MBTI Blog Challenge: How to Write an INFJ

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of writers assigning MBTI types to their characters. I can't help but think that this is a brilliant idea. The possibilities are endless. Finding out your character’s personality type can help you deepen their motives, pinpoint what makes them tick, and help you create deep, developed characters. How awesome is that?
But when I started researching Myers Briggs types for my characters, I hit a dead end. All of the information was horribly convoluted and not geared towards helping writers understand their characters.

So I decided to start a blog challenge to provide writers with the tools needed to write characters of different Myers Briggs types. Here’s how it works:
Write a blog post about your own personal Myers Briggs type. Include things that make your type special, things your type fears, what makes your type happy, angry, or passionate. Then tag another writer to do the same.
The idea is that, in a few weeks, we’ll have a web of articles about different personality types, all geared towards helping writers create deeper characters.
Let’s get started:
My type: INFJ
The INFJ is fairly rare, and, because of this, they confuse the heck out of a lot of people, mostly because nobody can quite understand us. We’re like Flynn Rider, galloping about, breaking rules, dreaming about owning a castle, and then bam! People just can’t get our noses right! So let me explain to you a few things about INFJ people/characters. I've put the important bits in bold, so skim at your convenience:  The INFJ: Core traitsINFJ’s are highly intuitive. Like, “I swear that person has a crystal ball hiding in her closet” intuitive. This leads to INFJ's generally knowing how an event, decision, or relationship will turn out long before anyone else. This can be slightly disturbing, particularly to the INFJ. So if somebody wants to write an INFJ who is alarmed to be heralded as a psychic, that would be awesome. You have my blessing.INFJ's are very cynical (probably because of the afore mentioned intuition), but they also dream bigger and harder than your average person. INFJ's are introverted by nature, but can sometimes come across as extroverted. They are loud around their few trusted friends or when they become passionate about a subject. Otherwise, they like to sit quietly and observe their surroundings. INFJ's would rather be burned alive than be around large groups of people. INFJ's are highly creative and like to be able to pursue this creativeness. They value imagination in others and have great respect for people who get out there and pursue their dreams, as it encourages them to do the same.  INFJ's have a sarcastic and/or morbid sense of humor. This is probably a byproduct of their overly cynical nature. INFJ's have a very good sense of humor, though it can often air on the sarcastic and morbid side. Because of this, INFJ's generally don't come across as funny upon first contact. They're feeling you out to see whether or not you'll be able to handle their twisted sense of humor. The answer is usually no, since most people are alarmed by morbid humor coming out of the mouths of such seemingly quiet, gentle people. INFJ's are both light and dark. They are dreamers chasing after rainbows and ponies one moment and the next they are dark, weird beings who see beauty in strange objects. The things they like vary from normal (such as cooking) to extremely weird (such as the lizard-creature depicted above). Don't try to understand it or you'll break your brain.The INFJ: What makes them happyPeace and quiet. Give them a good book, turn on Netflix and hand them the remote, or give them a beach to walk on. They'll be happy as a clam. New ideas. INFJ's love exploring new ideas and connecting them to old ones. They like hashing concepts out with people or maybe just sitting down and writing about them. Being able to make a difference. Simple as that. Being able to sit around and dream. INFJ's like sticking their heads in the clouds from time to time. Watching Disney movies makes them happy and they secretly like to believe in things like magic, mermaids, and unicorns. Because why not?  The INFJ: What upsets them Fakeness. Fake people, fake motives, fake chocolate chip cookies (you know...the raisin cookies that look like chocolate chip. Why would somebody do that?). Fakeness irritates INFJ's because they are so real themselves.Injustice. INFJ feel things very deeply. That's why this is constantly happening to them:  Feeling boxed in. Having to follow set guidelines, rules, and societal norms without being able to put their own twist on things will forever upset INFJ's. Not only will an INFJ refuse to use the crosswalk, but they'll probably jump across cracks in the asphalt because they're pretending it's lava. Just let them have their fun. Meaninglessness. "What exactly is the purpose," an INFJ will cry, "of going out to coffee with somebody if we're only going to talk about clothes and the weather?"  