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September 2017 Spotlight: My Obsession with Personality Types

by Kellyn Roth |
September 20, 2017

Everything you have ever wanted, is sitting on the other side of fear.

Like many before me (and many who shall come after), I love classifying myself and others by the MBTI personality types. The basic idea is that every human being on earth can be classified loosely into one of the sixteen types.
These types are defined by a combination of three letters. My type, for instance, is probably ISTP (introverted, sensing, thinking, perceiving) although some of my traits point more towards INTJ (introverted, intuitive, thinking, judging).
Crazy as it sounds, almost everyone who looks into these sixteen types will find one that (loosely) describes them! Isn’t that amazing? Well, I certainly think so!

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How do you figure which personality type you most resemble?

Basically, you can be …

Introverted or Extroverted

Intuitive or Sensing

Thinking or Feeling

Judging or Perceiving

Introverted and Extroverted basically define where you get your energy – from being alone or from being with people.
Intuitive and Sensing is basically Dreamer vs. Realist.
Thinking and Feeling is just what it sounds like; whether you make your decisions based on logic or your emotions.
Judging and Perceiving is basically Ruler-Breaker vs. Rule-Follower.
These are all very rough descriptions, of course, but I hope it’ll give you a basis to start from. Just in case you have no idea what any of this stuff is.

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Why Am I Obsessed?

I JUST AM, JACK!
(which is your new name …)
I can be obsessed with anything I want to be obsessed with! Like, y’all is obsessed with anime and Hamilton and other things I don’t like enough to actually watch/listen to (#ignorancespeaking).
And you may not care about MBTI types, and that’s okay.
But I do care.
And I have no further explanation except that I love this and I will never stop or listen to common sense about how my constant research on personality types is wasting away my life so don’t even try.
Ignore all that. I’m a normal human being. Really.

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And … what’s the point of this post again?

Okay, so, basically, I’ve spent the last week or so figuring out the personality types of most of my characters from the Rubyverse (I’m not going to explain that right now) and so … now I’m going to show off all my amazing personality-defining skills.
And … this isn’t all necessarily perfect, but I did my best to figure out the type of each of my characters. Or at the least the ones I chose to show here.
Without further ado, here are some characters from The Dressmaker’s Secret, Ivy Introspective, At Her Fingertips, and Once a Stratton and their personality types!

NOTE: many of these have changed as I write their stories, so it’s not entirely accurate.

For that reason, I have put a star next to the characters whose personalities will never change (see below).

Personality Types in My Novels

Okay, so, some of you may not know my characters, sooooo

Intros to My Characters

Kirk – Alice’s friend from TDS & potential love interest in AFOP (At Her Fingertips).
Clayton – This guy hasn’t shown up in a book that’s been published, and I haven’t officially written about him yet, either. However, he’s from Once a Stratton and is the husband of Lilli (MC)’s best friend.*
Philip – a character in The Dressmaker’s Secret who acts as a sort of father figure to Alice (SPOILERS FOR TDS) partially because he is her father. (END OF SPOILERS) (I’m reasonably sure he’s not ENFP now.)
Amorette – Alice’s French friend whom she meets at boarding school in The Dressmaker’s Secret.*
Nettie – Claire Chattoway’s dearest friend and Alice’s nanny-turned-governess from The Dressmaker’s Secret.
Alice – We all know Alice, main character of TDS and AFOP. I … honestly don’t feel that I have to introduce her?*
Ivy – The main character of Ivy Introspective and soon-to-be Beyond Her Calling. Alice’s twin sister.*
Peter – A character in At Her Fingertips. He’s simply the best. OHMYWORD THAT DEDICATION I CAN’T EVEN. (Sorry … we’re All Fangirling Over Peter™ here …)*
Christina – Claire Chattoway’s younger sister in The Dressmaker’s Secret and Ivy Introspective.
Steven – This is Philip’s first cousin.
Caleb – Alice and Ivy’s younger brother. I just added him in because I felt bad about all the ESTPs being “bad guys.”
Gibson – One of Alice’s suitors from At Her Fingertips.
Hazel – Philip’s wife from The Dressmaker’s Secret.*
Lizzy – Kirk’s baby sister.*
Claire – Alice and Ivy’s mother who shares the spotlight with Alice in TDS.*
Isobel – The headmistress of Miss Selle’s Boarding School for Girls. Gets a bit of a storyline in IvIn. (More ISTJ)
Chris – Lilli’s husband from Once a Stratton.*
Madeline – Clayton’s wife and Lilli’s dear friend.*
Riley – Peter Strauss’s dearest friend & cousin and Lilli’s nephew.
Henrietta – Isobel’s wild-and-uncontrollable little sister.
Charles – the older brother of Claire and Christina.
Violet – a patient/student/mostly patient at McCale House where Ivy goes in Ivy Introspective.
Jordy – Dr. McCale’s protegee/assistant in IvIn.*
Lilli – the main character of Once a Stratton. However, she oftentimes seems more Intuitive than Sensing. (More ENFP)
Colin, SR. – Lilli’s brother-in-law in Once a Stratton.
Cassie – Alice’s best friend. Later will star in her own novel (currently titled Sail Away).
Cynthia – Charles, Claire, and Christina’s mother. (See a pattern?)
Georgiana – Lilli’s older sister in Once a Stratton.*

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I just realized I never defined Lois Elton, but oh well. She’s probably ENFP although I hate wedging her in with Philip. She’s just like a talkative Philip, though. 😉

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And … that’s all for today! Sorry for the horrendous lateness. Posting may be spotty for a couple weeks here. #life #adulting #dontgrowupitsatrap

au revoir,

~Kellyn Roth~

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p.s.

