The Mind of a Writer

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  • #20332
    Snapper
    @dragon-snapper
      • Rank: Chosen One
      • Total Posts: 3515

      Hi everyone!
      New topic by Dragon Snapper…again. 😀 Well, I just made this topic becaue I know that we as writers all get some pretty crazy ides, and from that, crazy realizations. So anything crazy that we writers come up with that pertain to ourselves, stories, or simply life, we could post it up here.
      Mainly for me, I’ve realized that as writers, we come up with the plot. The good parts and the bad parts. Which means we come up with the villains evil genius plot. And what does that make us???? Please tell me I’m not the only one who’s figured that out.

      ☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀

      #20340
      Jess
      @jess
        • Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
        • Total Posts: 575

        Well, masterminds who pupeteer the villains who try to take over the whole imaginary world. Fortunately or unfortunately, the villain side of us never wins. Yes, I have thought about that one 🙂 I think it would be really cool to write a story with the villain as an antihero. (And really hard) And I like the topic idea. I will be back 🙂 @dragon-snapper

        #20345
        Corissa Maiden of Praise
        @corissa-maiden-of-praise
          • Rank: Loyal Sidekick
          • Total Posts: 256

          @dragon-snapper Believe me, you’re not the only one who’s figured it out. *cue evil laugh* I really think some of us writers would be very dangerous if we turned our minds to evil. Especially the ENTJs and INTJs, which I think make up quite a bit of the “population” on here… they can be pretty heartless. (right, @hope? 😉 )

          You know, people are always talking about how rare the INTJ is, but I’d like to know how rare they are among writers. It seems like half the writers I meet are INTJs.

          This is a very scary topic you’ve started, @dragon-snapper. Before we get much deeper, let me warn everyone that you read at your own risk. The mind of the writer is a dangerous-and sometimes deadly-place to be. *dramatic swirling of dark cape* *vanishes in cloud of smoke*

          "Courage is action in spite of fear."

          #20352
          Mark Kamibaya
          @mark-kamibaya
            • Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
            • Total Posts: 318

            I think one of the scariest things about being a writer is that we can easily sin in our minds. We’ve come up with millions of different scenarios for our stories and some of those scenarios aren’t exactly healthy.

            I blog on story and spiritual things at mkami.weebly.com

            #20353
            Jess
            @jess
              • Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
              • Total Posts: 575

              @corissa-maiden-of-praise, I’m an INTJ, and I know another writer who is an INTJ. Yes, I suppose some would say we are heartless, but that’s not quite true in my opinion. No, people rely on hearts and their feelings too much. -ntjs decide mostly based on facts, evidence, etc., not just feelings. I mean if the guy did wrong, he needs to pay for his actions. (Well, to a point. Be a Christian, this slightly alters my perspective on mercy and grace. Compassion is not one of my strong suits. I’m working on it 😛 )

              As for many writers being INTJs, I believe that is not very surprising. We have the “N” so we are rather imaginative. However, we are largely logic-based, so we can have very detailed plot lines and characters. (One writer friend who is not an XNTJ said my plots were crazy, but somehow made complete sense.)
              Anyone else want to chime in? This is just my opinion 🙂

              #20359
              Corissa Maiden of Praise
              @corissa-maiden-of-praise
                • Rank: Loyal Sidekick
                • Total Posts: 256

                @jess That’s a good point; I’m an ENTJ, and what you’ve said is true. It’s much more based on facts than feelings (although I always imagine what it would be like to be the other person, and almost always understand their feelings; my family sometimes thinks I’m crazy if we’re watching a movie together and they complain about one reaction being unrealistic or something, and I almost always jump in to defend the person, because I understand exactly where they’re coming from. Sometimes reactions even tie heavily into the plot- but anyway, even though I can empathize with them, if they’re guilty they should still get what’s coming to them).

                I guess when I said heartless, I was talking more about how we I can be so insensitive to death, and I know a couple of other NTJs have talked about this too. It’s almost like the mix of being a writer and an NTJ has removed our horror of death. I don’t just mean our own deaths, because that horror should be removed since Christ removed the mystery surrounding death, and we know what will happen to us when we die. I mean the death of… well, almost anyone. If someone isn’t close to us, their death is just a fact of life. It’s only when someone we know well and have invested our love in dies that it really hits home. At least, that’s how I often feel about it.

                Yes, please, other people chime in on this, NTJ or not.


                @kate-flournoy
                this looks like a discussion you’d enjoy. 😉

                "Courage is action in spite of fear."

                #20360
                Snapper
                @dragon-snapper
                  • Rank: Chosen One
                  • Total Posts: 3515

                  @jess Yes, I think that a downfall in most modern writers these days is that the villain side of them always wins. We need to be that light by emphasizing that what is evil is evil and what is good is good.

                  @corissa-maiden-of-praise
                  … Yeah, what have I begun? It doesn’t have to be only scary stuff though, it can be the good stuff to. Actually, I think I’d prefer it to be mainly the good stuff. 😀 We are not to be conformed to it, but let’s also discuss about things that are to glorify God.


                  @mark-kamibaya
                  Agreed. That’s one of the reasons I think we need to be extra careful. Thoughts run wild. God gave us imaginations, which we can use for evil for good. It’s part of who we are to discern good and evil, and to be that light. Its what I’m working on in my editing right now, actually. Changing some things around and adding in the glory that belongs to God. If we don’t pay attention to what we’re writing, it does nothing for our testimony.


