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Using the Enneagram For Character Development
April 7th, 2023
The Enneagram is a popular personality typing system that posits nine different personality types. What I like about the Enneagram more than other personality typologies (i.e., Myers Briggs) is that it gets deep. The Ennegram types highlight a person's core motivations, fears, values, and goals.
Doesn't that sound perfect for character development?
You know you've found your correct Enneagram type when it hurts to read. Because while it does address strengths, it also hits close to home on your weaknesses and flaws. For instance, I am an Enneagram 3 (the Achiever) which means that I can be overly-focused on success and fear feeling worthless.
There are nine different Enneagram types, and they are related to each other in different ways (hence why there is a lot to learn about this system if you really want to). See the image below!
Each number tends to behave more like other numbers during times of growth and stress. The Enneagram 3 behaves more like a healthy 6 (the Loyalist) during times of growth and more like an unhealthy 9 (the Peacemaker) during times of stress. Each number also has a "wing" meaning they often take on the traits of one of the numbers adjacent to them.
How can this help with character development?
We know that forming good characters means having an understanding of what drives them. What do they care about? What do they fear? What are their values? While we don't necessarily have to box our characters into a personality type, the Enneagram can serve as inspiration for answering these questions.
I've gotten to know my main character Corrie so much better by exploring her Ennegram type. Is her hard work driven by the desire to succeed like a 3, or the desire to do things perfectly like a 1? I'm currently getting to know the main character, Aya, in the sequel by exploring her enneagram type as well. I'd encourage you to do some research and see if you can identify your character's type! Once you find that out, working through their fears, flaws, and values can help them become a more complete character.
Source: http://sffoghorn.com/the-enneagram-a-guide-to-self-awareness-and-understanding/
Pub Day Reveal!
November 25th, 2022
Release day has been revealed to the world!
When Death Is Coming will be available on Amazon as an ebook and paperback on 05/02/2023!
May 2nd is an important day for Corrie. You'll have to read the book to find out why!
What's next? ARC sign-ups will be available soon! ARC readers are such an important part of helping indie authors. With your review, sharing, and ratings, you can help When Death Is Coming get more readers when it is released!
I can't wait for you to read Corrie's story. Stay tuned for more updates!
Writing What You Enjoy
September 3rd, 2022
A lesson I learned about writing what you enjoy.
For those who don't know what National Novel Writing Month is, writing lovers set a crazy goal of writing a 50,000 word novel in one month every November. In 2020, I decided to write from the perspective of a male main character for the second book in my YA series.
Some background on this decision - I was initially planning to create three standalone novels, each with their own separate female lead, that take place in the same world where death dates are common knowledge. Why all female leads? Because I have always loved strong female leads who I can look up to. Nothing against non-female leads of course, but I just love writing the character of a girl or woman who can represent power, kindness, and courage for other female readers.
When I started working on my second book for NaNo in 2020, I started to think... what would agents want out of my series? Would they want all female leads? Or would they want diversity? Would they want to be able to market to male readers as well? Maybe I should switch things up, maybe I should include different voices to reach more people...
And in thinking about what others would want out of my books rather than sticking with writing what I was passionate about, I created a 50,000 word draft that I just didn't connect with. The main character felt forced and under-developed because my heart was not in it. I was writing based on expectations that I believed others (read: imaginary others) would have for me rather that writing what I felt passionate about.
What I've learned from this experience is that I need to write what feels genuine to me. Because there is a chance no one will even read my books (hopefully a very slim chance as I prepare to publish!). But as the author, I need to feel proud, connected, and passionate about my characters. Otherwise readers can tell.
Learn from my mistakes - write the character you want to write. Tell the story you want to tell. Instead of paying attention to what you think is most marketable or desirable by agents and publishers, create the characters that you love and envision. Your passion will be clear on paper and you'll find the readers who share the same interests.
The Severed Fates Series
August 8th, 2022
Fan of epic conclusions to series? Get ready for this one...
I was a huge fan of the Avengers, Infinity War and End Game. I lived for the scenes where all of the characters who we grew to love in their individual movies came together to fight the "big bad."
If you're a fan of those scenes, listen up...
While When Death is Coming takes place in a country named Veil where the government used the death dates to create oppressive systems, Book 2 takes place in a completely different society. It's in the same world, but the authorities in this society decided to handle death dates in their own way... And in Book 3? Another new set of characters experiencing the death dates in a novel way.
Excited? I am!
Each of the three books will introduce their own new characters, who I believe you'll grow to love as much as Corrie, Auden, and Darian. But if you read When Death is Coming and are eager to know what happens next for those characters, you just need to wait a little longer!
Book 4 will bring all of my worlds together.
Everything else will be a surprise, but I want my readers to know that even though Book 2 will take us on a new journey (with Aya and Ren, are you excited to meet them??), our friends from Book 1 will be back :)
When Death Is Coming's Backstory
July 20th, 2022
When Death Is Coming has a long history...
When I was a senior in high school, I was part of an advanced creative writing class. Our semester-long project was to create a 50-page manuscript. At the time, this felt like a lot - possibly the most I had ever written.
Around this time, the Hunger Games was growing in popularity and dystopian ideas caught my attention. I began to wonder, what would happen to the world if we could learn when we would die? If this information became public knowledge?
Different societies would handle things in different ways, right? Some would try to use this information for exploitation and power. Some would try to keep the knowledge private, while others would think people have a right to know. It would change how we view life and death. It would change how we view relationships and work. It would change everything.
Book one in the series explores a world where the death dates is used to create a privileged world for those who will live long. After all, they hold the power of a long life, which leaves those with early death dates to do the labor and work for the long-lived. And while Corrie has mostly been content to find purpose in this work, she learns her death date is closer than she thought. This news, as well as the knowledge that she has family outside of the labor camp, makes her question everything.
The first draft I wrote back in 2011 was quite different, but Corrie and Auden have always been best friends through every iteration of the book. Always trying to fight for their lives, fight for each other, and figure out their feelings for one another.
Can't wait to share this story with the world!