Dear Jeannie: Effect of Dystopian World on Archetypes

Dear Jeannie,

I've created a world based on China's one-child policy where the first son is kept and all girl children are given to an orphanage at birth. I'm wondering how being raised in this sort of environment would affect the classic character archetypes? Let's say my MC is a "care giver"--what kind of baggage would she bring with her?

Helpless in Houston 


Dear Helpless,

If you haven't read up on the Caregiver in my Character Archetypes 101 series, you can start there.
The core of an archetype won't change due to the environment. They simply act out their archetypical traits within that environment.

If your female heroine grew up in an orphanage, she would probably have been a parentified child, going around and helping the other girls. And in a severe dystopian-type world where all the girls are thrown out, most certainly there would be a lack of resources to care for them...so the few adults manning the orphanages would welcome her help. She might be like a mother-figure to the other down-and-out orphans. Caregivers want to make a difference in the lives of others...this challenges them and really fulfills a need.

On the flip (shadow) side, she'd likely grow resentful if too much is put on her. In part, this would be her fault, due to her poor boundaries and not knowing when to say no. And even if the culture in accepting of the fate of girls (being discarded), it wouldn't lessen the curiosity and bitterness the girls (and your Caregiver) might feel at the actions against them. Perhaps in her zealousness to make the lives of the other girls better, she might advocate against the dystopian rule for girls being given to orphanages at birth.

Hope this gives you a starting place!

Jeannie


Dear Jeannie,

I'd love to hear your take on personality types/archetypes on some biblical characters. What can you tell me about the personalities of Ruth and Naomi?

Biblical Bookworm in Bethesda


Dear Biblical Bookworm,

You know, I really got into this kind of thing when I did a post on the Woman at the Well, psychoanalyzing her, for lack of a better term. I think that your question would better be served in a Character Clinic-type setting than in this format. I'll work up something on each of them and post them separately, because really, they deserve more attention than my little column can give here.

Hope that's OK....because I truly love looking into Scriptures with my therapist eye. So hold on...it'll come later, but it'll be worth the wait. :)

Jeannie

Got Questions?

Post them anonymously below, using monikers like Sleepless in Seattle. I promise I'll get to them in future Dear Jeannie columns.

Help Me Replace Free Association and Win a Writer's Guide of Your Choice!

I've been doing the free association chain for about 2 years. (Well, I didn't do the exact math, but 161 posts, only on Fridays...it might even be longer.)

The intention behind the free association chain was to have blog readers feel free to comment on something fairly non-intimidating. I realize a lot of my posts don't lend themselves to reader interaction, and this was my attempt to change that.

But now I need your help.

I'm committed to posting Mondays and Wednesdays, but would really love to have an interactive Friday post. I'm hoping that my readership has some great ideas!

Leave your idea in the comment section below, and regardless of whether I pick yours or not, you'll still be entered to win any one of my Writer's Guides, covering subjects like Personality Disorders, Personality Types, Grief, Creating Rich Backstory, and my newest Guide to Breaking Character Stereotypes.

So get creative, think about what you'd personally be interested in commenting on, and remember, the sky's the limit. I'm looking forward to your suggestions.

Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming...

Over 2 years ago, I wrote a post about Finding Nemo and all the mental illness implications within the movie.

Courtesy of Pixar

Little did I know that this post would become the runner up to the most popular post on my blog. Since 2/23/11, the post has received over 11,200 hits.

That's a lot of people checking out Finding Nemo.

So perhaps folks might be interested in knowing that Pixar is coming out with a sequel called...yep. You guessed it: Finding Dory.

There is a lot of speculation about how Pixar will handle having a main character who suffers from significant mental and cognitive disabilities. One can only assume that she gets lost somehow, courtesy of her disorder, and Marlin and Nemo will likely be looking for her. While she was a only a supporting character fish in Finding Nemo, she will take center stage. 

Dory isn't just quirky. That's important to put on the table. She not only suffers from short-term memory loss, she also has a lot of anxiety, confusion, and disorientation when she's left on her own. There is arguably some dependent personality disorder traits exhibited as well, but this is muddied by her mental handicap which prevents her from living independently. 

