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We all have our own unique personalities; our own strengths and weaknesses that affect everything we do, including writing. Recently, I have been reading about the Four Temperaments Approach by Tim LaHaye – Why You Act The Way You Do http://amazon.com. He has narrowed down human personalities types into four categories – choleric, melancholic, sanguine, and phlegmatic. So, as a writer, which one are you?
The Choleric Writer
These are the it’s good enough people. Everything is completed at full speed; nothing is done by halves. They plough through life at top speed. This is both their strength and weakness. They don’t always complete jobs as well as they should. A cholerics strength is, in general, a good work ethic with the ability to focus and get through tough tasks. They are able to streamline productivity to a point, chunking down projects and not letting perfectionism hold them back.
Working at such a pace though leads to burn out. They must learn to pace themselves so their mind and body can get the rest needed, to regenerate. The it’s good enough outlook at times may lead them to posting things that aren’t quite ready for the public to see.
The Melancholic Writer
Melancholics have natural artistic expression, including writing. They are detail orientated, patient and idealistic. However, despite being perhaps the most talented of all the personalities they are filled with a great deal of self doubt. Their level of perfectionism can cause them to never measure up, which in turn, can keep them from completing projects.
The biggest hurdle a melancholic has is their self doubt; their lack of confidence. It takes years for some writers to have faith in themselves and their writing. They may begin many scripts, but become procrastinators quickly with very few scripts arriving at completion.
The Sanguine Writer
Sanguines are the life of the party – fun, gregarious, and very charismatic. They are the storytellers in the crowd; dramatic, compassionate and emotional all in one. However, all these emotions can lead to instability, inconsistency in their writing and being able to finish stories on the page.
Sanguines know how to tell a story; they have perfect rhyme and rhythm and the best punch lines and this is what draws people in. They are the writers who have the most brilliant of opening pages. However, as much as they can begin a story with a big bang, it’s difficult for them to go on. They need to be pushed to finish and they need to be pushed through the criticism and the dramatic episodes of self doubt to get through.
The Phlegmatic Writer
These writers are the slow and steady wins the race ones. Feathers aren’t easily ruffled; they are calm and focused and loyal to their work, thoughtful and pragmatic. However, these writers find it difficult to find motivation to begin a project, and then finish it.
Despite their easy going exterior they do have a suit of armour. It really can take a lot of effort to reveal themselves, to open themselves up to the world and because of this their work can often come across as being somewhat shallow. They find it difficult to write about pain and conflict, preferring all characters to get along beautifully.
So, what’s your writing personality trait? I’d love to know!
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