                  To anyone in future reference, this doesn’t only have to be about the bad side of us writers, it can also include what we do to be a light; how we write for the kingdom and how to make God evident in our lives. We are to do everything in our power to give God the glory, which is why we shun evil in stories, to make the good evident. To change lives for the glory of God.

                  And I’ll admit not all of us will agree on what is okay and what isn’t. In one of my recent Bible studies it talks about the essential and nonessential, the clean and the unclean. So, lets just be considerate to one another. 😀 😀 Thanks!

                  Romans 14:14 I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

                  And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
                  Romans 6:13
                  And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
                  Romans 6:18

                  -Dragon Snapper-

                  • This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by Snapper.

                  ☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀

                  #20363
                  Hope Ann
                  @hope
                    • Rank: Eccentric Mentor
                    • Total Posts: 1092

                    @Jess Exactly! I’m INTJ too. 😉 But while I’m not heartless, I take a certain amount of gleeful pleasure out of being viewed as heartless, with ice in my blood, etc. Don’t as us, ahem, me why. Yes, I talk to myself in my mind. First person, second person, even third person… *glances to either side warily* Wes not completely insane, preciouses? Are wes?

                    INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.

                    #20365
                    Jess
                    @jess
                      • Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
                      • Total Posts: 575

                      @hope Yes, oh yes, to everything you said! There was a time when my parents called me Gollum because I would talk to myself so much. (I still do, but mostly keep it in my head now 😛 )

                      #20366
                      Snapper
                      @dragon-snapper
                        • Rank: Chosen One
                        • Total Posts: 3515

                        @hope You scary. (but I suppose I can be scary at times too. I have a very good Gollum/Sméagol imitation.) 🙂 I talk to myself to, but only absentmindedly, and afterward I can’t remember any conversations I had with myself. So weird.

                        • This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by Snapper.

                        ☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀

                        #20374
                        Kate Flournoy
                        @kate-flournoy
                          • Rank: Chosen One
                          • Total Posts: 3976

                          Wow guys, what a discussion going on here. 😀 I shall add my two cent’s worth in a moment, but first, there is a very important matter I must attend to. *pushes spectacles severely up bridge of nose*

                          @Dragon-Snapper
                          . Can you or can you not breathe like Gollum does.

                          Now that that’s out of the way… have any of you guys noticed that we’re all essentially just blind sick with multiple personality disorder? Not just our inner Gollums either. Think about it— we are our worst antagonists and most proactive protagonists, pitted against ourselves, each gaining a better understanding of our other self only to destroy it, while several other selves are hanging on and fulfilling different roles in the drama? Can you guys believe that’s all in our heads? Literally hordes of people, and we are every. single. one. And not a single day goes by when we don’t think about our different selves and their contradictions, and the way they relate to each other and the way they will eventually come to terms with each other or destroy each other. Maybe I’m oddly developed this way (wouldn’t surprise me, actually) but when I write, and I’m deep in concentration working with one character, I’m not me in my head. I’m the character. I’m always there in the back of my mind if I want me, but when I work with a character I know really well, that character’s mind basically hijacks mine and takes over my perspective for as long as I’m working with him. I know the inside of their heads so perfectly, I’ve had dreams where I was one of my characters and there was literally nothing of me there at all.
                          Anybody else experienced that?

                          @Hope


                          @Corissa-Maiden-of-Praise


                          @Jess


                          @Mark-Kamibaya
                          (great points, by the way, Mark. I agree).

                          Kate Flournoy
                          @kate-flournoy
                            • Rank: Chosen One
                            • Total Posts: 3976

                            I’m an INFP, by the way, for those of you who didn’t know. The difference between an NF writer and an NT writer is that NTs are great with ideas, and NFs are great with people. So yes, NTs are more plot focused, and NFs are more character focused. Great observation, Jess.
                            INTJs have emotions, but it’s not their primary function, whereas with an INFP (or any NF) that’s basically the one thing they’re experts on. 😛 😉

                            Snapper
                            @dragon-snapper
                              • Rank: Chosen One
                              • Total Posts: 3515

                              @kate-flournoy *looks beneath rims of glasses* Yes, I can. It’s quite scary actually…Out of a dragon’s curiosity (which I know you understand), why do you ask?

                              • This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by Snapper.

                              ☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀

                              #20379
                              Snapper
                              @dragon-snapper
                                • Rank: Chosen One
                                • Total Posts: 3515

                                And @kate-flournoy Would you explain to me the differences between these personality types in some simplified way… 😀

                                ☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀

                                #20380
                                Kate Flournoy
                                @kate-flournoy
                                  • Rank: Chosen One
                                  • Total Posts: 3976

                                  @Dragon-Snapper cuz I can too. *wiggles eyebrows* Fun, isn’t it?

                                  Between INFP and INTJ? Ooh boy… simplified? *wails* @HOPE! HELP ME!!! Okay, okay… *decides to dump a bunch of type-summary on you rather than try and be simplified about an actual explanation* INTJs are: architects, masterminds, imaginative strategists, and the most misunderstood type because of their seemingly cold reclusiveness.
                                  INFPs are: healers, dreamers, mediators, extremely imaginative just in general, and the second-most misunderstood type because of their shyness and reluctance to let anybody else invade their head.
                                  And now if you knew all that and really were asking for an explanation, correct me without melting anything and very politely ask for a technical analysis, and I’ll do what I can to keep it under 3,000 words. 😛

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