Michael Arbeiter of Hollywood.com likened Dory and Marlin's relationship to that of the relationships between Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man. This got me thinking of all the similarities. Tom Cruise utilized his mentally compromised brother to forward his goal of getting their father's inheritance. He took advantage of him, and Marlin does the same with Dory's ability to read English and talk whale. Tom Cruise was frustrated by his brother's handicaps (such as not being touched, not being able to fly, having to watch certain shows at certain times, wear certain types of underwear, etc). Marlin wants to pull his hair scales out with Dory's mental handicap, and eventually leaves her alone toward the end of the movie, which really does a number on Dory.

I just want to see Pixar show a heroine challenged by mental illness but not beat down by it. People (and fish) can rise above their limitations. Pixar has shown that they can go deep with certain movies, such as Toy Story 3 and Wall-E. I sincerely hope that they go there with Finding Dory.

Let's Analyze

Have you heard that Pixar will be releaseing Finding Dory in 2015? What do you hope they do with the film?

And I'm still offering a giveaway of Julie Lessman's newest, Love at Any Cost! Just click here to enter the giveaway!

And HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY! I'm so proud so many of my family members have served or are currently serving. Thank you to Allan, Marion, Dave, Cheryl, Jason, Gene, Mark, Wes, and George. Your service is and always will be greatly appreciated.

How to Type Emotional Dialogue

In a therapy session, I never talk in just one way to clients. Think of how monotonous that would be. And people never respond in just one way.

Why should writing be any different?

I'm not talking about your "voice"--the part of your personality that seeps onto the page. I'm talking about the actual way you type your words, especially your dialogue.

I've been collecting various writing techniques that can convey certain emotions by showing with the actual words. Description is unnecessary for how the character feels, because the words are displayed on the page so creatively that it's a no-brainer for the reader.

Here's two types of examples, using sentence structure change, to convey an (emotion):

1a. "Pleasedontbedeadpleasedontbedeadpleasedontbedead." (dread, fear)

1b.  Hesgoingtoaskmeouthesgoingtoaskmeouthesgoingtoaskmeout! (anticipation, joy)

2a. "Stop. Following. Me." (frustration, exasperation)

2b. "Read. My. Lips." (impatience)

2c. "Get. (separated paragraphs implies more intense frustration/anger)
      "Lost."


Here's three examples of altering word spacing/adding a word:

3a. "I feel like I'm f l o a t i n g..." (detachment, confusion)

3b. Crrrraaaaaaaap. (anxiety, disappointment)

3c. "Febru-frickin'-ary can't be over soon enough." (bitterness, bored, irritation)


And finally, a few examples of changing accepted punctuation/grammar rules:

4. "Who cares." (resignation)

5. "You're pretty arrogant, aren't you." (amusement, condescension)

6. "Where you at?" (exasperation/curiosity, via a subculture colloquialism)


Emotion can pour through the structuring of your words on the page. You just have to give it a little thought.

Let's Analyze

What other examples can you think of? Leave them in the comments section!

Fascination Trigger #7: Rebellion

This Wednesday I'm focusing on the last of the seven triggers that authors can capitalize on to fascinate readers. The idea for this series came from Sally Hogshead's book, Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation. See the bottom of this post for links to the other 6 triggers.

People with Rebellion as their primary trigger are the people who follow the beat of their own drum. They are creative types, coming up with inventive, unconventional solutions to their problems.

Randy Ingermanson mentioned George Carlin as a great example of Rebellion. In 1972, he created a comedy routine around the "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television." Brilliant, really, because he was instantly fascinating with his own version of the forbidden fruit.

Ingermanson also indicates Marilyn Monroe as being a Rebellion personality. When she sang "Happy Birthday" to John F. Kennedy in her breathy, sexy voice...this was definitely edgy and unpredictable (see below).

According to Hogshead, there are 5 defining personality characteristics of Rebellion folk:

1) Innovative - these folk can generate ideas like nobody's business. They don't necessarily plan and deliberate, but have sudden flashes of insight. Deadlines aren't really problematic for them.  

2) Independent - autonomy is preferred over group collaboration, though Rebellion people can definitely work with others. The preference is for their freedom to flex their creative muscles and make their own decisions.  

3) Entrepreneurial - trailblazing isn't unusual for Rebellion personalities. They can self-start, and rather enjoy not feeling hedged in. They might be more likely to start their own venture.  

4) Edgy - cleverness and ability to grasp alternativ eviewpoints and perspectives are strengths of Rebellion people. Most are quick-witted, ironic, or sarcastic.  

