Today’s Personality Theory

In celebration of March coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb, I’d like to present my theory of personalities for today (because, you know, that changes daily….please, you can trust me, I’m a professional) to try out as an exercise.  Because, like March, people change.  And yet, like the rhythm of seasons, they really don’t.

As usual, this is not a one-size-fits-all tool, merely an offering that might help some get a handle on imagining the mysteries people, and characters, contain.  So if this is a weakness for you as a writer, what follows may help.  Many of us just like to make it up as we go along, whatever that may mean and however that may happen…

Basically, this is just a different way of approaching a character sketch, for those of you who like or need to do one before starting out on a story.  Or, for those of us who like to take notes on characters as they develop in the stories we write, a different way of documenting our discoveries for future reference.

The visual aspect of the exercise may help some, drive others insane.  Fair warning, if I haven’t already driven you to madness by what I’ve said so far.

The idea here is to think of what is going on inside people as dynamic, not static.  There’s a little engine in the head and heart running all the time.  For many people, that engine runs relatively smoothly, as far as anyone watching can tell, and people stay pretty consistent.  Red Sox fans don’t root for the Yankees.  You’re either into girls (or boys), or you’re not.  You eat broccoli, or you don’t.

But under different conditions, other aspects of personality emerge.  I happen to think, today, that there is a pool of needs and drives in all of us that represents potential for behaviors that are not part of the routine person we present to the world.

People surprise us, all the time.  They shock us, with divorce, suicide, murder, or other manifestations of an inner crisis or a hidden aspect of personality that never had the opportunity to surface.

Something else was going on inside, a ticking time-bomb, or a suppressed need, or a potential for social or anti-social behavior that required the right set of circumstances to be expressed.

Disaster strikes – economic, environmental, personal.  The economy collapses, or a tornado levels the town, or a job is lost.

We meet someone who brings out previously hidden or suppressed aspects of our personality – they drive us insane with love, or hate.

Someone we love dies.  Or leaves. 

This is the stuff of story.  Under the stress of change, internal or external, heroes and villains emerge from the roles we assume as parent, lover, worker, citizen, or fool.

So. 

Draw a circle off-center on a piece of paper, then draw arrows pointing in all directions, some colliding, others flying apart, the rest pointing in random directions. 

Name those arrows.  Take your time.  Think of people you know, characters you’ve loved, or take a close look at yourself (I never said this wasn’t going to be scary).  I’d prefer a long, hard look at real people (assuming, of course, that you are, in fact, real) (sorry, had a Phil Dick moment, there). 

That circle represents the inner landscape of a person.  Your character.  Those arrows are the emotions, drives, needs that motivate behavior.

Perhaps your life has been blessed with a remarkable absence of troubling incidents and people.  You may not be a particularly self-reflective kind of person.  Of course, you need inspiration.

The next time you sit in a park, go to a family reunion/wedding/funeral, take a long trip or, God help you, visit a mall, make it a point to focus on observing people.  Watch and listen.  Look at expressions, body language, and see how they change depending on who they’re with and the situation they’re in.  Grab details you catch or overhear and put them down.  Observe.  And feel free fantasize. 

Think of the random arrows in terms of strong personal drives, interests, fears or needs – likes chocolate, morning person, prefers bright colorful clothing, hates bugs.

Stalks people.  Powerful religious faith.  Generous.  Hates morning people.

The  arrows that clash or fly apart are more interesting – these are the conflicts people struggle with: wants to be left alone but needs people; wants power but hates responsibility;

Here’s a thing about the arrows – when they collide, I think of them as active conflicts between two opposing needs – a lover may embrace you passionately for the night, and then abandon you for a rival the next night.  Ouch. 

Arrows that fly apart, for me, represent a more passive conflict, or the potential for a startling change of behavior under a different set of circumstances.  For instance, hates morning people might turn into a surprising tolerance for an individual morning person through the power of love.  Or, a fear of violence might turn into a passionate embrace under the right provocation, like in road rage. 

Basically, the same need, fear, what have you, changes under different conditions.  

Of course, all of these characteristics are interchangeable.  A lone flying arrow can be turned into a double – could be likes bright clothing in the summer, dark in the winter (wow, what a conflict…).  Or doesn’t like people in general but really needs to be with family. 

The point is, we’re complicated.  Full of contradictions. 

The head spins.  Don’t worry.  Draw and label as you see fit.  Make it your own.

Don’t think of reasons.  People are what they are through upbringing and chemistry, depending on environment and the immediate situation.  This isn’t a psycho-analytic tool, just a different way of doing a character sketch.

The point, if I may repeat myself, is to illustrate and emphasize the dynamic nature of what goes on inside of people. 

People change, yes.  But, really, not necessarily.  In my theory of personalities for today, people just slide into different potentials they had all along depending on the circumstance.  The find the killer inside, if they indeed had a killer in them.  Or the lover.

That can happen once in a lifetime.  Or it can happen on a routine basis, like a serial killer who appears normal but operates differently as he or she creates or exploits different circumstances.

If any of this makes sense, here’s a continuation of the exercise:

Draw another circle, partially intersecting the one you’ve already drawn.  Or, draw two circles, partially joined.

Two people.  The shared space represents that they have in common, the aspects of their personalities that creates a bond between them.

Could be positive needs, drives, etc, could be negative ones.  Most likely a mix.

And everything else outside the shared circle are characteristics each may find annoying or irrelevant in the other.  Or, just as likely, complete mysteries to the other.  Potential sources of problems between the two, or untapped connections.

The message is, in imagining characters and their interactions, remember needs and drives are powerful things.  Try looking at individuals as a collection of puzzle pieces going off in random directions, not  always or perhaps even rarely expressed in actual behavior.  And those puzzle pieces someteims draw strange bedfellows.

Thinking of people who are mysteries to others and to themselves is scary.  To my mind, realistic, but that’s just me.  As someone recently pointed out to me, being realistic is often considered anti-social.  But thinking of characters in this way I think opens up the imagination and the possibilities for surprising and engaging fiction.