Julie, isn't it a treat to find a tool that WORKS for character development? I like Myers-Briggs a lot, and the four core types from within it even more for shaping conflicts between characters no matter what their personality!

In my book, one of the three protagonists, Magnus, has a highly successful career as the chief homicide detective in the Seattle police department. He is, quite literally, calm under fire, and is supremely confident about his abilities of observation, problem-solving, and the ability to handle all sorts of stressed-out people.

A friend once told me, "your boon is your bane". Magnus is no different: the very traits which make him such a fine officer often wreak havoc with his personal life. There, thanks to being abandoned by his wife on Christmas Day - in front of their children - he is not so confident emotionally. He is still working through deep hurt (and often shoving it away) at the beginning of the first book in the series.

So when he meets Kidra at the scene of a murder in a Seattle theater, he initially thinks she's a suspect but later realizes he is attracted to her. She, on the other hand, is generally a nurturer/listener type with occasional feisty bursts which she blames on an Irish temperament. She is a thirtysomething widow, terrified of betraying her husband's memory if she begins a new relationship. Through several books and mysteries, however, they do eventually come together.

I hadn't thought of using Meyer-Briggs to go deeper with my characters. I think it's a great idea. I've taken the test myself, and as a teacher also used a related test found in "Please Understand Me". My colleagues and I took the test, and then gave it to each student, with amazing results. We found that not only was the knowledge useful for interpersonal reasons with family and colleagues, but also for classroom and group dynamics. Knowing the personality markers made us better teachers.

Great article with food for thought. I look forward to your Aristotle class soon!

Karen, wow, this sounds like a captivating story -- I love her trying to get herself booted from the tam, and.the boss knowing he can't afford to lose her even though he wants to remain on top. Talk about a fabulous setup for conflict... 🙂

Nancy, good call on Control being a trait that can cause all kinds of problems, both inside a character and in their relationship with someone else. Self-control can be a fine line between perfectionism and responsibility, and control of others? Whole other ballgame!

Oh, Shari, I loved the Linda Edelstein book -- isn't it a treat finding tools that make character-building easier? And yes, the class won't start until May 7 so there's still plenty of time to get on board...just click the link on the title up above, and it'll be nice to see you in my mailbox..

Thanks, Laurie! I'm deepening this conflict in D3 thanks to a course from last summer, and looking at my notes from the series workshop I took with you. I'll look into your Meyers Briggs course--it might align nicely with the other book I'm using to deepen character traits of my two main characters before I layer it into the secondaries--Writers Guide to Character Traits by psychologist Linda N. Edelstein. It takes her observations from years of being in the field, and traits she notices were often bundled together. Amazing how many of those traits go together in me, a person with a mild case of OCD. Do you still have space in that course?