Do you find the MBTI types intriguing? Have I inspired a new obsession or made you moan and roll your eyes? What’s your current obsession (if you’re not a balanced person)? Did you enjoy this spotlight? Any suggestions for next month’s?

What do you think of my thoughts?

44 Responses

  1. Awesomely cool! I guess this makes me Nettie then since I’m an INFJ. 😉 Did you use the quiz to figure this all out? I might want to do it for my own characters too. 😉

    1. Actually, the only one I used a quiz for was Kirk. And even then I had to change him later as I figured out more about him. 😉
      Mostly, I read summaries of the personality types and wrote down several which each character could be – I already knew introverted/extroverted and sometimes thinking/feeling for most of them – and then I narrowed it down with tons of online searches and reading details descriptions of each personality and such. It took over a week. But then I already had Alice, Ivy, Peter, and some of the others.

      1. That’s pretty fun! I might want to do a chart like this for Kiera just in case people want to know which character they are. I already have strong guesses at what certain ones will be. 😀

        1. That would be fun! I’d love to see that. Of course, I have so many characters that I ended up finding at least one person for every personality type across several books … so I cheated a little. 😛

  2. Wow that’s cool! I was always wondering what INFJ meant, since there are so many people saying in their bios that they are INFJ’s. XD
    So I think I’m an INTP if that means that I am introverted, dreamer, thinker, rule-follower. Am I right? 😉

    1. I think you might be INTJ if you’re a rule-follow – P is Perceiving, J is Judging. 🙂 Although sometimes the letters come together to form weird personalities so you could be something different. I don’t know.

  3. Ha, I thought I was the only one who was just slightly obsessed with personality types ? Proud INFP over here!! And that’s such a cool idea to figure out your character’s personality types.

    1. Whew, I’m not alone … 😀
      Oh, cool! I know a lot of INFPs! Well, three or four, anyway.
      Yes, it was super fun, and I enjoyed it. Probably a bit of a time-waster, but oh well!

  4. According to my other MBTI-obsessed friend, Introverted Thinking vs. Extroverted thinking is based on whose emotions you’re more in tune with, not necessarily whether you’re Introverted or Extroverted. If you’re more emotionally connected with yourself (as in self-aware of your body, your emotions, and your needs) then you’d be I, and if you were more emotionally connected with others than yourself, you’d be E.
    Of course, she gets into the whole Ti vs. Te and Ne Ni and Si and Se and Fi and Fe, which is a heck of a lot more than I understand. I tried to have her explain it to me, and I got an entire MBTI paper in the email, so… yeah.

    1. Eh, I don’t really do that who Te Ne Ni whatever thing. It’s just too complicated for my lil’ brain. 😉 I think Introverted Thinking vs. Extroverted Thinking is more about how you think, though, than whether you’re introverted or extroverted? I know I’m extroverted thinking but am an introvert as in I get my energy from being alone + am self-obsessed. 😉

    1. Whoa, cool! I have a very different personality from both my brother and best friend. Well, maybe I’m a little more similar to my little brother … I couldn’t tell you. He has a weird personality, and I’ve never been able to figure out his type.
      So, yeah, I’m ISTP/INTJ and my BFF is ESFP and my brother is probably ESFJ? Or something like that? I don’t know.
      *doesn’t know why I told you all that* *shrugs*

    1. Yes, it’s a great way to make sure you have a variety of characters. I’ve also done some research about which personality types are more inclined to get along with which others so I can figure out why my characters are so irritable with each other. 😉

  5. My main character in one of my books is totally ISFJ. He is such an Introvert. I usually write about introverts…..Which is very strange, because I myself am an extrovert………;) I should do this for all my characters……

    1. I think I write about both introverted and extroverted characters, but I do think I lean towards introverted. And I’m am introverted … but I don’t know. I like writing about extroverts, too, though it’s harder for me!

    1. Yes, I am! I can come off as extroverted online if I’m comfortable … say on my blog or talking to people I know … but I can even be shy on social media or such. 🙂

  6. Ah……….I’m such an extrovert if I’m comfortable(at home usually), but at social events, until I get into the crowd, I could be mistaken for an introvert. 😉

    1. I think most of my friends are introverts except one. And another one says she’s an extrovert, but I refuse to believe her. 😉 Hehe, she probably is though … or she’s kinda an ambivert; I suppose that’s an option. I think the rest are pretty much introverted?

  7. MBTI types are so intriguing! I’ve been kinda obsessed with them for a while now…I mean I CAN give you the credit if you want…? 😛
    This spotlight was awesome! Maybe for next month you could do like a post about your writing space like a tour of your desk or wherever you write or something? Idk, that might seem kinda random but you asked for suggestions. 😉 Idk, it might be fun!

    1. Go ahead and give me the credit anyway. 😉
      I … write on the couch with a laptop most of the time. 😛 I also sometimes write at the desk on the desktop (haha) in the “homeschool room” and … I can write practically anywhere in a notebook. But that is a good idea … *thinks about how I could do that*

    1. Ooh, awesome! That’s my BFF. Although she’s maybe just a touch of a dreamer based on the way she’s apparently going to meet this amazing guy someday and she’ll just “know he’s the one.” Me: “You’re … crazy …” 😛

      1. XD :P. I’m a pretty big realist, but I also have a touch of dreamer, mostly boasting about how I’m going to be taller than my string bean brother. XD. He’s 6’4″. My other friend is an INFP, which I find funny since she’s pretty social, and not very dreamy.

        1. That reminds me of how my best friend bet my little brother $50 that he would still be shorter than her when he’s fifteen. He’s thirteen now and he’s already as tall as me … and Bailey’s not that much taller than me. XD

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