At their worst, they come across as judgmental and obsessive. The Reformer’s Arc: Resentment to IntegrityĬore Lie the Character Believes: “It’s not okay to make mistakes.”Īlso sometimes called the Perfectionist, Type Ones at their best represent responsibility and idealism. If you’re interested in further study of the Enneagram, I also recommend The Complete Enneagram by Beatrice Chestnut and the podcasts “ Enneagram 2.0” by Beatrice Chestnut and Uranio Paes and “ The Enneagram Journey” by Suzanne Stabile. A brief perusal of either book makes it easy to start picking out possible Lies, Truths, Needs, Wants, and backstory Ghosts for your characters-which you can then personalize for your story. The suggested Lie the Character Believes as shown for each type and some of the other phrasings are quoted from their book The Wisdom of the Enneagram.īoth this book and their earlier work Personality Types (which I mentioned in my post: “ 5 Ways to Use the Enneagram to Write Better Characters“) are filled with charts, graphs, and scannable type comparisons that are rich fodder for any novelist or character-arc enthusiast. Although I appreciate the incredible depth and complexity they bring to their teachings on the Enneagram, I also like the simplicity of the words they choose when comparing certain aspects of the various types. The information I’m sharing here is drawn from my own experience and study, but most specifically from the work of Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson. Today, I want to quickly explore nine positive character arcs in the Enneagram personality system. The Wisdom of the Enneagram by Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson (affiliate link) Sounds like a character arc to me! 9 Positive Character Arcs in the Enneagram The Enneagram, then, helps us see which number we’ve identified with, so we can learn how to grow past this shallow ego identity and into a fuller realization of our whole selves. To one degree or another, this creates imbalances in each type, which in turn can lead to dysfunction, confusion, and even suffering. In “choosing” to be one type, we necessarily cut off the eight other parts of ourselves. These nine methods of survival are highly sophisticated and effective. What Is the Enneagram?Įxperts will tell you that your Enneagram number is not who you are it’s who you’re not.Īt its simplest, the Enneagram is a map of nine possible ways in which a child’s psyche learns to interact with the external world. Thanks to the polarities and dichotomies revealed in every one of the nine types, the Enneagram also offers solid shortcuts for finding the Lies and Truths that are driving your characters through your stories. Helping those of us who are writers understand the mechanics of amazing character arcs. You can take it at your own pace and reap rewards at any level.Īnd the other thing the Enneagram is great at?Ĭreating Character Arcs (Amazon affiliate link) It is simple on the surface, but grows in profundity the deeper you go. If you’re interested in doing the hard and sometimes scary work of looking deep into your own shadows and rediscovering all the good stuff you’ve lost down there, the Enneagram is an incomparable roadmap for the journey. I’ve been studying the Enneagram and using it as a cornerstone of my own personal growth for almost five years now, and I’m not exaggerating when I say its insights have been a major role player in turning my life inside-out and upside-down, in all the best ways. An age-old tradition, it comes down to us as not just a personality-typing system but as an “ego-transcendence tool.” But the Enneagram also offers a deep rabbit hole for those interested in its many complex layers of theory. Each type or number has a distinct way of seeing the world and an underlying motivation that powerfully influences how that type thinks, feels, and behaves….įor some people, just being able to recognize themselves in one of the nine types is fun, interesting, and enough to satisfy their curiosity. The Enneagram teaches that there are nine different personality styles in the world, one of which we naturally gravitate toward and adopt in childhood to cope and feel safe. I like the way Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile describe the Enneagram in their excellent beginners’ book The Road Back to You: The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile (affiliate link)
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