What's up, my friend? Abbie here and welcome back to WritersLife Wednesdays where we come together to help you make your story matter and make your author dreams come true. I was planning on posting a different video today, but I've been getting a lot of questions about writing conflicted characters, more specifically, how to figure out what exactly your characters' desires, fears and misbeliefs should be.
See, I talk about this desire, fear, misbelief thing a lot here on the channel and how it's the secret to great internal conflict and great internal conflict is the secret to an amazing story. Yes, the plot is important because your characters do need to experience some perilous external conflict, but that is not enough to make your audience care about your story. It's not enough to just make up a character with a few quirks and toss them into the ring with a bunch of dangerous stuff happening.
Without the internal conflict your plot is meaningless. It means nothing to the characters. It means nothing to the reader.
It means nothing to the world. If you're new around here and you've never seen any of my videos on character creation, start here, but if you've already seen all my character creation videos and you're like, "Okay, I get it. The characters need to have a desire, fear, and misbelief, but what exactly should that desire, fear and misbelief be?
I'm drawing a total blank. " I get it. I totally get it and I've been there, which is why today I'm sharing with you a super cool shortcut to creating incredibly awesome, conflicted characters that your readers will actually be able to relate to using the Enneagram.
Why does your story matter? Good question. What if I told you that there's a science behind every great story?
I don't just teach you how to write, I teach you how to change the world with your story and make your author dreams come true. It was only a matter of time. It was only a matter of time before I made a video about the Enneagram.
If you know me at all, you know that I'm a little bit obsessed with personality types. In previous videos, I've talked about using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to figure out your character's personality type and strengthen their character. But the Enneagram is very different from MBTI in that it goes deep beneath the surface.
I like to describe it like this. MBTI shows us how we behave. Enneagram shows us what we believe.
In the words of Enneagram experts, "The Enneagram is a system of nine personality types, combining traditional wisdom with modern psychology, a powerful tool for understanding ourselves and the people in our lives with three major applications, personal and spiritual growth, successful relationships at home and at work, leadership development, team building, and communication skills for business. " And here's one more, writing great characters. The nine points of the Enneagram represent the different types.
One, the reformer. Two, the helper. Three, the achiever.
Four, the individualists. Five, the investigator. Six, the loyalist.
Seven, the enthusiast. Eight, the challenger. And nine, the peacemaker.
Now, as you're looking at this, you might be thinking, "Oh, that's like the character archetypes. " Not quite. Although there may be some overlap with the Enneagram types and your basic character archetypes, the Enneagram feels very different to me and just more complex.
For instance, instead of having a standard hero character archetype with the desire to save the world and the fear of failure, your hero could be any of the nine Enneagram types with the same external goal they need to have in order for your story's plot to work. But their internal conflict can be more dynamic and complex than simply, I want to save the day. Why do they want to save the day?
That's where the Enneagram can help us, because the Enneagram was designed to give us insight into people's deepest fears and desires and how that is what shapes our personality and drives our behavior. Now, I'm no certified expert of the Enneagram, but I have been studying this system for over a year now, and more importantly, I've been using it to strengthen my writing and make my characters conflicts feel more realistic and riveting. So first, let's look at how we can use the Enneagram system as a shortcut to writing conflicted characters.
Then we'll explore different ways that you can take this to the next level and make your characters incredibly unique. First. Let's look at each type in brief.
I'm going to be reading from my favorite Enneagram site, the Enneagram Institute, which I will link in the description box below this video if you want to check it out. They have tons of information. One, the reformer, the rational, idealistic type, principled, purposeful, self-controlled in perfectionistic.
Basic fear: of being corrupt or evil, defective. Basic desire: to be good, to have integrity, to be balanced. Key motivations: want to be right, to strive higher and improve everything, to be consistent with their ideals, to justify themselves, to be beyond criticisms so as to not be condemned by anyone.
