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Monday, July 19, 2010

Personality Tests, Part 1

Thanks for the comments on my last post! They were helpful. I especially want to remember this one: Badass=Competent.

Also thanks to reader comments, I decided to take a personality test on behalf of Singe, the character in question from my previous post. (Spoiler? Maybe. Meh.)

I took the Big Five personality test online. And, for kicks and giggles, I took it for Esrov, too.

Singe was harder to answer for—there were some questions I had to stop and think about. The results surprised me in a few areas.

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>You are somewhat conventional.
>You are very well-organized and can be relied upon.
>You are relatively social and enjoy the company of others.
>You find it easy to criticize others.
>You probably remain calm, even in tense situations.


I will agree that Singe is an extrovert, though he works alone most of the time. I wouldn’t have thought him as conventional, which is something to think about.

Now, for comparison, Esrov (aka the protagonist.)

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>You are relatively open to new experiences.
>You are very well-organized and can be relied upon.
>You probably enjoy spending quiet time alone.
>You are good-natured, courteous, and supportive.
>You are a generally anxious person and tend to worry about things.


Esrov’s is dead on—probably because I know his character better than anyone else’s. Next time I’ll do Ranny and Todorov, out of curiosity. Todorov’s will be interesting, methinks.

Except of the day:

Singe smiled. “You have them well-trained.”
“They’re friends,” Esrov said, looking the taller man in the eyes. “Friends listen to each other. They help each other.”
Singe scoffed, teeth rattling as he ran his barbell over them.
“Friends give to one another,” Esrov added, his heart beating loudly in his ears. “Consider that, Singe Selander. I don’t want to be your enemy.”
The bounty hunter’s countenance didn’t change, but Esrov could tell he was thinking. The man wasn’t stupid—he’d weigh all his options, even the ones that weren’t voiced.
“I have work to do,” Esrov said. “I’ll see you around.”

The Raimos, chapter 20

1 comment:

  1. Interesting. Personality tests are fun. I've found, however, that they can be dangerous if used improperly.

    They're a useful way to describe the character to yourself, but if you aren't careful, you'll start making the character do things because the test results tell you that's how they should react.

    The danger (at least, if you're more of a discovery writer like me), is that you'll stop listening to your writer's intuition and make things mechanical in ways that can kill your story.

    That's what I've found, at least.

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