional characters. They can provide us valuable insights into their personalities, motivations, and behaviours!
But how do you interview your characters? Well, imagine sitting down with your characters, asking them probing questions, and discovering what makes them tick. Or alternatively, imagine you are the characters being interviewed to channel their personality and energy. It's like peeling back the layers of an onion, revealing hidden depths and nuances that enrich your storytelling.
You can find lots of great questions online to interview your characters with, but there is one tool in particular that I've found incredibly useful for uncovering valuable insights on my characters: the 16Personalities test, an online assessment tool based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). This test categorises the person who takes it into 16 distinct personality types, generating a report with amazing insights.
The 16Personalities test maps the test-taker on a spectrum within 5 personality aspects: energy, mind, nature, tactics, and identity, generating 5 unique letters assigned to one of the sixteen unique personality types. You can gain valuable insights into their characters' thought processes, decision-making patterns, and interpersonal dynamics. This deeper understanding allows you to create more authentic and relatable characters that resonate with your readers.
Based on the character type reports, you can create bullet point lists of things that resonate with you for your own characters. Keep these in a folder of your writing projects or paste them into your character profile files! You can compare the bullet point lists to establish new dynamics or add depth to existing dynamics.
In the end, writing is a deeply personal journey, and every writer approaches it differently. Whether you're new to the craft and just dipping your toes into the world of creative writing or an experienced writer seeking free resources and advice online, The Character Core is here to support you on your character development journey!
Take the test for your characters on 16Personalities.com. Don't worry, it's actually free and you don't have to sign up for an account either. If you want to re-take the test for different characters, make sure to delete your browser cookies or use an incognito tab! (The Character Core is not affiliated with 16Personalities.)