5) Unpredictable - ever unorthodox, they enjoy the surprise in others when they do something unexpected. Traditional ideas and actions aren't their strong suit. 

One author that came to mind as having many of these traits is Truman Capote. When he wrote In Cold Blood, he really deviated from the genre of true crime by making his book read like a fiction novel. Instead of a journalistic style, it was very narrative. Capote said that he created a new genre of the "nonfiction novel." Based completely in fact, he helped the reader get into the minds of the victims and the killers, and really feel empathy for their plight.

Then Capote ends his career with a dark, insider look into his own life, with thinly veiled portrayals of his acquaintances and the pathos he encountered in his own society. Talk about throwing a curve ball.

I hope you've enjoyed the series! For those interested, you can find the introduction here, the Power trigger here, the Passion trigger here, the Mystique trigger here, the Alarm trigger here, the Prestige trigger here, and the Trust trigger here.

Let's Analyze

Who else comes to mind as pushing the envelope literary-wise?

Therapeutic Review and Giveaway of Jenny B Jones' There You'll Find Me

I recently finished Jenny B Jones' latest young adult release, There You'll Find Me. I was super-impressed with several things, but we'll get there in a second.

Here's a blurb from Jenny's website:

Finley Sinclair is not your typical eighteen year old. She’s witty, tough, and driven. With an upcoming audition at the Manhattan music conservatory, Finley needs to compose her audition piece. But her creativity disappeared with the death of her older brother.

She decides to travel to Ireland following his travel journal. It’s the place he felt most alive – and she desperately needs to feel alive again. So she agrees to an exchange program and boards the plane. Beckett Rush, teen heartthrob and Hollywood bad boy, is flying to Ireland to finish filming his latest vampire movie. On the flight, he meets Finley. She’s the one girl who seems immune to his charm. Undeterred, Beckett convinces her to be his assistant in exchange for his help as a tour guide.

Once in Ireland, Finley starts to break down – the loss of her brother and the pressure of school, her audition, and whatever it is that is happening between her and Beckett, leads her to new – and dangerous – vices.

Then she comes across something that changes her perspective irrevocably. Is it enough to convince her that everything she’s been looking for has been with her all along?
__________________________________________________________________________________

Jenny's writing is always such a joy to read. I feel like she has one of the most recognizable voices in Christian fiction. If you've ever heard her speak in person, you'd see why. Her personality sparkles across each page, regardless of genre or POV. That's such a unique thing that's all hers. With that said, you'll laugh at loud at some of the quips that Jenny peppers in her dialogue and internal thoughts. So much fun to read!

Therapist cap on here, Jenny realistically depicts two major themes running through young adult life:

1) What it's like for young girls struggling with body image when they are plagued by media images of pencil-thin model-types as the ideal woman. Finley's journey to Ireland is costly for her emotionally, and while she has trouble handling the feelings associated with her brother's death, her stress over her impending audition, and a new romance on the horizon with a world-renown heartthrob, she realizes that that there are other things she can control.

Eating disorders usually start with an honest intention of losing weight, just a few sizes, and then the feeling of control that brings gets out of hand. If ever a book clearly portrayed how these types of mental disorders look like at the beginning, it's Jenny's book. As the book neared the end, I grew wary of how "healed" Finley would be by the last page. I wasn't disappointed. Jenny handled it very satisfactorily, and completely realistically.

2) What it's like for young people seeking to find their own way, outside of parental and peer influences. Beckett and many of the other young people in the book are at a crucial juncture of their lives where they have to decide whether to live for what they know to be right for them or whether they live for other people, to make others happy. I appreciated the struggle these teens went through and the end result. Teens (and adults) everywhere will relate.

To be entered to win this great book, please leave a comment below. Offer good only for residents of the continental US and followers of this blog, as I like for my giveaways to be a reward for my readership. Giveaway will end Sunday!

Let's analyze: What are some signs that you might know of of eating disorders, early or late stages?

Why The World Doesn't "Get" Writers

My final statistical comparison following my Plotting and Personality Survey is below. It will totally explain why the general population scratches their heads at us writers.

