The Myers-Briggs Guide for Writers

Chapter 1: Introduction

Hello!  I am the_rose_chroniker, but I will be referring to myself as Rose.  This book is a little different from the other stories I have on Wattpad: for starters, it's non-fiction.  I am a fantasy writer at heart; I live off world-building and creating interesting, enticing characters to throw in harm's way.  But both creating words and forming characters require an excellent grasp of human nature, specifically the way people think.  Luckily, I have the Myers-Briggs.

When mother-daughter pair Katharine Briggs and Isabel Myers first encountered the work of legendary psychologist Carl Jung in 1923, they knew they had stumbled across something special.  His idea of personality "archetypes" inspired them to study all the many dynamics of human personality.  For years they worked, researching the way people thought and behaved and interacted, before finally publishing their findings in 1944.  In 1956, they changed the name to the iconic Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or MBTI, and the rest is history.

Today, people all across the world use the MBTI for home, school, work, relationships--virtually anywhere that requires person-to-person interaction.  But few really know how it works; most people take a test, nod approvingly or scoff in derision, and move on.  And that's a shame.  Because if they were willing to look deeper, past the ridiculously flattering descriptions and seemingly gibberish sets of letters, they would find that beneath the marketing façade there is a world of psychological research that could truly change their lives.

Most people think of the Myers-Briggs as a personality test, not without reason.  The Internet is full of people who just sit back and "type" others based on oversimplified stereotypes.  Cold and ambitious? smart but socially inept?  You're probably an INTJ.  Warm and caring?  Can't focus on anything for more than five seconds?  Classic ENFP.  Like to follow the status quo?  Proud patriot?  Congratulations, you're an ISFJ.

But that's not how it works.  While the Myers-Briggs can loosely predict personality traits, its real value lies not in explaining why some people are loud and others are quiet, why some people like hugs and others don't.  Its real value lies in explaining why some people are terrified of change while others thrive on it.  Why some people look to the future for inspiration while others look to the past.  Why some people hate debate while others live for it.  The Myers-Briggs predicts thought processes far better than it predicts personality, as you will come to see.

The impact this can have in your writing is obvious.  While almost everyone has an intuitive understanding of which personality traits go together and which do not, the more you delve into the reasoning behind the way traits fit together, the more you can make your characters dynamic and compelling.  And everyone knows that character-driven fiction is the best fiction.

That is the reason to read this book.  Read it so you can understand your characters.  Read it so you can get inside their heads.  Read it so you can appeal to your readers.  Read it so you can better yourself, as a writer and as a person.  Read it so you can truly begin to realize how unique, not how similar, we all really are.

Note: At the end of every chapter I will be including a list of citations used in MLA format.  The vast majority of these sources will be websites and books, but some information will not be cited, as it can be found in almost any source on the Myers-Briggs.  If you would like to request additional resources, feel free to contact me and I will do my best to find the best sources to fit your needs.

Bibliography:

"The Myers & Briggs Foundation - Isabel Briggs Myers." The Myers & Briggs Foundation - Isabel Briggs Myers. The Myers & Briggs Foundation, n.d. Web. 13 June 2016.