Using the Enneagram for Character Creation
/This week is gonna be pretty simple because we’re gonna focus on just one piece of the character-building puzzle: how characters interact with the world. I’ve written previously about punching up your characters and character relationships, how to write a character that’s not like you, and writing realistic character dialogue, but I’ve never really offered a shortcut before. So that’s what we’re working with today!
First question: what the heck is the Enneagram anyway? The shortest answer comes straight from the official Enneagram website “[The Enneagram ] was formed to further research and development of the Enneagram, one of the most powerful and insightful tools for understanding ourselves and others.“
“So it’s a personality test,” you might say. And, again, the short answer is yes. One that several trusted professionals in my life has recommended and one I find extremely useful. Could you use something similar like the Myers-Briggs test? Sure, but the Enneagram is what I have experience with, so that’s the one I look to.
And let me just clarify something here. You can’t put people into boxes. I talked about how monoliths are crap in the aforementioned post on punching up your characters and character relationships. People are complex individuals. They make their own choices. This is simply a guide to get you started, especially if all your characters feel a bit samey. Alright, with that said, let’s get to it!
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The Enneagram has nine different types:
1 THE REFORMER
The Rational, Idealistic Type: Principled, Purposeful, Self-Controlled, and Perfectionistic
2 THE HELPER
The Caring, Interpersonal Type: Demonstrative, Generous, People-Pleasing, and Possessive
3 THE ACHIEVER
The Success-Oriented, Pragmatic Type: Adaptive, Excelling, Driven, and Image-Conscious
4 THE INDIVIDUALIST
The Sensitive, Withdrawn Type: Expressive, Dramatic, Self-Absorbed, and Temperamental
5 THE INVESTIGATOR
The Intense, Cerebral Type: Perceptive, Innovative, Secretive, and Isolated
6 THE LOYALIST
The Committed, Security-Oriented Type: Engaging, Responsible, Anxious, and Suspicious
7 THE ENTHUSIAST
The Busy, Fun-Loving Type: Spontaneous, Versatile, Distractible, and Scattered
8 THE CHALLENGER
The Powerful, Dominating Type: Self-Confident, Decisive, Willful, and Confrontational
9 THE PEACEMAKER
The Easygoing, Self-Effacing Type: Receptive, Reassuring, Agreeable, and Complacent
Let me just say right off the bat, I dislike some of these personality descriptors. I think they’re all a bit reductive^, but again, this is just a starting point.
^And none of this takes things like depression or ADHD or anxiety into the equation. Nor does it consider background, circumstances, education, etc. Again, people are complex, so keep that in mind and be respectful.
Moving on, so I mentioned in the beginning that we’re gonna be looking at how your character interacts with the world. Each of these types provides a different starting framework. Like a house. You’ll need to build in walls and paint those later on, you’ll add finer details, but here in the beginning, you can apply a basic sketch.
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For instance, let’s say you’ve identified a certain character in your story wants^^ to have control over things in their life. Well, there’s more than one way they might move through the world to try and achieve that. Perhaps you give them more of a 6, the Loyalist, personality type. New things are scary and unknown. They take time to learn to navigate, and who knows if they’ll even be able to navigate said new things. So they stick to what they know, the way they’ve always done things, the places they’ve always gone and the people they’ve always stuck with, no matter how that might hold them back or how bad those old, well-known people, ways, and/or places might be for this character.
Similarly, maybe you apply more of a 3, the Achiever, personality type to them. Success equals control, right? Always managing one’s image means you can control how others view you, what they think of you, and therefore how they’ll act around you. And thus that character is always working harder and harder to succeed, always trying to present the perfect version of themself.
Alternatively, type 9, the Peacemaker, is a different kind of control, but still an attempt at it nonetheless. Keep everyone else happy so you can ensure a happy outcome, yeah? Never let anything ruffle your feathers, be the cool person everyone looks to for mellowness, even if, uh oh, sometimes that character can’t be a peacemaker. Sometimes being easy-going and agreeable results in getting walked on because, sometimes, people can’t be made happy.
^^Friendly reminder, what a character wants and what they need are two different things.
That’s just one set of examples for one character’s want. Rinse and repeat with other characters. And when different characters’ wants clash, tadaa! Drama! Conflict! Tension! They could even want the same thing, but they don’t agree on how to go about getting it. Also drama, conflict, and tension.
Short post this week because, like I said, it’s a shortcut and a great way to get you started.
Thanks for reading!
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