I compared the United States statistics for Myers-Briggs Type Indicators with those from the writer population (who took my survey). Check it out:

MBTI General Population

MBTI Writer Population

 

The interesting comparison is found in the top quadrant (IN) of introverted intuitives, in particular the INFJ, INTJ, and INFP types. In the writing population, these types are considerably higher than in the general population. Most writers are INFJs, which is the smallest percentage of types for the general population! That's actually a HUGE discovery...and you read it on The Character Therapist first, folks.

The ESTJ and ESFJ types are among the most prevalent in the general population, but among writers, we are in the minority. The introverted counterparts of ISTJ and ISFJ are basically the same between writers and the general populace.

So now you know why writers are a curious bunch. We don't fit the personality stereotypes at all...in fact, in many respects, writers exhibit the exact opposite of what the world would expect (at least according to type).

Q4U: Does it all make sense now? Why writer's conferences are a merging of souls for writers who just don't quite "fit" with other normal non-writer folk?

Plotters Exposed

For the next two days, I'll be concluding the analysis of my Plotting and Personality Survey. First up are those pesky Plotters. (I can say that, since this is the blog of a Pantster.) :)

I was very pleased with the Plotter results, mainly because for each dichotomy presented in the first Plotter-specific question, I got very near 100%, meaning that most responders chose one or the other for questions 1-4.

1a. You are a list maker (groceries, to-do, etc)			88%
1b. You are NOT a list maker			11%
2a. You have a set/defined writing time and/or stick to it			19%
2b. You do NOT have a set/defined writing time and/or don't stick to it			72%
3a. You keep a calendar/schedule for work or home			62%
3b. You do NOT keep a calendar/schedule for work or home			30%
4a. You plot your entire story from start to finish before starting to write			45%
4b. You do NOT plot your entire story from start to finish before starting to write			54%

Of interest to note is that Plotters are organized in their every day lived (88% are list makers and 62% keep a calendar), but this statistic is not that much greater than the Pantsters, which did surprise me (but we'll get to them tomorrow). Not surprising is that most Plotters don't have a set writing time...I think writers in general do it when they aren't working their day job, or when the baby is sleeping, etc.

But check out question 4. It was nearly a 50/50 split. 45% of Plotters plot the whole way through and 54% don't. To me, the bottom line is that actually very few writers are die-hard Plotters.

Let's look at the rest of the survey results. None of these questions ironed out as close to 100% as questions 1-4, but they came fairly close.

5a. You have always been a plotter.			43%
5b. You began plotting after reading books like Story Engineering, Story, etc.			30%
5c. You are a Pantster masking as a Plotter because you feel this is the superior way.			6%
6a. Plotting comes very easy for you.			39%
6b. Plotting is difficult for you, but you plow through it anyway.			46%
7a. You only work on one story at a time.			59%
7b. You have several stories that you work on at once.			39%

Okay, 5c just cracks me up. I didn't actually think anyone would select that, because that's what I was doing for so long and I thought it would be funny. But 6% of you feel the same way! That's worth exploring in a Pantster support group. Should I get one started?

And look at question 6. Plotting comes difficult for almost 50% of Plotters. We Pantsters have thrown in the towel, but 46% of Plotters plow through the difficulty. Perhaps I need to start support groups for both groups. That's a pretty substantial percentage!

Question 7 I asked of both groups just because I'm curious. I find that I do my best work when I'm not saddled to one project, and thought I'd throw it out to my writing friends to see what you think. Almost a 60/40 split in favor of working on a single project....but that's way less of a margin that I thought it'd be. I thought Plotters would be t-totallers and have to write The End before starting on something else percolating. Guess I was wrong, but then, what else are surveys for?

Stay tuned for tomorrow when Pantsters are revealed. There will be quite a bit more discussion and general analysis of both types. (P.S. Thursday is also my birthday!!)

Q4U: How does this ring true with you Plotters out there? Did anything surprise you?

Do You Fit the Plotter/Personality "Stereotype"?

As promised, I want to delve a little deeper into each Myers-Briggs type and see what the survey revealed about plotting tendencies. I took each individual answer, separated them by type, and broke down how many from that type had answered as being a plotter, plotter with pantster tendencies, pantster with plotter tendencies, or pantster.

Before I go too far, though, for those who don't know what I'm talking about, check out my post here on my initial overall survey results.

So here's the breakdown, by type, of which responders are Plotters (which encompasses Plotters with Pantster Tendencies) and Pantsters (which encompasses Pantster with Plotter Tendencies). 

