Writing Characters With Different Personalities

I have the bad habit of writing female characters in one way: competent, logical, and intelligent.

Novelist Abby Emmons recommends using Myers-Briggs personality typing (MBTI) to model coherent yet diverse characters. I have not tried using MBTI yet, but agree that it could be a valuable tool for developing a variety of characters.

I did work with an AI to teach me how to write more diverse female characters. Here are a few of the tips for options that I picked up:

1) Speak in contradictions;

2) Hide honesty;

3) Verbosity, including by saying the same thing 3 times with slightly different words;

4) Have an underlying mental health problem;

5) Ask multiple unrelated questions at the same time which each merit essay length answers;

6) Lack original thought as an echo of others;

7) Quick to become violent when frustrated;

8) Speak in feelings and emotions while getting frustrated with anyone who has a disciplined mind;

9) Detachment from mundane realities in life in favor of frivolous whims and the ephemeral;

10) Claim competency while demonstrating none;

11) Want to escape consequences by begging for forgiveness while being terrified of being judged for her choices & actions;

12) Speak in a stream of consciousness as if thoughts can’t be organized; and

13) Not being able to speak or receive attention is emotionally crippling torture for her.

These options do make for interesting female characters who have a capacity for personal growth and a character arc.

I know that including flaws in female characters is forbidden in current year. However, I see value in female characters so overcome and grow instead of dramatizing that all lead female characters are perfect and lack any personality. Emmons instructs that one of the key features of good story telling is exploring a character’s internal conflict arising from an erroneous assumption or understanding about themselves or the world.