INFJ's like to have a purpose behind everything, generally a purpose pertaining to the betterment of society or the soul.The idea that they will never live up to their potential. This thought scares INFJ's to no end and they'll work hard to make sure that it never comes true.The INFJ: Strengths  Determination. If an INFJ has decided to do something, then they will walk through Mordor to do it. All the Ringwraiths in Middle-earth will be unable to stop them. Creativity and imagination. While INFJ's can be very determined and even-keel, they also spend a lot of their time with their heads in the clouds, flying high and imagining beautiful things. Thoughtfulness. Ever wonder why INFJ's lapse into long periods of silence? It's because they spend a lot of time thinking. Obviously, thinking is very helpful skill set. Open-mindedness. INFJ's can see things from pretty much every different point of view. This, combined with the fact that they like exploring new ideas, makes them very open-minded.Strong morals. INFJ's are firmly grounded in their beliefs and aren't easily led astray. This allows them to investigate new concepts without fear of losing their way. The INFJ: Weaknesses. Perfectionism. Everything an INFJ does needs to be perfect. They need perfect grades, perfect work-performance, even their hobbies need to be well-executed. They do these things for themselves, not other people, so, when they fail in an area, they will feel keen disappointment in themselves. Overly private. As mentioned before, INFJ's value peace and silence. However, if this is overdone, it can lead to an INFJ ostracizing everyone in his/her life. Sometimes this is even done on purpose in order to distance themselves from pain, which is clearly not OK. I've always thought this would make a very interesting personality trait when writing a villain. Stubbornness. 'Nuff said.Intolerant of other's weaknesses. Because INFJ's are so strong and driven, they can be annoyed by people who aren't. This leads to an INFJ turning into a stuck-up jerk. Again, awesome makings for a villain. The INFJ: Other useful bits of information for your characters. INFJ's will probably get in trouble for heretical, anarchist, or vigilante acts. Because everyone is doing it wrong and they're the only ones who can fix it. INFJ's make good writers, psychologists, teachers, and counselors. They would make good asylum inmates, as well. This is a result of their intense intuition and creativity. INFJ's will hand out brutal truths. But only to those they care about. To acquaintances and strangers they will generally give very diplomatic answers, though this wears off as they get older. I'd personally love to see a grumpy old INFJ wizard. How fun would that be?Secure INFJ's don't attempt to fit in. Insecure INFJ's try to fit in, but fail miserably. Secure INFJ's value their weirdness. Insecure INFJ's see it as a curse.And there it is. The very confusing personality of an INFJ. If you have questions, let me know. Also, remember that no personality type is perfect and you may end up having to mix and match in order to create a well-rounded character.

Now, to tag other writers to write about their Myers Briggs types: Susannah Metzler from Tea with TumnusGemma Fitz from Chasing Daises Alina from Writer AlinaAzelyn Klein from Word StormKerry Jane from Metanoia Alyson Schroll from Alyson Schroll  If I tagged you, don't feel obligated to participate. If I didn't tag you, please feel free to jump in anyway! The rules are simple: Link back my blog and let me know when your post is up so that I can fangirl over it.Title your post "MBTI Blog Challenge: How to Write an [insert your personality type]." This should help other writers find this resource quickly and easily. Give your MBTI personality type and provide a list of their core traits, likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses, and anything else you'd like to add. Tag other bloggers to do the same. Share your post with other writers to help them craft their characters. And that's that! What kinds of personality types would you like to see explained to you? I personally have a harder time writing extroverts, so I'd love to see some posts about that. What personality type are you? Leave your thoughts below!

Related articles:
Work-In-Progress Blog Challenge
15 Things I Love About Being A Writer
The Liebster Award - In Which I Answer Random Questions and Link Over to Other Epic Blogs

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