ENFJ: 82% PANTSTERS

          18% PLOTTERS

ENFP: 86% PANTSTERS

          14% PLOTTERS

ENTJ*: 100% PLOTTERS

ESFJ: 83% PANTSTERS

         17% PLOTTERS

ESFP*: 50% PLOTTERS

                50% PANTSTERS

ESTJ*: 100% PLOTTERS

ESTP*:100% PANTSTERS

INFJ: 54% PLOTTERS

              46% PANTSTERS

INFP: 68% PANTSTERS

         32% PLOTTERS

INTJ: 65% PLOTTERS

             35% PANTSTERS

INTP: 80% PANTSTERS

         20% PLOTTERS

ISFJ: 50% PANTSTERS

        50% PLOTTERS

ISFP*: 75% PANTSTERS

        25% PLOTTERS

ISTJ: 61% PANTSTERS

        39% PLOTTERS

ISTP*: 100% PLOTTERS

*Very few responders in these categories.

The seven types that have a highlighted percentage are likely the types that have the strongest statistical leaning to one type of writing method, Plotting or Pantsting. In the categories with asterisks, the results are likely inconclusive and definitely not statistically significant. In some cases, only one responder indicated they were that particular type.

Additional surveys would need to be done on a much larger sample to reach more conclusive results for that particular type. At the time this data was collected, 166 writers had taken the survey. At the same time, I think it is statistically significant that most of our writers fall into the other categories (based on the results from my previous post).It just could be that there are very few writers out there with certain Myers-Briggs types.

Q4U: What do you think about these results? Did some of the higher percentages surprise you? How does that make you feel if you fit the "stereotype"? What about if you don't?

Co-Authoring is like Co-Leading a Group

Giveaway Alert: Writer's Guide to Creating Rich Back Stories is up for grabs at K.M. Weiland's blog! See yesterday's post for two more opportunities to win different guides! I'm also over at Jordan McCollum's site, so pop over!

---

I had a really great group experience yesterday at work. I normally lead a parenting class by myself, and yesterday invited an Associate Social Worker intern to co-facilitate the group with me.

This was a big deal, because I've not had the greatest experience with co-leaders. You either gel or you don't. And when you don't gel, you're reluctant to stick your neck out there again. There's so much that goes into the co-leader relationship and actual facilitation.

It got me thinking that it's got to be like co-authoring a book. I've been approached to do so, and I'm actually eager to work on it when the time is right for both of us. But I can imagine you either gel or you don't.

The factors that go into co-facilitating a group are similar to those that would go into writing a book. Read on and be amazed.

1) Style

Group leaders, like authors, have different styles and ways of interacting. Some are more directive, others passive. Some procrastinate on getting the group materials together, others have the chairs arranged in a perfect circle ten minutes prior to group starting. Some are flexible, others are dominating.

How co-authors approach a book would be crucial. I would think a plotter and a pantster are going to have a harder time working together than two plotters. Two pantsters can work together fine too, just so you know. Jack Kilborn wrote a quite gruesome little ebook with Black Crouch called Serial. They way they wrote this book was they each sat down and thought of a serial killer for chapters one and two, and then quickly bounced back and forth for the remaining chapters to conclude the book (horrifically, I might add--it was kind of like a literary version of Fear Factor.) There was no outline and it worked....although I couldn't eat anything for a day or so.

2) Pacing

Good counselors know that group process can take a while to be cohesive. They know this and expect it. Others get impatient. Perhaps they are uncomfortable with silence or tears. Perhaps they can't quit looking at the clock and thinking, "We've GOT to get through this material in the next five minutes!"

Knowing when to probe and when to sit back is a skill that's honed after years of experience. You can do damage if you push too hard or you could do the client a disservice by enabling them to continue in a downward spiral.

Co-authors have to have a sixth sense in knowing when to do the same with each other and with their mutual characters. Since they are interacting on the page, pacing is crucial. One author's chapters wouldn't need to read so differently from the other. Literary fiction has a different pace from chick lit and thrillers definitely go at a different pace from romance. When do you push? Which author will do it? Which will sit back and give the reader a chance to breathe? (Or, as in Serial, give them no chance?)

3) Personality

Last but not least, the co-leader's personalities need to work well together. Notice, I didn't say need to be the same. If you haven't had a chance, you should grab my Writer's Guide to Personality Types (only $3!) from my store. In it, I talk about the personalities that mesh well together and those that don't.

