Using the Enneagram for Richer Characterization in Stories: Types 1-4

Imagine you go to a party. You walk in the door and cross the room. Then you realize that everyone’s wearing the same outfit, has the same hairstyle, and is holding the same drink. Everyone is also talking the same way. They exhibit the same mannerisms and display the same reactions to jokes. Everyone tells the same joke, and no one can come up with something original to say. After a couple of minutes, you’d be able to predict what’s going to happen next. You’d likely get bored after about fifteen minutes and want to go home. This is how it feels when all of the characters in a story have the same personality.

In real life, people have different desires, fears, and beliefs. They talk differently and dress differently. They don’t all come from the same place. For fictional stories to be relatable and entertaining, the characters should also be different from one another. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. As a writer still growing in my craft, I have been working on character development, and I have found that studying the Enneagram helps with characterization. If you’re not familiar with this model of personality types, you can find out more information at The Enneagram Institute.

After learning more about the Enneagram and studying each type in detail, I came up with a writing exercise for myself. I took one scene from a short story that I am working on and wrote the scene nine different times, from the perspective of each Enneagram type. Below are four of those scenes from the perspectives of Enneagram Types 1-4. If you’re a writer, I highly recommend doing this exercise yourself, and these scenes will give you some ideas of how to go about doing it. If you’re a reader, this will be a fun, light read that gets you thinking about different personality types.

Enneagram One: The Reformer

Lily stretched out on her bed, her father’s slurred words still ringing in her ear. Did she do the right thing in obeying him and going upstairs, or had she left her vulnerable mother to take the full heat of her father’s drunken rage? Her mom had given her a reassuring nod as Lily turned to obey her father, yet that didn’t excuse the fact that Lily had possibly made things worse for her mother by leaving. Or would she have made it worse by staying downstairs? Her father had told her that she was making things worse, but maybe that was just a lie to get her out of the way. Was obedience always right? Should silence be broken sometimes? 

A scream of curses from downstairs broke apart Lily’s web of thoughts. Jumping up, she raced towards the door. She couldn’t stand by and let her father speak to her mom like that. She would never be able to forgive herself if she had stayed in that room and tried to ignore it. 

Enneagram Two: The Helper

Her mother’s tear-stained face hovered in Lily’s mind as she lay on her bed. Those deep brown eyes, which always seemed like magic orbs to Lily, had been red and puffy. Her mother’s signature lipstick stain had been smeared across her cheeks, and although it was barely noticeable, Lily knew her mother’s body had been shaking beneath her loosely fitted dress as she stood in the kitchen. Tears began forming in Lily’s eyes as the image lingered in her mind, paired with the shouts and curses from downstairs.

Her father rejected anything that he deemed unlovable, which to him was almost anything Lily or her mother did. A cry choked Lily’s throat as she thought of this. Would she ever be able to protect her mom? Would her father ever be pleased? 

Enneagram Three: The Achiever

“X” equals negative “b.” Add or subtract the square root. Divide it by “b” squared minus four times “ac.” All divided by two times “a.” 

Lily scribbled the formula in her notebook, ignoring the shouts. If she wanted to ace the exam tomorrow, she couldn’t sit there wishing for her parents to change. She had already wasted enough time trying to win her dad’s approval. Why waste more? 

She rolled over on her stomach and rested her arms across her pillow, assuming a more comfortable position on the bed. Then she began solving for “x.” 

Enneagram Four: The Individualist

Lily buried her face in her thin, lumpy pillow, trying to mute the shouts from downstairs. It only muffled the noise, so she reached out and snatched the earbuds from her nightstand. Putting them in her ear with one hand, she clicked on a rap song from her phone and let the music reverberate throughout her body. She closed her eyes. With each note, the song drowned a part of her that had been set aflame a few minutes before. 

The words of NF voiced her story. Tired of life but still too afraid of death. Burying her pain, trying to suffocate it, but still, somehow, falling victim to it and longing for a different life. 

*These verses are from the song "Paralyzed" by NF. You can listen to the song here.

*These verses are from the song “Paralyzed” by NF. You can listen to the song here.

Conclusion

Fortunately, not all people are the same. Life would be pretty boring if we were, and it’s also boring when all of the characters in a story have the same personality. Hopefully, this post gave writers some ideas on how to write unique characters, and if you’re not a writer, I hope this post was still an entertaining read. I will post scenes from the perspectives of Enneagram Types 5-9 next Wednesday, so be sure to subscribe so that you don’t miss it!

Be sure to let me know what you thought about this writing exercise. If you’re a writer, how do you practice writing diverse characters? Which Enneagram type do you think is the most entertaining to write/read in a story and why? What Enneagram type are you? Leave your thoughts in the comments!