So for some fictional character examples, think Atticus from To Kill A Mockingbird, Eleanor from Sense and Sensibility, Mr Carson from Downton Abbey, and Laura from Lark Rise to Candleford, and me. Right away you can probably see what I mean about using the Enneagram as a shortcut to figuring out your characters' desires, fears, and misbeliefs. So let's say that you were going to make your character a type one.
Their external goal would be rooted in their motivation to be right, good, and improve everything. The worst thing that could happen to them would be to feel like a total failure and or a bad person, to be criticized and condemned by others. Okay, I have eight more types to go through real quick.
Let's do that and then circle back to see how we can use the Enneagram types on our characters. Type two, the helper, the caring, interpersonal type. Generous, demonstrative, people pleasing, and possessive.
Basic fear: of being unwanted, unworthy of being loved. Basic desire: to feel loved. Key motivations: want to be loved, to express their feelings for others, to be needed and appreciated, to get others to respond to them, to vindicate their claims about themselves.
Fictional character examples, Jane from Jane Eyre, Prince Caspian from the Chronicles of Narnia, Lady Sybil from Downton Abbey, and Peter Parker from Spiderman. Three. The Achiever, the success oriented, pragmatic type.
Adaptable, excelling, driven, and image conscious. Basic fear: of being worthless. Basic desire: to feel valuable and worthwhile.
Key motivations: want to be affirmed, to distinguish themselves from others, to have attention, to be admired, and to impress others. Fictional character examples, PT Barnum from The Greatest Showman, Emma Woodhouse from Emma, Harry Selfridge from Mr Selfridge, and George Warleggan from Poldark. Four, the individualist, the sensitive introspective type.
Expressive, dramatic, self-absorbed, and temperamental. Basic fear: that they have no identity or personal significance. Basic desire: to find themselves and their significance, to create an identity.
Key motivations: want to express themselves and their individuality, to create and surround themselves with beauty, to maintain certain moods and feelings, to withdraw to protect their self image, to take care of emotional needs before attending to anything else, to attract a rescuer. Fictional character examples include, Shirley from Anne of Green Gables, Mr Rochester from Jane Eyre, Marianne from Sense and Sensibility, and Jo March from Little Women. Five, the investigator, the intense cerebral type.
Perceptive, innovative, secretive, and isolated. Basic fear: being useless, helpless or incapable. Basic desire: to be capable and competent.
Key motivations: want to express knowledge, to understand the environment, to have everything figured out as a way of defending the self from threats from the environment. Fictional character examples, Sherlock from Sherlock Holmes, Caroline from Poldark, Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, and Violet from Downton Abbey. Six, the loyalist, the committed security oriented type.
Engaging, responsible, anxious, and suspicious. Basic fear: of being without support and guidance. Basic desire: to have security and support.
Key motivations: want to have security, to feel supported by others, to have certitude and reassurance, to test the attitudes of others towards them, to fight against anxiety and insecurity. Fictional character examples include Demelza from Poldark, Colonel Brandon from Sense and Sensibility, Susan from the Chronicles of Narnia, and Matthew from Downton Abbey. Seven, the enthusiast, the busy variety seeking type.
Spontaneous, versatile, acquisitive, and scattered. Basic fear: of being deprived and in pain. Basic desire: to be satisfied and content, to have their needs fulfilled.
Key motivations: want to maintain their freedom and happiness, to avoid missing out on worthwhile experiences, to keep themselves excited and occupied, to avoid and discharge pain. Fictional character examples, Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice, Laurie from Little Women, Becky Sharp from Vanity Fair, and Fisher from Lark Rise to Candleford. Eight, the challenger, the powerful, dominating type.
Self-confident, decisive, willful, and confrontational. Basic fear: of being harmed or controlled by others. Basic desire: to protect themselves, to be in control of their own life and destiny.
Key motivations: want to be self-reliant, to prove their strength and resist weakness, to be important in their world, to dominate the environment and to stay in control of their situation. Fictional character examples include Lady Mary from Downton Abbey, Ross Poldark from Poldark, Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind, and Scrooge from a Christmas Carol. Nine, the peacemaker, the easygoing type.