There is more at stake in a therapeutic group with hurting clients if the group leader's personalities don't mix than when co-authors don't jive. Most co-authoring happens in different locations across the globe, not sitting side-by-side. But little things can be annoying and add up quickly, making the experience less than pleasant unless you've had the foresight to hash things out before.

Q4U: What about those of you out there who have co-authored? Any words of insight on how you weathers the process? What would you never do again? What could you not do without?

Psychology of MRUs

The Writer's Guide Giveaways continue as I'm beginning to wrap up my blog tour to launch my new website! You can win the Writer's Guide to Personality Types at Tori's Book Faery blog and a guide of the winner's choice at Kathy Harris' Divine Detour blog!

Today I'm featured over at Pentalk Community and Tommie Lyn's blog, so please stop by!

---

Most people have heard of Dwight Swain's motivation reaction unit (MRU). I'd like to present the psychology behind why it works so well.

Two elements comprise an MRU:

1) Motivating Stimulus—occurs outside your character
2) Character Reaction—occurs within your character

The stimulus has to come before the reaction. A person can’t react to something that hasn’t happened yet. If your character screamed before opening the door, it would cause a lapse in logic. How did she know to scream before opening the door and seeing the villain? It’s a classic MRU problem—getting the stimulus and reaction out of order.

According to Swain, there are four elements of the Character Reaction, all of which have to stay in order as well:

1) Visceral Reaction—an automatic gut reaction your character has no control over
2) Thought—what your character thinks
3) Action—what your character does
4) Speech—what your character says

Read on to see what element Swain left out....

Character Clinic: Evelyn Oneeye

Before I forget, you have two chances to win my Writer's Guide to Personality Types! Click over to read the guest post I did at Keli Gwyn's blog and at Tori's Book Faery blog! I'm also doing a giveaway of one of the four guides at Kathy Harris' Divine Detour blog, so please stop by! As if that weren't enough, I'm also over at Casey Herringshaw's blog. Whew!

---

This week's assessment is for Timothy, which will be my first free mini-character assessment from my website (meaning, Timothy filled out my character intake form found if you click here).

Timothy's writing a medieval fantasy about Evelyn Oneeye*, a woman disowned on her wedding night when she ran off with Tobias*. The two lived as happy bandits until Tobias died, leaving Evelyn pregnant and alone. Five years later, she has become the personal guard to Baron Damian Lutin, but she isn't thought of very highly in court and is something of a anomaly because of a large crocodile tattoo that coils around her face and body and the fact that she has one eye and wears an eyepatch. Her son is her outward protection against any romantic advances. When all of humanity shift into centaurs, Evelyn finds solace in an abandoned town and a wounded champion fighting dog she nurses back to health and names Horrible. She learns that her son didn't survive the change and Tobias' spirit visits and tells her to go back to her family. Evelyn exposes Baron Lutin as a traitor and earns the title of Kingsman (she is now Lady Evelyn Oneeye). She has a run-in with her father, Sor, who seeks reconciliation with her after all this time.

* Names have not been changed to protect the fictional. It is fictional.

Timothy wants to know: How long might Evelyn use the dog Horrible as a sort of substitute lover? What can I expect when she finally meets someone who isn't trying to betray her or screw her over and lets him inside the walls? I'm just shooting in the dark with her father disowning her. Apart from a motivating factor of fear on Sor's part, what would cause him to seek reconciliation? What can I expect when her father attempts to reach out to her?

My first all-out fantasy! Centaurs? Awesome.

Evelyn --

You believe you have to be seen as tough, yet deep down, you're vulnerable. You put it all on the line for the love of Tobias, and it cost you. The death of a partner, especially a young love such as the portrait your author painted (and you were only together 5 years or so, right?) is very traumatic. Generally it takes 2-3 years for a person to feel ready to move on, so you're well past that rule of thumb guideline.

You meet up with Horrible who is even more vulnerable than you are. You probably instantly connected with this animal, and perhaps even see him as a substitute son since you don't have yours around. It's a fine line between Horrible as a substitute lover when you think about it--your author mentioned that you used your son to ward off romantic attachments. Now you're using the dog, only instead of an external shield, he's an internal one.

