The Simmering Mind

If you’ve been following this blog for awhile, you know that I’m a fan of Myers-Briggs typology, and enjoy applying the theory to my characters and writing.  But lately I’ve also noticed some downsides to writing with MBTI in mind, so I wanted to share my thoughts on what makes it a useful – or not so useful – tool for writers.

Why do writers need to familiarize themselves with Myers-Briggs typology?

Answer: you don’t.

Writers have been creating and sharing amazing characters for all history, long before this theory appeared on the scene.  To write great characters, all you need is a realistic understanding of human nature and the ability to portray fictional human beings in a way that makes them come alive.

You don’t need Myers-Briggs to do that.  MBTI can be very helpful – or, it can be a hindrance, depending on your understanding of the theory and how you use it.

First, what is Myers-Briggs?

As a quick explanation, Myers-Briggs theory is the theory that people can be sorted into 16 basic types based on how they see the world and make decisions because of their psychological preferences.  The “type” of each person becomes a starting point from which to understand them better.

But you can learn about MBTI basics elsewhere!  (Check out this article I wrote which explains the theory simply.)  This post is about the pros and cons of knowing and using the theory in our writing.

First, some positives of using MBTI to type your characters…

Myers-Briggs helps you understand how different characters see the world and make decisions.

One of the most useful things MBTI does is make you aware of how people think, and how the logic we use and the way we interact with the world can be radically different from even the people closest to us.  We focus, prioritize, and react differently to things depending on our temperaments – or in MBTI lingo, our “preferences.”  As an author I’ve found it very helpful to understand my characters’ cognitive processes, because I am prone to assuming all my characters will see the world and react to it similarly to the way I do!  And that just isn’t so.

It helps you develop a cast of unique characters.

If most my characters think and react like I would to everything, I’m going to have a very boring, monotone cast!  Understanding MBTI and applying it to my characters helps me make each of them come alive in a unique way.  While I may have some commonalities with both an ISTP character and an ENFJ character, those two personalities are radically different from each other and it may be better to accentuate their differences rather than their similarities.  (Conflict – it’s what makes a story good!)

It helps you discover and express your character’s strengths and weaknesses.

Maybe you’ve never considered how your thoughtful and insightful character might also be forgetful and absent-minded.  Or that your decisive and fast-acting leader character may have difficulty understanding people’s feelings or may come across as abrasive.  For most human beings, our greatest strength has a correlating weakness, and vice versa.  MBTI can be a great way of exploring these things, if you’re researching in the right places.

Now, the downside…

Misinformation abounds!

Not everything you read on the internet is true, and this is also the case for MBTI.  Newbies beware!

We’ve all seen those big tables of fictional characters that say, “Which character are you?” based on MB type.  Most of them are really inaccurate.  (Hermione, an INTP?  Not likely!)  Furthermore, the internet is full of blog posts claiming certain characters are certain types, and typing them completely wrong – or even “slightly” wrong, which is really just as bad.  (An INFJ is quite different from an INFP, and an ESTJ is very different from an ESFJ…one letter can change a lot.)

Actually, a lot of fictional characters are inconsistent and don’t even fit to a particular type, or there is huge controversy about what type they are.  And most shows and books don’t have one character for every type, which leads to the desperate stretching of those character tables to find a person for each box.

Overgeneralization is a danger.

MBTI is a starting point, not the end-all-be-all to understanding someone.  When you find out your character’s type, that gives you nothing except a basic blueprint of their psychology.  It doesn’t tell you their quirks.  It doesn’t tell you what makes them unique as a person.  Basing everything off their MB type is a great way to end up with a stereotype instead of a full-fledged, human character.

My WIP’s main character is a male ENTJ – and I’m not sure if I know any male ENTJs in person.  So when a friend recommended a TV show that had an ENTJ male character in it, I started comparing and contrasting him with my protagonist…and I think I actually have to stop watching that show for awhile because my perception of that character is invading my perception of my own character!  Characters should be unique people.  No real people fit neatly in solid “boxes,” so if your character fits in a neat box, what you have is a weak character, not a strong representation of their Myers-Briggs type.

God didn’t make you with a cookie cutter, so you should be wary of making your characters that way.

Stress over “doing it right.”

I’ve had writer’s block for several weeks running now, and I realized last night that part of it is due to pegging my main character’s type.  Now, instead of writing his actions and reactions however they come to me, I stop writing every few minutes and run to the internet to ask Google about “ENTJs after stress,” or whatever it might be.  I’ve been so worried about portraying him accurately that I was pigeonholing him and destroying my own creative process as I went!  Relying on MBTI can kill the muse fast.

In summary…

Myers-Briggs experts will be quick to point out that most of the negatives I list are examples of amateurs applying the theory badly.  This is true!  However, most writers are not experts in MBTI.  So if we’re going to use the theory, we’d better be aware of some of the pitfalls we could fall into if we’re not careful.

Be warned.  If you only have a tertiary understanding of the theory, it may actually do more harm than good with your writing.  It can easily short-circuit your creativity and cramp your characters into stiff, predictable stereotypes.

Whether you use it or not, MBTI should not have the ultimate say over your story and characters.  It’s a useful tool, when used properly.  But it’s a theory, not a law, and there are exceptions to every “rule,” just like in real life.

MBTI can’t tell you what the core of your character is, either.  I am a middle-class, firstborn, white, American female – and those things color and affect all I do and how I see the world, just like my being an INFJ does.  But you could know all that and much more about me, and still never know who I really am as a person.  A MB type doesn’t “define” a person or character; it’s only an aspect of their being that gives them some things in common with other similar individuals.

MBTI can do many useful things for you as you tell your stories.  But ultimately you still have to do the most important thing all on your own, the thing that will make your reader fall in love with your character and give them life beyond the page – you have to give your character a soul.

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Did you ever have a new theory or system that ended up messing with your creative process?  How did you fix it?  Did you ditch the system, or modify how you used it?