Kieren Westwood runs a writing channel on YouTube. Recently, he revealed he used the 16 Personalities website, and took the personality test. But he didn’t take it as himself. He took it as if he were one of his characters. He recommended doing this for a simple analysis of a character’s personality.
I’ve been thinking recently if we writers want our readers to believe in our characters then we have to believe in our characters … and know them almost like they’re real people.
Kieren Westwood
I tried the free 16 personalities test on my three main characters, and I enjoyed reading the results. They were spot on. I definitely will use the results as I make decisions on my character’s actions.
Westwood said, “It can give you a bit of inspiration if you get stuck . . . for example, my character reaches a crossroads where they need to make a decision, and I honestly don’t know which way they should go. I can look at this character profile, and see what their character type is most likely to do in this situation.” He believes this makes the characters more human.
The test is simple and quick. It’s based on the Myer Briggs personality types, and the results can be useful. I printed them as PDFs. If you want to retake the test as another character, click the retake button.
Andrew M. Friday 