Horrible doesn't demand anything from you. He's loyal, faithful, would do anything for you. You might even despair of ever finding a true human/centaur match that will quite measure up to such a high bar. Horrible is comfortable, and doesn't bring the threat of possibly opening up to someone else. However, it's important for you to realize that Tobias wasn't perfect. After all, he left you to an early death, however not his fault that might have been. This fact, more than others, might come to make you more bitter towards Tobias than deifying of him.

About your dad...you're initial thoughts of him trying to reconcile with you to have someone to look out for him in his old age are just that...initial knee-jerk reactions. When you can get past the immediate defense that his attempt at reconciliation inspires in you, it might be helpful to realize that Sor is in the Late Adulthood phase of Erik Erikson's Stages of Development (which is 55-65 to Death).

Sor is trying to make sense of his life, and that includes all the choices he had to make, right or wrong. At this point in his development, he's warring between integrity and despair. Integrity is what he's grasping at by approaching you. He wants to fill content with like, that his life has meaning and that he's made a contribution to the world. He's fighting despair at his perceived failures (clearly) and is likely doubting whether anything he said or did was worth it.

I hope this has been helpful, but I'd love to see you back on the couch to go deeper.

Character Clinic: Day 2

Blog Tour Buddies: Stop by Diane Estrella's blog to say hello and enter for a chance to win my Writer's Guide to Personality Types!

Today, I've got Sierra's character, Marni* on the couch for Day 2 of my Character Clinic. Marni is funny, eccentric and sees symmetry and purpose in coincidences. Unable to accept the complexity and randomness of life, she builds ups a strange mythology to explain everyday occurrences and to guide her day to day actions. But her perfect world starts to fall apart when one man helps her see beauty in the chaos and uncertainty of life. 

Sierra wants to know: What would cause someone like Marni to be unable to handle uncertainty in her life? Why would she feel the need to have an explanation for every little thing, even if it means living with a strange set of superstitions? Why would she feel compelled to develop those superstitions in the first place?
 
Here's the opening criteria of the disorder that first popped into my head after reading your description. Why don't you read it through and they let me know if you think it fits? (FYI - I've tweaked it by only showing you the criteria that I think she would fit, based on your sketch.) 

A pervasive pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and mental and interpersonal control, at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts. 

What say you? Yay? Nay? This is the opening lines of the DSM-IV-TR for Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder. However, I'm pretty sure she wouldn't fit the overall criteria needed to have the diagnosis. But her obsession with mental control over her environment made me go to this disorder.

Since she wouldn't fit the entire diagnosis (you can go here for the full criteria), we have to look at the constellation of disorders within which OCPD falls: Anxiety Disorders. Basically, Marni sounds like a control freak. She's probably terrified of letting go of her mythology, because she's found solace in it--it relieves the anxiety she feels about a chaotic, out-of-control world. This mythology has become a protective shield from the world as well as a blueprint she holds the world up to to make sense of it.

Deep down, she's insecure. The need to control--to order her life (even if it is more mentally than outwardly physical control)--is fueled in anxiety. What I can't help you with is why this is the case. You'll have to consider her upbringing, her family of origin. What kind of parents did she have? Were they constantly riding her about things? Demanding explanations? What happened to make her feel that everything has to have a reason, a story as to why it came to be?  

One thing to consider as you write Marni is the impact this adherence to her mythology will have on her socially. Surely there will be times and occasions when her world views will come into direct opposition with regular life. What will she do? Withdraw? Cower? Be in denial? Gloss over it? Ignore it?

People with OCPD are difficult to get along with. They want things to be there way. When she encounters this man intent of helping her see the beauty of chaos, I'm thinking she won't like it to much. I'm assuming this man is the romantic interest, which means you'll have instant tension, which is good. But people along this continuum of anxiety disorders really like things the way they like them....and it'll take more than a few conversations to convince Marni that she's wrong or that her mythology isn't needed or warranted. 

Another question to ask....to really dig deep into her psyche....is what is she afraid of? What importance does her set of beliefs hold for her? If it weren't there, I mean, worst-case scenario---what would she be frightened would happen? It's obvious to me that she developed the superstitions to offset her anxiety and ultimately her fear, so what's the reverse? To be ruled by that anxiety and fear, which, of course, only you as her author know what is.

Sounds like a fascinating character. I'd like to have spent some time with her in my office. Likely, there's much more lurking under the surface than what you've given me....but alas! Not enough time in the day, what with my real clients and all. :)


Good luck with her!