Receptive, reassuring, agreeable, and complacent. Basic fear: of loss and separation. Basic desire: to have inner stability and peace of mind.
Key motivations: want to create harmony in their environment, to avoid conflicts and tension, to preserve things as they are, to resist whatever would upset or disturb them. Fictional character examples include Jane Bennett from Pride and Prejudice, Dr Ennis from Poldark, and Elliot from Persuasion, and Edward from Sense and Sensibility. Okay, so those are the nine Enneagram types.
And side note, all the fictional character examples are based on my own analysis of these characters. So if you disagree with any of my assessments, feel free to comment below and tell me what Ennea types you see all these characters as, because as you probably noticed by this point, I really like discussing the Enneagram. Okay, now here's how I use the Enneagram to create super conflicted character.
It all starts with theme. A while ago, I made this video about finding your story's theme in which I shared my method for developing my protagonist's misbelief by basically reverse engineering the story's truth. So basically you take the truth that you want to scream from the rooftops, your story's central theme, flip it on its head and make it a lie.
Boom, that's your protagonist's misbelief. So, for example, let's say your theme is, you are valuable. Kind of vague, but let's go with it.
The lie for that would be, you are worthless. So let's say that's your protagonist's misbelief. They feel like they're worthless.
They feel like they have to prove themselves to be valuable, to be worthy. What's their Enneagram type? That's right.
Type three, the achiever who was basic desires to feel worthwhile and valuable and whose basic fear is of being rejected and feeling worthless. Okay, let's do another. Let's say you're super passionate about the theme of finding satisfaction, happiness, right where you are, instead of escaping somewhere else to find it.
What's your protagonist's Enneagram type? Probably a seven. This is not to say that every truth you can think of will have a neat and tidy Enneagram type to go with it.
Absolutely not, but it's a great way to find the truths that you're passionate about. So what is your Enneagram type? Take the test if you haven't already.
It's in the description box below. Now, I firmly believe that every individual is unique and doesn't really fit into a particular box or label, but I just think that these personality assessments can help us to better understand ourselves and better understand each other, which is one of the most important skills to have in order to write compelling characters. So taking your type into account, what is a powerful truth that you've learned about yourself?
That's something that a lot more people need to hear. So consider writing that truth into your next story. Consider giving your next protagonist your Enneagram type and writing from your own experience and insight.
But absolutely branch out and write other types as well, okay? All your characters can't be just your Enneagram type, because that would get really boring really fast. Just because I'm a type one doesn't mean I can't write a type seven or a five or a nine because a good writer should be able to slip into the shoes of any character and see the world as they see it, right?
That's part of the fun of writing. So if you want to take this whole Enneagram thing to the next level, you can explore the concept of wings, which is basically like a subtype or a secondary type that each Enneagram type has. I don't know a ton about wings yet.
I'm still learning about the Enneagram myself, but these subtle variations are what will make your characters super unique and less typical. Not that there's anything wrong with having your character be a very typical three or very typical eight or whatever the case may be. Because with everything else going on in your story, it will find its own unique expression through your voice.
But like I said at the beginning of this video, I like to think of the Enneagram system as a sort of shortcut to getting you started writing conflicted characters and I recommend it to every writer who asks me how to write conflicted characters because you can literally just pull any type out of the list and, boom, you have a desire, a fear and a misbelief, a super dynamic and relatable character. So use it as much or as little as you want to. I'll leave the link to the Enneagram Institute in the description box below as well as the link to the test.
If you'd like my simplified Enneagram cheat sheet with all the character examples that we went over in this video, plus all the sites and the visual graphs and the accounts that I use all the time, I've compiled all of this into one document and I'll leave the link to that document that you can download for free in the description box below as well. Okay guys, I'm going to stop rambling now because I could literally talk about the Enneagram forever. But before you go, comment below and tell me what is your Enneagram type and what is your protagonist's Enneagram type?
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Sorry not sorry if you're new to all this and getting super into it because you're going to go spend so much time just looking at Enneagram memes now.
